Marty and Jean visit the David

Marty and his new wife honeymooned in Italy. They enjoyed many of the touristy things, but being a retired machinist, he is always interested in complex structures.

Like Michelangelo’s David. You know, that famous 17’ tall statue of the kid who killed Goliath with a slingshot.

It turns out that the statue is tilted a bit, for whatever reason, and it’s developing some cracks in the ankles. After four centuries of holding up the six tons of marble, that’s not too surprising.

Now, we don’t know if the statue is likely to fall apart anytime soon, but if corrective action isn’t taken, an unexpected shock, like an earthquake, could increase the tilt beyond the point of no return and destroy one of the world’s most famous works of art.

Ralph Bender here for Enduring Wealth Advisors

Marty and Jean couldn’t wait to tell me about their trip during one of our periodic client checkups. And in his garbled enunciation, he told me all about the David’s structural problems and how, if it tipped just a few more degrees, it could snap off at the ankles.

Some retirees build apparently insignificant structural problems into their retirement plans. They see the big nest-egg and rightly believe that spending a bit here and there is fine.

Within reason, it is fine. Especially when the markets and their investments are going strong.

The structural problem is when they get committed to a level of spending that is unsustainable during market downturns. If they don’t work with their wealth manager, who should have a plan already in place for these times, it could tilt the portfolio into an irreversible collapse.

We’ve got the skills to reveal hidden structural problems in your financial plan.

Give us a shout if you have any questions.

Gotta run!

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