Insider Guide

January, 2024

Happy New Year from your team at Goodwin Investment Advisory. We want to wish you the most magical and memorable 2024.

reminder to complete your action items ‌

Prioritizing your follow-through action items in your Financial Plan

Creating an agreed upon plan with your financial advisor typically leads to good feelings of peace and confidence. After your annual meeting with your advisor, you might feel excited about your retirement plan! The causes of your worries have hopefully been identified, there’s agreement on the steps that will get you to where you want to be, and all that’s left is to take action to implement the plan.

But while it seems like the momentum of the earlier steps of the planning process should carry through into the implementation stage, all too often, the opposite occurs. Despite all the steps being in place, you might fail to take the agreed upon actions. Your advisor does not want to nag or badger you and sour the good feelings that abounded earlier in the relationship, but they want to help you stay on task to accomplish your financial and retirement goals. If you do not prioritize the plan, then the plan could stagnate, and the next steps – some genuinely timely and others needed to set you on the right track for the long term – go unaddressed until the next planning meeting with your advisor rolls around. We do not want this to happen and want to encourage you to complete the action steps you agreed upon.

It seems there are three main causes to hinder some of you from taking action:

Your daily tasks take priority. When discussing future-oriented plans like retirement, you may feel as though those plans should have a high priority – and yet, when it’s time to make the necessary adjustments today (and often, the lifestyle tradeoffs that are needed to start saving more for the future), the needs of tomorrow suddenly have a lower priority than when everyone was simply talking about them.
You may need clarity. Sometimes you find you are simply unable to carry out the tasks recommended by your advisor if those actions aren’t discussed in sufficient detail. If you need more details, or clarity on how to implement the actions discussed, please reach out to your advisor.
It might take time to build trust. If you are new to having a financial advisor, it may simply take time for you to become familiar enough with the planning process and the advisor to take action. After all, conversations are one thing, but taking action can often require a great deal of trust that the advisor understands you enough to make recommendations in your best interests.

Fortunately, our advisors and team can help you minimize the potential for inaction by asking some simple implementation questions after your plan has been agreed on that can help focus priorities, clarify the most important next steps, and ultimately build a rapport that can create the foundation of trust needed before you take action.

Questions for you to consider:

Which task do you feel is the most important?
What do you already know regarding how to accomplish the agreed upon actions?
Are there any items in your action plan that you are unclear about?
Do you need more knowledge on how to go about completing the task?
Do you fully understand the roadblocks or obstacles that work against you when implementing your financial plan?

If you need any help with clarification or prioritizing your action items please reach out to your advisor. Otherwise, let’s work together in 2024 and beyond to keep you on track to accomplish your financial and retirement goals.

2024 retirement and tax planning quick sheet

Click below to download our 2024 retirement and tax planning quick sheet.

2024 Retirement and Tax Planning Quick Sheet

Retirement Planning - Couple Laughing and Enjoying Quality Time Together Outdoors

Blog Update

Our latest blog was on the topic of goal-setting titled “What are you retiring TO?”. This blog is a reminder to find meaning and purpose in your retirement years.

Blog – What are you retiring to?

How did the stock market perform in 2023

Check out one of our newest episodes from The Money PIG Podcast hosted by Reid Trego. In this episode, Reid welcomes CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional Justin Pitcock to discuss GIA’s investment portfolio performance in 2023.

Listen to the podcast

Check out another episode from The Money PIG Podcast. In this episode, Reid welcomes Tara Bruce, Creative Brand Manager, to discuss setting goals for 2024.

Listen to the podcast

Update for Small Business Owners

Starting January 1, 2024, many businesses will be asked to comply with the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). The CTA was enacted into law as part of the National Defense Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The CTA requires disclosing the beneficial ownership information (or “BOI”) of certain entities from people who own or control a company.

It is anticipated that 32.6 million businesses will be required to comply with this reporting requirement. The BOI reporting requirement intends to help US law enforcement combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and other illicit activity.

The CTA is not a part of the tax code. Instead, it is a part of the Bank Secrecy Act, a set of federal laws that require record-keeping and report filing on certain types of financial transactions. Under the CTA, BOI reports will not be filed with the IRS but with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), another agency of the Department of Treasury.

This general information should not be applied to your specific facts and circumstances without consultation with competent legal counsel and/or another retained professional advisor.

To learn more, read this article from the US Chamber of Commerce. For information on BOI reporting, click here.

Nourish to Flourish

By Tara Bruce

A good time to envision and feel grateful

It’s the beginning of a brand new year. How very exciting to have a fresh start with new goals, hopes, and intentions. Sit and reflect on the beautiful things that happened in 2023 and how you have grown and changed. Then, think about how you want to grow and become in 2024. Once you know what you hope for in 2024, you can imagine yourself already having and embodying those things.

If it is a trip you are saving and planning for, visualize yourself in that spot filled with all the good emotions that come with it. If you intend to have more meaningful time and conversations with family and friends, imagine how you will feel when you are with the people you love and how it makes you feel after you have had those memorable moments.

You see, it is not only setting an intention and creating an action plan but the feelings of gratitude for what we want to happen that also help us bring those things we long for to fruition. Why? Because we only have the present moment. When we get to the future, it becomes the present. So, if we feel we already have what we want in the future – then it is already taking shape to become our reality in the here and now. Expressing and feeling gratitude always brings more things to be grateful for.

Healthy simple recipe

Happy New Year! Check out Half Baked Harvest Healthy Recipes for 2024. She makes wholesome, health-focused, and, of course, delicious recipes. Click the link to her full January recipe list– everything from breakfast to lunch, dinner, and desserts. These recipes are delicious, high in protein, and made with plenty of vegetables for many nutrients.

Spicy Miso Braised Beef Ramen

This simple, warming Spicy Miso Braised Beef Ramen is just the right bowl you need to warm up. Slow-cooked beef served in a steaming rich French-onion-style broth with miso, chilies, and Chinese 5 spice for added flavor and spice. It’s just perfectly spicy (spice to your liking) and filled with plenty of yummy ramen noodles. It’s different, but one of the best bowls of homemade ramen! Click the link here for the recipe.

Lebanese chicken with Charred lemon cauliflower

Lebanese Chicken with Charred Lemon Cauliflower. Grilled (or roasted) Lebanese-style chicken, served with a charred lemony cauliflower and herb salad, and the most deliciously addicting garlic yogurt sauce. It doesn’t get more delicious than this grilled chicken…simple, healthy, extra colorful, super flavorful, and so delicious—a fun switch-up from the usual chicken dinner. Click here for the recipe.