“Have you heard the latest?”

That was the text message from a co-worker during the pandemic. I was almost afraid to ask for any more detail but I did anyway.

“Sounds like a buyout offer is coming. Not just for soon to be retirees, for anyone interested.”

I immediately perked up. I had been planning my exit for a while, so this could be a chance to do exactly what I wanted to and get paid to do it!

When the offer hit my inbox, my mind went into overdrive. I am a lifelong planner, everything is planned, but this felt different. How can I possibly make this decision to walk away now? I need to get a feel for my Solvency. I knew I had to get a feel for when the music stops and I needed to do it quickly.

I couldn’t wait to accept the offer. I was ready.

But before I did, there was work to do. Time to take 20+ years of dabbling in financial planning and put it to work. I remember sitting on my deck and scribbling notepad after notepad outlining what I needed to define. Spending. Assets. Forward looking.

I knew I had to get a feel for when the music stops…

What followed was several months of number crunching and spreadsheet building, a skill my soon to be former employer honed well. In the end, for the first time ever, I was able to truly define what my current financial status meant going forward.

Things change, so I added the option to adjust my spending – or savings – or investing – for any given category and see the impact those changes had – visually – to my future.

It was an amazingly powerful exercise.

The model is only as accurate as what you use to define it. It forces you to be honest. Best of all…it forces you to think.

Life is more than endless accumulation.

At some point, you need to be able to take inventory of what you have and how much you spend today and project those elements into the future. Frame it up and see where you stand.

As it turns out, I was able to confidently walk away.

I guess I could have worked another 2, 5, 10 years, who knows, bottom line I realized I didn’t need to.

Get detailed in the present and define your present. Use that detail to frame up your future. Experiment with changes today that will better shape your tomorrow!

A few minor adjustments here and there and who knows, that LP may keep spinning longer than you think…

Visit the ForwardSpend section to learn about how I evaluate Spending and Solvency.