Do You Know Where You Are Going?

Admit it or not, every pilot has a fear of being lost. Or worse, landing at the wrong airport. Now, no pilot wants to be lost. And certainly no pilot wishes to land at the wrong airport. Safety issues aside (too small a runway?) think about the paperwork and embarrassment that pilot will endure.

As I was reading Jeff Brown’s latest post the thought of being off course and ending up in the wrong place occurred to me, again. Jeff’s point is that people hit a comfort level and cruise from that point on. And while this is certainly true within real estate investing circles and life in general, I also believe another key factor is thinking you are on course to your destination only to find that it’s the wrong airport.

To a pilot low on fuel and short on nerves the sight of a desired airport out the cockpit window is a sweet, sweet sight. The planning, the effort and the goal all laid out before him from 5,000 ft.

Relate that to retirement planning. I’m only 42 and sometimes get tired of the daily grind. Imagine when I’m 60 and all my efforts have come to fruition…or so I think…turns out I thought I was landing at RVS and the pilot’s lounge tells me I’m at MKO. Oooppps.

During your journey to retirement there is no doubt you are the pilot in command. The ultimate decisions and consequences rest with you. But may I make a suggestion? Contact air traffic control for flight following. They are happy to do it for you and will alert you to obstacles or bad weather in your way. They’ll basically leave you alone unless you need to hear from them.

Consider what I do, and what Jeff does, as ATC flight following. We just want to make sure you get to where you thought you were going…safely.