Three Buckets

Read Time / 2 Minutes

Theme / Financial Planning

My two high school buddies and I were bored on a summer’s night, so we had to act.  It is a story I am not proud of, but it was fun.  Near my house was a small local fishery that raised trout.  After dark, my buddies and I each grabbed a bucket, jumped the fence, and scooped up three trout.  We drove across town – trying to hold the sloshing buckets steady – to the small local tennis and swim club where we were members.  We jumped the fence, emptied our buckets in the outdoor family pool, and drove off into the night having successfully overcome our boredom.

The next day we casually showed up at the pool when it opened, acting as surprised as anyone with the three trout swimming in the pool.   Our desire to brag must have gotten the best of us, because the club manager soon pieced together the story and gave us three long-handled pool nets to catch the fish as our redemption.  Fortunately, the pool was small and were able to eventually net the darting fish and place them back in the buckets.

In the larger scheme of life, the buckets provided teenagers entertainment for one night; however, as we age, buckets can take on a more significant role in our lives.  We should approach retirement with three investment buckets in mind: Now, Soon, and Later.  The Now bucket meets current financial needs.  The Soon bucket meets financial needs over the next few years.  The Later bucket meets long-term financial needs, including legacy planning. 

In Proverbs 27:33 we read, “be diligent to know the state of your flocks.”  Applying this to retirement, we should be diligent in bucketing our investments to meet current, near-term, and long-term financial needs.  Let us be wiser than I was in our use of buckets – our financial futures may depend on it.

Doug Hanson, MBA

Wealth Advisor

208.697.3699

Doug@christianwm.com