June 2014: Welcome Letter

“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away.”
– Ismail Haniyeh

Welcome to the June Edition of The Ultimate Guide For the Successful Steward, Fourth Dimension Financial Group’s newsletter.

Time: Everything it touches senses its power. Our belongings slowly decay, bodies certainly show its presence, and even our relationships seem to wear it every day. Without the movement of time, events would have little meaning to us. It is the perpetual and powerful force that propels us forward to take action, even action that may terrify us. After all, we only have so much time left.

This edition of the Steward, our second digital version, is a tribute to time. Do you know what the fourth dimension is? The three spatial dimensions are: height, width, and depth, and the fourth dimension is time. Everything we do in our planning process must reflect the realities of time.

As retirees, or soon-to-be retirees, the families we serve have a unique planning challenge on their hands that we must be continually aware of. While younger savers have decades to focus on saving and accumulation for retirement, the retiree has the unique challenge of facing 20 or 40 years without earning any income at all. Through these years they still need to figure out how to generate immediate proceeds from their investments to pay the everyday bills. Do you see the planning challenge in that?

That is why it is critical that we specialize in retirement income planning. We’ll let the other advisors out there help the 30 and 40 year-olds pick the right growth funds while we help you navigate the difficult waters of retirement income planning. The two are very different skillsets, and yours is a highly specialized need.

As we look back in time this month, we’ll get really basic in Back to the Basics, showing you the very building blocks of a retirement plan. In the Briefcase Study, we’ll see how the sobering reality of being widowed can illustrate some transcendent planning principles for all of us. We also look forward in time and discuss some exciting events to come, and if you’re willing, I have a small favor to ask that I think you’ll really enjoy.

While I’m on the subject of time and timing, we have recently been asked by several of you whether we are busier at certain times of the year than others. That caused me to ponder a bit. The answer is no, not really. See, the reasons for people choosing to engage us in planning are so varied that the calendar does not discriminate. Some people retire in January, others in March, others ease into retirement without a defined date. We’ve met with a couple of people this year who simply woke up one day with a powerful sense that it was time to get serious about this. Others were suddenly widowed, with no hint that they would be in need so soon. No matter when the right time hits, if the need arises for you or someone you know – make the call. We’ll be here to respond.

Because we cannot predict the demand for our services (although we schedule regular progress reviews with the aid of the calendar), we are consistently creating and hosting educational and social events. There are two distinct reasons for this:

1. We hold it as a top priority to maintain a solid relationship with the families we currently serve.
2. We want to create as many open doors as possible for other families in need. Usually it all starts with the chance to meet in person as we learn more about how we may help them in their journey.

In this partnership with you, our readers and our clients, we seek to fulfill the totality of our mission statement:

“Fourth Dimension Financial Group exists to help people seeking financial retirement achieve enough, live fully, and help others do the same.”

It is with this in mind that I present to you the June edition of the Steward.

To your success,

Adam Cufr, RICP®

P.S. After filming this month’s video, I had the privilege of welcoming the Pink Parade into the studio. Yes, my five daughters, all of them, stood in front of the camera and belted out the most spirited and perhaps loudest rendition of “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen that I have ever heard. Make sure to turn down your speakers. You were warned!