Wealth has only a few ultimate uses: it will either be consumed, or it will create an income stream. Everything else is just preparation for one of those two ultimate ends.  All money gets spent one day. What’s your plan now for spending yours later?

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. Everyone agrees that, among other things, the Titanic should have been equipped with (and the crew trained in the use of) lifeboats. Plenty of lifeboats. How many? Enough to save everyone of course.

So, let’s turn our attention to the ship of life you and your family are aboard…how are the lifeboats on your ship? 

No, we all know money can’t buy happiness. But few of us really believe that poverty is exactly the road to bliss either. So I perked up recently when I ran across an interesting idea: a formula for being happy.

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My friend Bob Livesay turned me on to this helpful explanation of the widely divergent ways we deal with conflict (about money or anything).

Click to listen how I would approach a major remodeling project...

But even if you feel like you enjoy your work so much you can never imagine stopping – don’t for one second think that gives you a pass on responsibly planning your financial future.

Because there is a world of difference between “get to” and “got to.”

That reality can paralyze you, which is the wrong response.

So how do we know what is the right thing to do?

The world of financial services has become highly specialized also, but the issue is not the superiority of one specialty over another. It is about balance.

So where do you go to find such balance?

Here are some positive steps you can take to prevent wealth loss due to health costs in retirement.

That usually elicits a bit of head scratching and a kind of “huh?” look…

The best rewards card I’ve ever been able to find is the one with the financial planner’s name on it that is helping you control your spending, increase your savings and coordinate all aspects of your financial life.

During phase one, we attempt to create wealth. Phase two moves from wealth creation to wealth distribution. Phase three (wealth conservation) comes when you pass on your wealth through inheritance.

Let’s go back to phase two—the wealth distribution stage—if no one has told you yet, when you shift from phase one to phase two…all the rules change.

And, honestly, the best time to plan for wealth distribution is while you are creating it.

What is the price of happiness?

Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman thinks the price is... about $75,000.

So let’s be just a bit pessimistic and assume that you will one day need some kind of long-term care. 

There are only a few answers to the question of “who will pay the bill if I go into a nursing home?”

Financial institutions are sometimes run by good guys, sometimes bad. But all of them have a plan to make things better for themselves.

The best way to deal most effectively with any of them starts with a carefully crafted financial plan of your own.

On the other hand, I really want the guy who does my heart surgery to be detail oriented, sweating the small stuff.

This tension exists in your financial life as well. 

Then don’t ignore the development and training of the next generation of your business’s owners.