The antidote for burnout

Are you ready to dominate your financial course?

Then you came to the right place.

Welcome to the only newsletter that’s one part #golf, all parts #money.

I’m super happy you’re here.

You want confidence and clarity over your financial future. I’m here to help guide you there. Think of me as your financial caddie.

Together, we can align your money with your life.

That's finding your financial swing.

So, if you’re feeling loose, let’s tee one up on…

Sustaining greatness

Tiger Woods is a generational talent. 

His resume speaks for itself – 82 PGA Tour wins, 11x PGA Player of the Year, and 10x PGA Tour Money Leader.  However, one of the most amazing things about Tiger is his sustained dominance. 

In a sport where success can be fleeting, Tiger won 15 major championships over the span of 20+ years, an unprecedented run of greatness.    

Of the 14 multiple major winners since Tiger turned pro in 1997, just two have won their majors more than 6 years apart –

• Zach Johnson who won two majors 8 years apart
• Phil Michelson who won six majors over the course of 17 years

Even Arnold Palmer, widely considered one of the best golfers in the history of the sport, won his 7 majors over the course of just 4 years. 

What is it that allowed Tiger to remain so dominant for so long while others couldn’t?

5 ways to win

Dr. Gio Valiante is an expert in the area of human performance as applied to business, finance, and sports. In golf, he has been the sport psychologist for some of the games’ best players and has spent countless hours studying others, like Tiger Woods. 

Valiante distills the elements of success into his “5 ways to win.”

1. Talent – Tiger Woods was born with the innate talents and skillset to make him an elite golfer.  
2. Work ethic – Equally as important as his skillset, Tiger also loved the game of golf.  He was passionate about practicing his craft which helped him realize the potential of his talent.
3. Differentiation – Tiger was able to evolve his approach to golf as courses, his competition, and even his own physical abilities changed. 
4. Discipline – Tiger is one of the few golfers who is equally dominant while he’s winning as he is trailing.  During his career, Woods only lost one time when leading by more than one stroke after 54 holes.
5. Hire the right people – Tiger continuously sought out and surrounded himself with the most talented caddies, coaches, and human performance experts. 

Sustaining your greatness

If you’re reading this, it’s highly unlikely you’re trying to match Tiger Woods’ feats on the golf course.  However, you may be interested in exploring how your occupational talents can translate to success on your financial course. 

A typical career will span the course of three to four decades, and if you have elite level skills and work in a demanding environment it can be hard to sustain your effort over the course of a long career.

The truth is, our career arcs can be very similar to professional athletes. In an everchanging landscape, it can be challenging to sustain the edge required for elite performance over multiple decades.    

I worked with one such executive who was at the top of his game.  He was a highly sought-after consultant in his field.  He had built a team of experts who helped their clients achieve immense success in engagement after engagement. 

This success translated to a mid-six-figure income and a significant portfolio of financial assets that included stocks, mutual funds, and a portfolio of commercial real estate.  

There was just one problem. 

After years of 60-hour work weeks and a grueling travel schedule, this executive was burned out.  He recognized that his work, while rewarding, was taking a toll on his family, his health, and his overall performance.

In his early 50s with two teenage children, he wasn’t ready to retire, but he desired a change. 

He and his wife wanted to make the most of what time they had with their children before they went off to college, which is why they sought out help from a financial planner. 

Talent, hard work, and discipline have a shelf-life.  Even during Tiger Wood’s reign of dominance, he hit a span in his 30s and 40s where he went more than a decade without a major championship.  During that time, he suffered numerous physical and personal setbacks that were a product of his years of intense focus. 

We can experience the same thing in our own careers.  Burnout is a widely recognized occupational phenomenon with real consequences that can lead to reduced quality of life and severe medical disorders. 

Planning for change

People seek help from a financial advisor for a number of reasons.  Oftentimes, the catalyst for seeking help is a change in their lives – the transition to retirement, loss of a loved one, or a life-changing inheritance.  These changes can create complexity in your financial life where the help of trusted counsel can yield substantial benefits. 

In the case of this couple, the catalyst wasn’t a monetary one – they had accumulated significant financial assets already.  They were seeking a plan for their financial assets that would allow them to make the best use of the other assets – their time, energy, and attention.   

Sabbatical planning

This couple came into our relationship with a clear goal in mind – to create more space for memorable family time before they became empty nesters. 

But how?

To start, we helped the couple get a clear picture of their financial assets so they knew where they stood and how they were invested.  We also prepared a detailed summary of their income and expenses to show how they could replace the husband’s income if he took a break from his executive role.

Once they felt confident about their ability to live off their savings for a period of time, our conversations began to center around the idea of the husband taking a sabbatical from work to enjoy the last summer before their oldest was headed off to college. 

We initially planned for a six month break from work, but also planned for contingencies –

• What if his company wouldn’t go for the sabbatical plan and he wanted to resign?
• What if he had to take a lower paying position upon his return to work?
• What if after the sabbatical he didn’t want to go back at all?

Once the big-picture cash flow questions were answered we got into the details of planning for his sabbatical and uncovered a few blind spots that presented risks to the plan. 

Financial planning for a sabbatical

For this family, we addressed three key areas to help make their sabbatical dreams a reality and prepare for unforeseen circumstances along the way.

Asset allocation

Replacing cash flow is an obvious need with taking a break from work.  This family had done a good job of accumulating assets during their working years, which made the idea of a sabbatical possible.  However, their assets were accumulated with a plan for retirement, not to provide sustained cash flow in the event of a break from work before retirement.    

A majority of their investments were in their 401ks and IRAs, which were not available to withdraw until they turned 59 ½ (or 55 in certain cases) which was still several years away.  The assets outside of 401ks and IRAs were either invested in real estate or the husband’s employer’s company stock, which was a large part of his compensation plan. 

The real estate itself was not yet producing enough free cash flow to replace income for the family, so we decided to reallocate some of the company stock into a more conservative investment mix, like investment grade municipal bonds, Treasuries, and money market funds. 

These investments would provide them with a pool of assets they could spend down over the next six months and also provide an additional buffer should the sabbatical turn into a more sustained absence from work. 

Healthcare

When the husband left his full-time job, his family would also lose their healthcare coverage from his employer.  They had three options to consider –

COBRA Coverage - Certain employees and their dependents can continue their group health insurance coverage for a limited period after experiencing a qualifying event, like a reduction in hours or loss of a job, that would otherwise result in the loss of coverage.  The drawback to COBRA coverage is that the employee is responsible for the full cost of the coverage with no subsidy from the employer. 

ACA Marketplace coverage – By the executive stepping away from his job, he would qualify for a Special Enrollment Period to obtain health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.  Similar to COBRA, the family would be responsible for the full amount of the premium, however, the ACA provides for premium tax credits that can help defer the cost of coverage if certain income thresholds are met. 

A combination of the two – Because they were seeking coverage for the four individuals in their family – the husband, wife and their two children – we also examined options that included the husband taking COBRA coverage and the rest of the family purchasing a policy via the ACA marketplace. 

In the end, COBRA coverage provided the best benefit for this family. 

Disability insurance

Despite this family’s significant assets, the executive’s human capital, or his ability to produce income in the future, was still the family’s most valuable asset and we needed to protect it. 

The executive had every intention of voluntarily returning to work at some point in the future, but he and his family also needed him to return to work in order to sustain the lifestyle they wanted.  In order to protect against a catastrophic event, like a car accident preventing him from returning to a similar paying role in the future, we decided it would make sense for him to secure a privately paid long-term disability insurance policy.  He already had long-term disability insurance through his employer, but that coverage would go away once he began his sabbatical. 

Executing the plan

With the appropriate protections in place, and their money aligned with their goals, the husband was able to confidently negotiate time away from work with his employer.  Peace of mind and clarity over his family’s financial situation was a key component to unlocking this opportunity to take a break from his sustained success at the workplace and transition that success into more lucrative time, energy and attention spent with his family. 

Can you relate to this story? 

Do you feel burned out? 

Unsure of your next move?

Having a financial plan can help you plan for what's next and align all of your assets (time, energy, attention, and money) with your goals.

We can help. 

Schedule your call today to see what we can unlock for you.