NIGO: What Is It?

NIGO, what does that mean? It’s actually a back office financial term that means Not In Good Order. What I would like to do today is talk about how we might be able to look at our personal lives and financial lives and figure out how to turn NIGOs into IGO, In Good Order. Maybe we start with something as simple as time. What are you doing with your time? Do you like how you’re spending your time? Does it seemed stressed and rushed, like out of sorts? That might be a NIGO. How do you fix it? Well let’s make a list of what you care about most and then let’s make a list about what’s getting the most of you and then compare the two. And if it’s not in good order, you know what to do. You need to rearrange it. When it comes to financial services that we get to do here at Centennial Wealth we take a holistic approach. So let’s look at common NIGOs we see when it comes to financial planning. Income, here’s my suggestion, know your numbers. Too many times people come in and they do not know what their contractual lifetime income is. They don’t know what they’re spending in their expenses or their lifestyle and they have no idea what that income gap is. So we might say, hey that’s not in good order. Let’s figure our an income plan. Let’s write it out, map it out. Second thing is investments. Know your risk. When it comes to risk management, I think it can get into three different buckets. There can be calculated risk, unknown risk or unnecessary risk. Too many times clients will come in and they have no idea what risk they’re actually in. They’re in that unknown risk category. I would say all right, we have to identify those risk. We need to move them to the calculated risk. Sometimes we find people are taking unnecessary risk. Teaching them about that and what other options are out there can help put their investment plan in good order. Tax planning, when it comes to taxes what I would say is know your opportunities. Are you doing tax bracket optimization? Are you utilizing accounts you might have access to like a Health Savings Account? How does that fit into your tax plan? Next, health care. Know your timeline. Okay, you might be on an employer sponsored plan for awhile and you’ll know the features of that. You might transition into a marketplace health insurance and then at 65 maybe transition into Medicare. But knowing that timeline for your health care plan is very, very important.l And finally, your legacy, very, very important. You want to make sure that your assets know where to go. Big NIGO we see a lot, real estate. That real estate, that house doesn’t have the beneficiary assignment it needs. Maybe your bank accounts do not have the beneficiary assignments that they need. And lastly, maybe your words haven’t been captured. Maybe you have those thoughts and those feelings that you’ve never been able to express. Spoken words have power, written words have longevity. I hope you enjoyed this segment.