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We are expecting an exciting 2016 here at Moldenhauer & Associates. Our staff is busy serving our clients and because of the relatively mild winter, the first quarter has been busier than normal. Since our Planners and Para-Planners are moving forward professionally, we are creating added opportunities for two new Financial Planners. As always, we are most concerned with bringing on talented people who are looking for a real career.

Last night, I was watching my favorite college basketball team play. For most of the game, they were in the lead and looked in control. But, in the last couple minutes of play, they let the lead slip away and eventually lost the game. While they, for the most part, played better than their opponent, the final score will, in reality, be the only lasting memory of the game.

In life, what happens in the last few moments is often what is most important. For those that give up before the race is over, they will never be the victor. They cannot be, they gave up early.

Most people think that persistent people are a pain. The truth is that persistent people are the people who accomplish the most whether it is at work, in athletics, or in any other activity.

Think of any activity and you will realize that the most successful people are the persistent people.

Let me give you a few examples from my life:

America’s Future

Ours has always been a noble country. Our country’s reason for being was based on “Freedom”. Today “Freedom” is under fire not from just afar, but from within.

What is the most important year of your life? It is this year.

The past is a prologue and the future is uncertain. This is “the year”. It matters and you should start by making a decision that it will be your very best year.

The decision to be happy starts with you. Years ago I started to work on this by doing two things each day:

1. Decide on what important things I will accomplish today.
2. At the end of the day find one thing I am grateful for and write it down.

It is personal for me and it should be personal for you.

I have always had an interest in writing. It may go back to my youth, but the desire became more important when I was preparing for my lung transplant in early 2013. I found myself writing to friends and family, to clients and on a regular basis for the Moldenhauer & Associates Newsletter.

According to a The New York Times article about small businesses, “… most owners put off getting a valuation until a sale is imminent.” And when owners try to get a valuation, says The Times, few seem to know how to make a good guess. If you own a small business, do you know what it’s really worth?

Interest in retiring overseas seems to be growing. For example, the print subscribers of International Livingmagazine, a publication for professionals wanting a luxury retirement, grew from approximately 39,000 in 2009 to 100,000 in 2014.

A customer recently asked me if it were a good rule of thumb to make the percentage of his portfolio invested in bonds equivalent to his age. I don’t believe that’s a good rule. Relying too much on fixed-income investments isn’t any better an idea in retirement than it is before retiring. 

In a Federal Reserve reporton the economic well-being of U.S. households, 51 percent of those surveyed ages 55 to 64 planned to keep working (either full- or part-time) after traditional retirement age. According to research from the Kauffman Foundation, nearly 25 percent of people ages 55 to 64 started companies in 2012; that’s up from 14 percent in 1996. If you aim to forego retirement, put a plan in place for managing your nest egg and consider these factors: