Sometimes the answer to your solution can come from the least likely solution. Just look at the invention of penicillin. When Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, it was purely by accident. It was an answer to a question he didn’t even know he was asking. Fleming came back from a vacation when the experiment he was working on had been ruined. However, he noticed that the bacteria in his petri dish had died from another source: a mold. That mold turned out to be penicillin, and the medical community hasn’t been the same since. But Fleming did not go out purposefully seeking this solution. It was a solution that came out of a different scenario.

Often times that can happen with your life, and more specifically your finances. Take my client, Chuck, who went through a rigorous financial review. I said, “Chuck, I have some good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that you don t have enough assets to generate the cash flow you need to live the way you want now and for the rest of your life.” He looked at me, shocked.  “The good news is, you know those mortgages that you paid off? Just take them out again. If you take them out again, you’ll be able to generate that needed cash flow from your investments, you’ll have more tax sheltering from the interest deduction giving you even more free cash flow, and you’ll be able to live the way you wish now and in the future.

Chuck had made a poor financial choice and didn’t know it. But that decision didn’t have to define the rest of his life. He could salvage his finances by finding an alternate solution. Fleming’s first experiment failed, but he was able to salvage something from it: penicillin. With Chuck, we were able to provide him with a solution so he could live the life he wanted and still save money for his future. He would be able to sustain his way of life in the future, too.  And if he hadn’t come in for the checkup, he would have retired at sixty, and he and his wife might have lived for many years feeling okay. But somewhere in his seventies, or maybe a little later, slowly their cash flow may have gotten tight. They would have had to cut back on their spending, and they would have never have known why. Having that checkup saved them from that.  Making better financial choices and also understanding what it means for your big picture is extremely important.

For more information about finding alternative solutions to your financial problems, visit tswealth.com.