The Curse of Knowledge

In the last two weeks, I’ve taught 12 hours of classes on financial retirement. The class I’m teaching is called Retirement Elevated and it’s held at BGSU at Levis Commons.

Attendees sign up to learn about all the challenging aspects of retirement planning: income planning, investments, taxes, healthcare, estate planning. We also take time to address the softer issues facing retirees like preparing psychologically for the seismic shift away from paid work. The class is a lot of fun to teach, I think because the attendees are very eager to learn.

There are several common, recurring questions the attendees almost always want to make sure we address during the classes. Here is a list of a few:
How much money do we need in order to retire?
How should we invest during retirement?
How do we make good decisions about Social Security?
What is the best way to draw money from a 401(k)?
How can we avoid paying too much in taxes?
What option do we have for healthcare?
These are just some of the many questions that were asked, most of which you’ve heard me speak about time and again. In fact, many of you may have begun to tune me out. “Oh, this again?”

I know it may seem like we go over the same things many, many times…but teaching this class has reminded me just how important it is to continue to cover the critical areas. Why? Because there are a lot of really smart, really diligent, really successful people out there that are craving in-depth teaching about retirement planning.

Before I continue, if you’re yet to have a comprehensive retirement plan built for yourself, please reach out to us so we can help you get the clarity you deserve. If you already have your planning arranged, what I’m about to share is really important.

This recent teaching experience has reminded me of a principle that I often forget (maybe you do too). That principle is called the ‘curse of knowledge.’ You know: the idea that says that, once we know something, we forget that not everybody knows what we know.

For example, I’ve been playing drums for over 30 years now. At a recent trip to the drum store, I got into an impromptu jam session with a young guy, maybe 10 or 11 years old. In the 20 minutes we grooved together, I was able to share some tips and tricks that took me years to discover. He left smiling, but not nearly as much as me. It was truly amazing to see his eyes opened to techniques that I’d taken for granted, because of the curse of knowledge.

Your thing may not be drums, it may be cooking, tennis, golf, or knitting. The big idea here is to consider who wishes they knew what you know.

Retirement planning is a topic that almost everyone hopes they’ll need to understand at some point, because almost everybody eventually wants to build a sustainable retirement for themselves. Remember when you knew little about what to do to plan retirement and who to reach out to for the best next steps?

The curse of knowledge infects us all at some point. If you’d like to reach back over that wall and help somebody not as far along as you, you’ll be giving them a great gift. Teach them to golf, to knit, or to navigate their retirement planning.

We offer a number of ways for people to scale the wall, so to speak. Perhaps a Discovery Session in our office, or a Retirement Elevated class at BGSU will set them on the path to a better understanding of retirement planning concepts and options.

Yes, I say this almost every time I write, but I hope you’ll consider inviting others you care about to begin the process of learning all of the important things that you know (and now may take for granted) about your retirement planning.

For an easy way to help them, please see below for more information regarding our upcoming Discovery Sessions, or respond to this email if you’d like more information about upcoming BGSU classes.

The curse of knowledge is only a curse if you allow it to be. Thanks for considering how you may break that curse, in the service of others.

All the best,

Adam Cufr, RICP®

Discovery Sessions

You may have heard that we’re beginning to offer something called Discovery Sessions. What is a Discovery Session? Well, I’m glad you asked. It is a free 60-minute experience designed to help people learn the tools, strategies, and methods necessary for building a detailed blueprint to allow them to balance both financial and lifestyle goals alike.

Designed for people new to Fourth Dimension, attending one of these no-obligation sessions gives them the opportunity to learn, for themselves, what they want their retirement to look like and the options to consider when designing their plan. It’s a really thought-provoking process and we would love it if you were to introduce the session to friends who may be considering their retirement options.

Please click here to view a detailed flyer that you can share with a friend.

Upcoming Sessions:
Thursday, May 7th at 5:30 P.M.
Thursday, May 21st at 5:30 P.M.

There are a number of ways to RSVP. Call us at (419) 931-0704 or email: Dave@FourthDimensionFinancial.com.

If you’d like a ready-prepared email to send to friends, email us and we’ll send it your way.

Thanks so much for your help in alerting others to the options available to them. It means so much to us and them when you make a connection.