The Shaw Atlas

June 2013

Welcome to The Shaw Atlas, the monthly newsletter from Shaw & Associates, CPAs & Financial Advisors. We look forward to keeping you abreast of ever-changing tax codes, providing you with money saving accounting tips and illustrating proactive strategies to help you achieve the financial life you envision.

Newsletter contents:

How to Evaluate your Financial Health

Desk Jockey Workout

Bike to Work Day

Retirement Thoughts

According to the Work Stress Survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 83% of Americans are stressed at work. Professional Wellness Month is a month to promote a healthy work environment and improve personal work performance, and is the perfect opportunity to figure out what you can do to improve your overall well-being.

How to Evaluate your Financial Health
Marcy Palm, Accounting Manager

Professional Wellness incorporates several different aspects of your work-life, such as physical fitness and healthy habits, as well as mental health and finding a good work-life balance. Of course, being financial people, we want to discuss the financial wellness part of your overall health and happiness. Summer is a great time to step back and evaluate how financially healthy you are. Here are some examples:

  • How is your family doing this year compared to your budget?
  • Are you meeting your savings goals?
  • If you are a business owner, are your cash flow and profits meeting this year’s expectations? If not, do you know why or how to get back on track and have the ability and discipline to do so?
  • Are you keeping organized records so that you are prepared for tax time?
  • Have you increased your net worth this year, or have you taken on more debt?
  • Are your various insurance policies reviewed, current, and adequate?
  • Do you feel that you are in control of your personal and/or business finances, or is it in charge of you?

If you have questions regarding these or any other issues related to your financial wellness, please contact us. Poor financial health can have major repercussions to your life, including: causing personal and family stress, strain on relationships, poor physical health, and unhealthy habits in general.

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Desk Jockey Workout

Over 80% of Americans work in jobs that require little to no physical activity and studies have shown that people who have sedentary jobs are 54% more likely to die from heart disease than those with active jobs. Here is a list of activities that can help keep you active at work.

  • Sit on an exercise ball. This will help strengthen your abs and back.
  • Set an alarm to go off every hour to remind you to stretch and move around.
  • If possible, bike to work.
  • Take a 30 minute walk mid-day.

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Bike to Work Day

June 26th is Bike to Work Day! From 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. there will be breakfast stations located throughout Fort Collins where you can stop and enjoy a bite to eat before heading into work. Join in keeping Fort Collins a Platinum Bicycle Community by biking to work.

To view a map of breakfast stations visit fcgov.com/bicycling.

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Retirement Thoughts
John M. Selzer, Jr., CFP

Retirement means so many different things to different people but let me suggest this… it is the only major financial goal in life for which you cannot take out a loan to achieve its rewards.

Please ponder the following Retirement Considerations:

  • Retire to something, not from something.
  • Recognize your biggest risk as outliving your assets…living too long.
  • Know your monthly financial need for retirement years in advance and work hard to adhere.
  • Provide financial confidence for spouse when partner passes away or becomes incapacitated.
  • Have no debt (consumer, car, home(s)).
  • Save and invest monthly to produce additional value.
  • Know your healthcare and prescription alternatives.
  • Diversify through five year time-frames and asset allocation (time-segmentation).
  • You will need inflation adjusted returns along with a tax plan to pursue your lifestyle needs.

In closing, I would welcome any discussions or thoughts regarding your retirement goals and objectives.

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