It's Back to School

It’s back-to-school time already! Earlier than ever, it seems. And this year is a big milestone. Ansley started K-4.

On the second day of school, she didn’t even want Mallory to walk her to class. She was confident she could make it on her own. I have to admit, I love an independent woman!

I’ve also enjoyed our slower, more relaxed schedule this summer. The first week back to school always feels like a bit of a shock to the system. Think about us on your leisurely mornings. 

Someone once said, "A good day starts the day before," and Mallory has taken that to a whole new level this year. We were a little apprehensive about getting two girls out the door each morning. After all, we doubled our workload this year!

From hair bows to shoes, everything is laid out the night before and ready to deploy. It’s quite the production. Since I've never been much of a morning person, I try to limit the amount of thinking I have to do before 9:00 a.m., so this system fits me just fine.

We've done it the other way. You know how it goes. Scrambling around the house and getting Amelia to school late. It feels like starting the day with a loss, and that's never a good feeling.

What do we all want? Margin.

Nobody wants to feel squeezed when the car needs repairs or when an unexpected illness causes us to miss a few days of work.

Thousands of years ago, Solomon wrote:

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty." — Proverbs 21:5

I occasionally hear people say they feel like they should invest more aggressively because they're "behind."

While I understand the emotion behind that, simply taking more risk because we feel behind is rarely a wise financial strategy. Haste isn't the same thing as diligence.

One of the great joys of my work is sitting down each week with people who have lived out this principle. They planned consistently, saved faithfully, and made wise decisions over many years. Now, as they approach or enjoy retirement, they have margin in their lives. They have options. They aren't forced into difficult decisions because they prepared ahead of time.

Growing up, I worked several less-than-glamorous jobs in retail and restaurants. Then, during college, I got a job at a coffee shop and absolutely loved it. I've always enjoyed working. I just didn't always enjoy the work.

Working in a coffee shop was fun because you were helping people start their day with something they enjoyed, and there was always something to do. I also learned that downtime and I aren't naturally good friends.

Even today, I have a tendency to fill every opening on my calendar. But I've learned that if we want to live a life with margin, we have to intentionally make time to plan. Busyness alone doesn't produce diligence. In fact, it often gets in the way of it.

The same principle applies to our finances. Financial margin doesn't happen by accident. If there's never money left over at the end of the month, every unexpected expense becomes a crisis. Without an emergency fund, we often find ourselves financing expenses or dipping into investments we'd rather leave untouched.

So let me ask you a question:

Is there an area of your life where you've been too busy to slow down and make sure it's in good order?

When we fail to plan, we're left hoping everything works out. Hope is important, but hope is not a financial plan.

Here in South Carolina, we have ants everywhere. They're pests! Just this past Saturday, I had to take the blower to another ant mound that had appeared in my yard. But you have to admire their persistence.

Solomon certainly did. He wrote:

"Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest." — Proverbs 6:6–8

The lesson is simple: preparation and diligence.

The ant does the work ahead of time without someone standing over it.

Solomon invites us to do the same. Whether it's preparing for tomorrow morning, planning for retirement, or simply creating more margin in our lives, wisdom reminds us that the best time to prepare is before we need to.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Until next week,

David C. Treece,

Financial Planner

864.674.1274