I was recently listening to a podcast featuring Mitch Anthony, a well-known communications expert in our industry. He said something that resonated with me in relation to our clients: “It’s better to prepare than to repair.”

I think this is an outstanding philosophy when it comes to financial planning and to life in general. Sometimes, preparedness can feel overdone. We may think it makes little sense to spend so much time preparing when we don’t know exactly how the future will play out. However, that is exactly the point of being prepared!

When we set our goals, expectations and decision-making framework ahead of time, we are more equipped to adapt and adjust to the facts and circumstances we may face later. Preparedness is an intentional way of making sure our future decisions are made in concert with what we initially decided is most important to us.

When we don’t prepare, we run the risk of having to face ‘damage-control’ situations, the ‘repair’ part of Mitch’s quote. When it comes to our money, this usually costs us a lot of time, stress, and additional financial resources. It generally produces a less desirable result than if we had prepared ahead of time. You can probably think of a few times this happened in your life as I can in mine.

Think about what might be coming up in your future. In what areas of your life can you better prepare so that you won’t have to repair later?