01/13/2026
At Schod, DeGroff & Associates, we believe that one of the most important decisions you can make with your finances is to figure out what the right first step is.
And without knowing your situation and the right data, we can’t help you there.
And anyone that doesn’t know your situation and have the right data shouldn’t be trying to tell you what to do or what is right/wrong for you either.
I will say this though: We see people making the wrong decisions a lot.
I’ll work with a client who seems to have a cash flow issue-no money left between paychecks, overdrafting the checking account from time to time, having to put money on credit cards that aren’t getting paid off every month, etc. But when we dig into their situation we find out that they’re putting 22% of their income into their 401k.
Now, that brings up a few more pages of thoughts, but to keep on point here: You should secure today before you secure tomorrow.
If someone is trying to max out their 401k but it’s causing them to over-draft their checking account on the regular, they’re doing finance out of order.
I believe that there is a sequence of finances that should be followed, and it’s pretty easy to follow:
First, you need to get organized. You need to know what you have, what it does, and where it is.
Balances, interest rates, premiums, etc. Pull everything out of your financial junk drawer and get organized.
This is a big step towards the stabilization of your financial situation. Being financially stabilized, to me, means that you have a positive cash flow, you are saving dollars first, and have enough left over money to work on paying down any debt.
Second, you need to protect your cash flow. What are the factors that could cause cash flow to leak off of your balance sheet? You could get sued, be in an accident, your house catch fire, you could pass away prematurely, or you could become sick or injured and unable to work.
Nobody really wants to talk about insurance, or spend too much on insurance, but these are important topics to address as you’re building your financial plan. Because your plan needs to be built on a strong foundation.
Third, you save and grow your money. We do this through strategically diversifying not just among different funds, etc.-but also through different taxable ramifications. We ideally want dollars growing in multiple different places that are taxed (or not taxed) in different ways so we always have a bucket of money that is ideally suited for whatever situation we are facing.
We set a target of how much we are going to save and invest, and build the structure behind it to allow it to happen.
We build out a growth plan with a well diversified mix of volatility and guarantees so we can stay aggressive regardless of what the economy is doing, and a good mix of liquid and non-liquid dollars so we can always be ready to take advantage of opportunities that may present themselves.
And lastly, we let our money do what it’s supposed to do-work for us. Because eventually you won’t have to work for your money anymore, the money you’ve accumulated will do that for you.
The money gets to a point where it has become the wind in your sails and is allowing you to achieve whatever destination you want.
The key here is, take the right next step, and build a plan that always allows you to have money when you need it.
Does your plan allow for this? If not, we should chat. Comment "Organize" if you'd like us to reach out and set up a chat.
