Josh Chamberlain 11/2/19 Josh Chamberlain 11/2/19

How to Save $750 in Open Enrollment

Open enrollment is the time to maximize your coverage and 401k choices while minimizing your spend. Learn how to make the most of this opportunity.

It’s time. You’ve received your company’s annual mailers and email reminders, announcing that open enrollment is coming up. BE READY!! Let the fun begin! And how about those 25 page, thick paper, glossy photo brochures for your options? Everyone always looks so happy.

Calling all CDC, Cisco, Coke, Delta, Eaton, Georgia Pacific, Home Depot, Mailchimp, Siemens, State Farm and other GA professionals and families!! LISTEN UP.

The Goal

The goal of open enrollment is to update and optimize your elections, given any potential changes in your situation. What kind of changes?

Someone in the family is going to need braces or extra dental care?
You are planning to have a baby
Your significant other changed jobs
You got a raise and need to increase how much you put into your 401k
You are afraid that Trumps’s tariffs are going to bomb the market, and you need to reallocate your 401k
You never really thought about needing disability insurance, until now
Your kids are starting day care or aftercare and you heard you could invest pretax cash in a dependent care FSA

There are any number of things that could need to be updated. But most people mistakenly think this is just a boring chore, with little added value. And anyway, you made the elections last year, why spend the mental space on it again?

Or worse than complete ambivalence about the topic, you know you need to make some changes, but you are “too busy” to read the literature, preventing you from making a wise decision.

It is easy to end up spending an extra $750/year, with poor choices.

Focus on your vocation and vacation!

Schedule time with me to run through the options. THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO GET AN EASY WIN. I can point out how to maximize your coverage and 401k choices while minimizing your spend … all while focusing on your long term goals. We can get started looking over your options, over a cup of coffee, and it won’t cost you anything.

I’m looking forward to catching up with you.

**After publishing this blog, an interesting article was published from Kaiser Family Foundation data, showing that employee based healthcare costs around $20,000/year ($14k = employer, $5500 = employee)

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Finance Trivia! Do you know the company? See the next slide for the answer.

Where are you going to go!!?? This was the common refrain from our friends, when they learned Jenn and I had 2 weeks together, while the boys were at #campcarolina.

One of our overarching long term goals, is to build great gentlemen. We believe tha

I was talking to friends about their upcoming move to Atlanta and asked if they flew @delta. They told me they were looking forward to living at Delta’s hub as it was there favorite airline. Very matter of fact and full of pride, I said with a

So excited for the adventures this young gentleman in the making will have in the next 3 weeks @campcarolina and happy that we prioritized and saved for this experience. #parentinggoals #decaturga #financialadvisor

Thanks Maxim 💈 for keeping us looking sharp!

Josh Chamberlain 1/20/19 Josh Chamberlain 1/20/19

"Tidying Up" Your Financial House

After watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, I could not help but see the parallels in what Marie and I do with families. I start with a philosophy: we should be living our best lives today in the short/mid/long term, and then work through a set of milestones.

Jenn and I spent last night watching Netflix’s phenomenal, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”. We were fascinated, and a bit inspired by it. She takes the mundane task of creating a tidy home, and turns it into an experience where a couple grows closer together, by creating peace where there once was chaos. The process has a profound experience on the couples she works with.

Marie, has a philosophical frame work, Konmari, that she has translated into a specific set of milestones:

Clothes
Books
Papers
Komono (Misc items)
Sentimental items

After watching a couple of episodes, Jenn and I spent a few minutes, sorting through my vast “treasure trove” of books. Anything that did not “spark joy” in us, was sold or donated this morning to our local used book seller. Not only was it liberating to get rid of some junk, but Jenn and I worked together through the process, and connected with some old books that sparked a conversation … and we got 25 bucks!! for the old books. Overall it was a fun experience.

Much like Bruce Willis and the young boy in “The Sixth Sense”, that said “I see dead people,” I see finances everywhere. I could not help but see the parallels in what Marie and I do with families. I start with a philosophy: we should be living our best lives in the short/mid/long term, and then work through a set of milestones:

Create an emergency fund, get your down side covered with insurance
Maximize your earning and get your budget under control
Funnel money into accounts that fund your long term goals
Funnel money into trips/things/charity that suit your short term goals
Take care of your friends and family, with wills, 529s and care for your parents

Getting your personal finances in order seems like an overwhelming and impossible chore to many people — just like tidying your home — but when you dig in, you’ll find that it’s not as hard as it seems. You just need a financial planner to coach you along the way to “tidy up” your finances. As a result, you and your spouse will grow closer by removing the financial concerns and fears prohibiting you from reaching peace and sparking joy.

Are you ready to work with your partner on a profound experience? How can we spend some time getting your finances organized?