Your Financial Travel Guide to Life: 30 Years On the Road With Rowling & Associates

By Sheryl Rowling CPA/PFS

Life is an adventure… It’s been thirty years since the founding of Rowling & Associates. Throughout the years, our team has helped hundreds of clients reach their goals while advising them through the stages of their lives. And, of course, we have gone through many of the same stages as our clients in those thirty years. To celebrate this milestone, Rowling & Associates is publishing Your Financial Travel Guide to Life. No matter your age or stage in life, this travel guide will provide insights, quotes, tips and must-do’s during your travels. About the Author Sheryl Rowling has been providing fee-only tax and financial planning advice for over 30 years. She is the principal of Rowling & Associates with professional credentials including Certified Public Accountant and Personal Financial Specialist. Understanding the importance of setting goals and following through, Sheryl works closely with clients on an ongoing basis to ensure that their objectives can be achieved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jan 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781483476902

Book preview

YOUR FINANCIAL TRAVEL GUIDE TO LIFE

30 Years on the Road with Rowling & Associates

SHERYL ROWLING, CPA/PFS et al.

Copyright © 2017 Sheryl Rowling.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7689-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7690-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 11/22/2017

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Introduction:

Life is an adventure…

It’s been thirty years since the founding of Rowling & Associates. Throughout the years, my team and I have helped hundreds of clients reach their goals while advising them through the stages of their lives. And, of course, I too have gone through many of the same stages as our clients in those thirty years.

To celebrate this milestone, Rowling & Associates is publishing Your Financial Travel Guide to Life. No matter your age or stage in life, this travel guide will provide insights, quotes, tips and must-do’s during your travels.

I’d like to thank all of my employees, clients, colleagues, family and friends for enabling Rowling & Associates to reach this milestone.

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Your Financial Travel Guide to Life

30 Years on the Road with Rowling & Associates

Using This Guide:

Life is a journey; one in which you might encounter any number of financial decisions that can either help you down the path toward financial success, or hinder your progress, perhaps even sending you back to where you started. This is a guide book that aims to help you navigate those prototypical financial crossroads that you might encounter along your expedition of life. This is a compilation of relatable scenarios, quick tips, and sage advice for financial success. The text is broken into three sections for three very distinct phases of one’s life:

• Adventurer Years: Early working years – Approximately 25 to 45 years of age

• Vacations and Getaways: Later working years – Approximately 45 to 65 years of age

• Cruises and Elderhostels: Retired years – Approximately 65 years of age and onward

Each section contains unique articles that are specific to those financial situations one might experience during that period of their life. The content of this book should act as a starting point to push further discussion, research, and introspection, ultimately allowing you to be more confident and decisive in your financial choices.

Use this book as a quick reference guide when you are puzzled by a financial situation and you have more questions than answers. This can help you get started down the right path toward your ultimate financial goals. This book is meant to be shared, both the acquired knowledge and the physical book itself. Feel free to share what it has on offer, loan it to a friend, co-worker, or family member - especially one who might be approaching or in the middle of a financial crossroad.

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The Adventurer Years

You are young, beginning your life at work and establishing yourself financially. This doesn’t mean you don’t want to have fun! It’s a question of balance.

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My father-in-law told my husband, "Wherever you live, you have to work.

So, pick where you want to live,

then find work."

You can’t place all of your hopes and dreams on hold until you reach your mythical retirement date. Life’s a journey and it’s important to enjoy each day. But enjoyment does not come with a price tag of spending everything (or more than) you have. Worry free enjoyment is the result of mindful spending.

The best financial advice I can give is summed up in one line: live beneath your means. If you live beyond your means, you will always be in debt. If you live just within your means, you will never have savings - you’ll never have money for a big purchase or emergency cash when you need it - and you’ll never be able to retire. Living beneath your means doesn’t require that you deny yourself of current happiness; it just asks that you save some money on an ongoing basis. The trick is finding the right balance between living for today and saving for tomorrow.

Travel Essentials: Packing List

Financial Inventory

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These are your years as an adventurer! You have done the ground work, secured a job and even bought a cool car. But just like you would do before a big camping trip – the one where you don’t want to reach the top of the mountain only to realize you didn’t bring your tent – now is the time to take stock of your financial life. It’s important to know the value of what you own and what you owe. This is called a net worth statement – or balance sheet. The formula is simple:

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Start by creating a list of everything you own (your assets). You don’t need to count every piece of chewing gum, but you do need to count all of your ropes, sleeping bags and trekking poles.

Your assets can include:

• Cash and bank accounts

• Investments

• Retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s, etc.)

• Car and personal belongings

• Your home

Next, create a list of all the things that are weighing you down - your liabilities. These are your debts that, over time, can be reduced for easier sailing. Your liabilities can include:

• Student loans

• Car loan

• Credit card debt

• Home mortgage

It is not unusual for net worth to be negative at the start of your career. The goal is to get out of the hole and build net worth!

Travel Costs

To determine what you are spending, what you can afford to