Hey, it's Louis.

Last week we counted what we've got. This week we figure out where we're going.

👀 IN TODAY'S STASH

🌳 THE SHADE

Most of us walked into adulthood with two pieces of financial advice rattling around in our heads: "don't spend it all in one place" and "save your money." Grab some shade for a minute because we weren't given a damn clue how to actually do either.

Then we spent thirty years feeling stupid for not figuring it out on our own.

Brother, you weren't being stupid. You were sent into battle with no training. You were handed slogans and told that was instruction.

There's a big difference.

🌰 THE NUT

When I was younger, I was well…. young and stupid.

Aren't we all to some extent?

Case in point. I remember getting my first job back in high school. Shortly after, I got that treasured (and very disappointing) first paycheck.

My father gave the same financial advice that most of us got: "Don't spend it all in one place."

I was only too happy to follow that advice. I promptly spent it all in multiple places.

A celebratory dinner for me and my buddies at Taco Bell and a trip to Walmart to buy "the essentials."

My first paycheck was that sad.

He also told me "Son, you need to save your money."

Both of these statements are good ideas and have solid… words. They are even grammatically correct.

But they don't say jack about how to do it or, more importantly, how our human impulses will work against us when we try.

How does this relate to the mission of The Stash? What are we intrepid folks doing here?

Well, I suspect like me you had some financial advice spouted at you, but no guidance on how to actually use it.

Maybe through the years you made some cash, got promoted or switched careers and made it to a higher tax bracket.

Did your expenses increase with the new paycheck? Mine sure did.

I've learned a few things in this life, three really good nuts I'll share.

Nut number one is the mofo:

The years sneak up fast. One day you're 20 and living it up. The next you're 50 and on the couch nursing a bad back with Cheeto dust on your face.

And now that retirement age is circling around us like some desperate guy at a singles bar, we found the wisdom we wish we had back in our 20's. And it keeps kicking us in the ass. Should've started saving for retirement sooner.

That is what we're after, right?

Retiring before we are too old to enjoy it?

But we're screwed… aren't we?

We're older and the compounding genie is out of the bottle.

We can't go back and invest in Amazon when it was $5.00 a share. There are no do overs. We're here now, with what we got and the time we have left.

The second nut is hopeful.

It's never too late.

This is where The Stash comes in.

Relax, we are not here to discuss fungible assets or run the Navier-Stokes equation to calculate optimal ROI. We're here to figure out how we want to live during retirement and the strategies to get us there.

This road is one of exploration and, make no mistake, my brother, this will be a journey.

Every situation is insanely unique. You can't take some cookie cutter advice and expect it to work the same for everyone.

Tools are versatile and far better than advice.

But you still have to use them correctly.

Take a hammer for instance. You can use it for many things, but it's not perfect for everything.

My dad once told me, "The harder you smack something, the better it'll work." I applied this to a computer I was having issues with. Satisfying… but wrong.

So that's our focus: tools and how to apply them to find a retirement that works for you.

This leads us to the third and most important nut:

Opportunities are all around us. You just need the right tools to spot them.

🐿️ THE STEP

Grab a notebook or make a note on your phone. Whatever. Write down what your retirement actually looks like.

Not "comfortable." Not "set up." Not "doing okay." Those are vague answers. The vague-guy doesn't get to retire on his terms.

I am talking specifics.

Where are you living? A cabin in Tennessee? A condo in Belize? The same house you're in now?

What are you doing on a Tuesday morning at 10am? Fishing? Coffee on the porch? Spoiling grandkids? Sitting on the couch reading the same Louis L'Amour book for the third time?

Who's around you? What did you stop doing? Are you still working part-time at something you actually like, or are you out completely?

Aim for five sentences. And they don't have to be pretty.

Here's the catch.

Last week we counted the acorns we've got. This week we're sketching where we want to end up. Hold those two side by side and you'll see something most people never look at straight on: the gap between point A and point B.

That gap isn't bad news, it’s our map.

We can't do anything with "I want to be comfortable." But we can absolutely do something with "I want to fish three days a week at Lake Tahoe."

The clearer the destination, the better the tools work.

Until the next Stash, protect your nuts brother.

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