July 07, 2023

Financial Heirlooms

27 minutes

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3JLysv2

The Choice is Yours

I recently watched the movie Race, the story of Olympian Jesse Owens. One particular scene stood out to me. Coach Larry Snyder is advising Owens on life/relationship decisions, and he warns, “The choices you’re making right now won’t even feel like choices until it’s too late.”

I couldn’t shake that statement. The truth of it haunted me a bit. Whether we realize it or not, the micro-decisions we make today will have an impact on our future. Yet, the size of that impact can only be measured and realized in hindsight.

Helping or Hindering

These thoughts came on the heels of a discussion that Sean Latimer and I had on last week’s podcast about 529 plans. We wrestled with the reality that each of us – in one sense or another – struggled to pay our way through college and we both wanted to spare our kids from that same struggle. We wondered whether these 529 plans would be hindering or helping. Was it, in fact, these very struggles that built our character and work ethic? Where would we be today if we were eased from those struggles?

As a parent, these are weighty decisions. Whether your kids are toddlers or young adults, or even nearing retirement themselves, you have to be conscious about how you teach them about money and how you help them with money. Why? Because “The choices you’re making right now won’t even feel like choices until it’s too late.”

Links mentioned in this episode: