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An Important Lesson From Dwight

Happy New Year!
I hope your 2021 is off to a great start…
Based on the subject for this week’s email, you may think I’m referring to Dwight K. Schrute, the infamous beet farmer and paper salesman from The Office.
However, I encourage you to keep reading as I’m instead referring to an altogether different Dwight…
Thanks, as always, for your time and attention.

Be Like Ike
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of these United States and served two terms from ‘53 to '61.
He was also the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II.
As both a military leader and U.S. President, Eisenhower was regularly faced with decisions that were of varying degrees of importance and urgency.
This led him to create the Eisenhower Matrix - a tool for filtering decisions based on a combination of their importance and urgency.
For more on what the Eisenhower Matrix is and how you might benefit from its application, I encourage you to read the following:
Introducing the Eisenhower Matrix
Introducing the Eisenhower Matrix
What is the Eisenhower Matrix? The Eisenhower Matrix, also referred to as Urgent-Important Matrix, helps you decide on and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance, sorting out less urgent and important tasks which you should either delegate or not do at all.
www.eisenhower.me
And here’s a short video 📺 excerpted from the article above. It about 2 and a half minutes long.
The Eisenhower matrix: How to manage your tasks with EISENHOWER
The Eisenhower matrix: How to manage your tasks with EISENHOWER
As we all embark on a new year full of decisions to be made, I hope this tool will be useful as you navigate the important, less important, urgent, and not-so-urgent choices you’ll face.
Speaking of Important
Thanks to Ryan at Beacon Wealthcare for highlighting this in their recent weekly newsletter…
Like Ryan, I’m always wary of “rules” to live by, especially when it comes to money.
But this list of 20 money rules is well worth a read.
While some of them will likely be obvious to you, they may be news to someone else, so feel free to pass this along to friends and family.
Read about these 20 “personal finance laws” here:
The 20 most important personal finance laws to live by | Fortune
The 20 most important personal finance laws to live by | Fortune
Following some simple rules (and avoiding common costly mistakes) can put you miles ahead when it comes to saving for retirement.
fortune.com
Be sure to hit reply and let me know which of these “laws” resonated most with you.
Important Checklists
Did anyone else notice that despite 2020 being a CRAZY year in many respects, it still flew by?
Maybe it’s just me…
Anyway, as you read this in January, next thing you know we’ll be celebrating July 4th, then it’s Thanksgiving, and… you get the idea.
With that in mind, I wanted to share a couple of checklists that you (or someone you know) may find helpful as time seems to fly by:
  1. Important Milestones Checklist
  2. Important Dates Checklist
Note: these are both up-to-date for 2021, but they’re subject to change as financial planning is always evolving based on legislation and other factors.
I hope you find one - or both - of them helpful.
Instead of Retirement
Wanted to leave you with this succinct, but hopefully thought-provoking tweet from James Clear.
James Clear
Instead of working toward retirement, work toward your ideal lifestyle.

There is usually a path to get there in a few years instead of a few decades.
Sorta begs the question “what are you waiting for?”
That’s not rhetorical by the way 😉
Until next Wednesday,
Russ
Retirement Planning for Women

P.S. - For this week’s indie track, give a listen to “Vessel” by Dan Mangan and Blacksmith. 🎵 Why indie music? Please read the Postscript of Issue #2 for context.

Disclosures
Did you enjoy this issue? Yes No
Russ Thornton

I'm Russ, a financial advisor based in Atlanta, GA. My focus is retirement planning for women (and their families) who are 55+. Every Wednesday, I write an email letter with my thoughts and perspectives on retirement and its many related topics. And I might include some other ideas or interesting topics as well 😉

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Russ Thornton | Atlanta, GA | Disclosures: https://bit.ly/3e5t5UJ