Harry Stout is a senior leader in the global financial services business with expertise in personal finance, life insurance, annuities, product innovation, and business management. He’s also the author of The FinancialVerse, A Common Sense Approach for Your Money, which presents a straightforward, easy to read explanation of what you can expect to experience at each stage of your financial life. On this episode of CFO at Home, Harry and Vince discuss the 3 financial life stages outlined in his book, their thoughts on credit, retirement, and more.
- Harry’s book The FinancialVerse breaks life down into 3 financial stages:,
- The Adulting Stage (up to age 30)
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- Skills/Attributes
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- The ability to learn how to learn
- Student loan debt that has been carefully acquired and used to pay for an education that will produce employable skills
- An education and experiences that enable you to earn a cash income sufficient to support yourself and your family, if you have one.
- An understanding that your financial decisions are increasingly monitored by third parties who will rate you on how well you have managed your financial obligations
- A realization that if you fail in managing your financial life, there are ways to recover, but they can have heavy costs
- The Striving Stage (31-70)
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- Skills/Attributes
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- Knowing where you stand financially by religiously using a budget
- Understanding all the new and innovative ways the assets and services you need can be acquired
- Making disciplined decisions on how you use debt to create the quality of life you desire
- Creating an emergency fund
- Consistently saving to accumulate assets and income streams that will fund the Fulfilling Stage of life
- Understanding the major asset classes you can purchase with your savings
- Maximizing your use of tax advantaged savings programs
- Protecting your income, assets, and potentially creating a legacy using insurance products
- The Fulfilling Stage (over 70)
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- Skills/Attributes
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- Properly planning for the activities and charitable actions you desire to take later in life
- Understanding how to properly protect against rising healthcare costs
- Preparing the properly fund the costs of living, including long-term care, medical, and non discretionary items
- Working with a financial professional to establish income streams needed to fund an increased life expectancy
