SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Planning for an Uncertain Future With prices rising and stocks falling, you may want to shift your spending—but remember that a well-developed, long-term plan has market uncertainty baked in.
If you tune into any financial news outlet—or any news outlet, for that matter—you’ve likely noticed the breathless coverage of rising inflation. Actually, forget the news; if you’ve simply filled your gas tank or purchased groceries recently, you get the picture. Right now, inflation is at the highest levels the country has seen in four decades. To combat the rise in prices, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates—the first time they’ve done so after an almost uninterrupted 15-year period of keeping rates very low to generate economic activity after the Great Recession. And the stock markets in the U.S. and globally have declined in response to changes in policy, inflation and other geopolitical risks. So what does this all mean for your financial planning strategies? The short-term impacts of higher prices have made themselves obvious enough, but the long-term effects on
84
COLUMBUS MONTHLY AUGUST 2022
your wealth management plans may be less clear. Plan for Inflation Inflation can sometimes be a silent killer when it comes to financial planning, because your assets and resources have to be able to withstand rising costs. “It’s important pre-retirement, obviously, because you’re trying to save for that time when you’re no longer going to have income coming in or if your income is fixed in retirement,” says Daniel Due, chief planning officer at wealth management firm Budros Ruhlin & Roe. “You don’t have a lot of flexibility then, and inflation can certainly erode away your purchasing power.” With that in mind, Due says that inflation has to be an element in any financial plan, adding that financial planners will know to account for higher inflation in some areas versus others.
In fact, just having a financial plan is Due’s No. 1 piece of advice for protecting yourself from the long-term effects of inflation. “Inflation needs to be accounted for, and you need to understand how it can impact you,” he says. “But your wealth management plan should give you confidence. Even if you don’t know what could happen, what could disrupt the market, you have a plan that can weather the storm.” Make a Spending Plan Due and his team emphasize sticking with a spending plan and homing in on what you can control in particular. Determine what your spending currently looks like, build in a buffer (you can’t plan for everything—that’s just life) and determine where you may need to pump the brakes. “If need be, hit the pause button on a few items that, if you don’t need to be
ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/NUTHAWUT SOMSUK
By Sarah Steimer