(Please have a glass of water within reach before reading this article.)

Your personal financial planning is the topic of discussion here today, but not quite yet. First I would like to bring your attention to the issue of bragging.

The other day I was carrying on about how well our web page was doing on the various search engines. If you typed in financial planning Victoria, or financial planner Victoria, or CFP BC, our page ranked very well on the major search engines. But I was not bragging about this to a dummy. Unfortunately not. Because this human , who shall remain nameless, asked me a very simple question:

Is it working?

Huh? I thought, feeling like I was suddenly part of a butterfly collection.

Is it working? Are you getting new clients this way?

The room was initial the spin.

Can I have some wa -wa? I asked woozily as I crumbled to the floor.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the process of doing things, like optimizing websites for search engines, we lose sight of what standard of measurement we should be using to determine how were doing. In my case, I was using how well our internet page ranked for various search terms, instead of whether we we are actually gaining any business from the web. Duh!

This almost always occurs where peoples financial planning is concerned. It is very easy to get stuck in the process of saving funds , or managing money, but lose sight of whether or not what youre doing is actually working to help you achieve your goals. So, if you think about your financial goals, and then consider how you are doing, the same question applies

Is it working?

There are three possible answers to this question and they are: Yes, I do not know, and Can I have some wa wa?

Realizing that what you are doing is not working, is not pleasant. Nor is it pleasant to realize the giddy pleasure of progress you thought was your lot, is no more. You may look a bit ridiculous to yourself for a bit, but if youre like me, thats nothing new.

So, for example, if your primary financial benchmark is retirement, does it look like you will be able to retire when you want, with the kind of income you absolutely need?

Hey! You okay? Wake up. Here. Drink this.

Rick Hoogendoorn is an associate and misguided webmaster with Cheri Crause & Associates Inc. Cheri Crause is a certified financial planner in Victoria, BC.

rick.hoogendoorn@shaw.ca