"Planning is important, but the most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan."

— Morgan Housel

That quote is the first page of every financial plan we build for our clients. It's there on purpose. We spend hours building your plan, then months, years, and decades executing it, and somewhere along the way life will throw something at it. I got a reminder of that at the Chicago Marathon.

The Plan

My wife and I trained for this race together. I ran more than 900 miles this year, and so did she. That meant countless 5 a.m. alarms, mornings away from the kids, and runs squeezed in before work, after work, and over lunch.

Everyone says a marathon is a 20-mile warm-up for a 6-mile race. I repeated that to myself all year: get to mile 20, and that's when the real race begins.

Race Day

Race day came in about 20 degrees warmer than ideal, with full sun and a feels-like temperature near 75 for many finishers. By mile 5 or 6, my heart rate was running higher than it ever had on a long run. We ran the first 19 miles together, and then my wife had to stop and stretch out an injury. From mile 21 on, it was a battle between me and myself: legs feeling like they were being hit with baseball bats, cramping in places I didn't know could cramp.

Where Dynamic Planning Comes In

This is exactly what we mean when we talk with you about dynamic planning.

I didn't hit my exact goal time, but I was close, and I'm proud of every mile that got me there. Had my training been any less the unexpected conditions would have been an even larger set back. My wife pushed through her injury, and we're both recovering now, which is its own reminder that the plan keeps changing even after the finish.
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Your Plan Works the Same Way

You might not buy the house at that exact price on that exact date. Your kids might not get into the dream college you saved for. It might take longer to sell the business, a layoff might come right before retirement, or your pension numbers might land differently than expected.

None of that means the plan failed. It means it's time to turn the knobs: adjust spending, timing, savings, and withdrawals, then keep moving forward. The work you put into building the plan is what makes those adjustments possible.

That's what we're here for, and we'll be with you for every mile of it.

A lot of people have asked if I'd do it again. Honestly, the second I crossed the finish line, I was asking myself why I put myself through that. But looking back now, I'm already searching for the next race to sign up for. The hard miles are what made the finish worth it, and that's true for your plan, too. We're just getting started.

Thanks for reading,

Daniel Westergaard