Rule #5: The Future Belongs to Those Who Plan for It

I am introducing a series based on a set of rules we call the Iron Eagle Code. I am beginning the series with Rule #5, "The Future Belongs to Those Who Plan For It". Why start with #5 and not #1? It is simple, really. The path to financial wellbeing is rarely linear. The road to financial freedom is often winding with plenty of detours and forks. Having a set of rules to guide your journey can keep you on the right path, but not everyone is starting at the same point, financial freedom is a personal journey, one that starts and stops at different points, changing as it goes. One does not have to follow the rules in order, starting at 1 and working through the end. Each rule works together to help form the guardrails that keep you on your road and helps stop us from driving over the cliff. So learn rule 5 first, or rule 1 or any other one, but learn them all. Live them all. Find the road that takes you through the mountain pass and to the beautiful valley below that is financial freedom.

The future doesn’t wait for you to be ready. It doesn’t care about your excuses, your distractions, or your comfort zone. It just keeps coming. The only question is whether you’ll meet it standing tall or scrambling to catch up.

Every day, people convince themselves they have time. Time to save. Time to invest. Time to get serious. They tell themselves that tomorrow they’ll start being disciplined. But tomorrow never has a backbone. It bends to whatever excuse you feed it.

Planning isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about shaping it. It’s choosing to accept that your life, your retirement, your legacy will be a reflection of the effort you put in long before the spotlight ever hits. The people who plan aren’t lucky; they’re prepared. Luck just shows up and finds them ready. If your retirement plan is spending $20 a week on lottery tickets, you need to rethink that. Don't wait for the 1 in 300 million chance to retire, do something about it, something real. Plan, work, invest, repeat.

I’ve seen the difference between those who plan and those who don’t. One group faces storms with calm determination, knowing they built a sturdy shelter years ago. The other panics, wondering why no one warned them it could rain.

The truth is, no one’s coming to save you. The market won’t suddenly get kinder. Inflation won’t apologize. The system won’t start caring about your family. You either take control of your future or hand it to someone who will use it for their gain. Those people are out there and your lack of planning is part of their well made plan. Don't feed their plan, feed your own. Write your own destiny, stop letting others build theirs on your hard work.

Planning is an act of rebellion in a world addicted to distraction. It’s how ordinary people build extraordinary lives. Every plan is a quiet declaration that you refuse to live by chance. Make the tough choices now and feel the confidence later, in your life and maybe for generations to come. A weekend at the beach sounds great about now, someplace warm, the sun shining, the calm sounds of the sea lapping at the shore. It sure sounds better than picking up a tool belt and heading to work today. If you have saved for it and your plan for the future is funded, go for it. Then again, a last minute trip to the beach financed by 28% interest on a credit card that you will be paying for for the next year or two? Think of how many times you have to pickup that toolbelt just to pay the interest. Money spent, wasted, going to the bank or credit card company. That interest doesn't buy you the margarita on the beach or pay for surf lessons. It only buys the impatience of not doing it right. But that is what the banks and credit card companies want. It is part of THEIR plan. Keeping you in debt, you working for them, building THEIR future. Switch that thinking. Practice some discipline and patience. Do the boring thing now and reap the rewards later. Even if it just means not having to work more overtime to pay off those credit cards.

So sit down, take a hard look at where you stand, and start mapping where you’re going. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to begin. Because the future is coming either way, and only those who prepare for it will get to call it their own.

When you need help drawing that map, building that plan, we here at Iron Eagle Advisors are there for you. I often hear people say that they thought Financial Advisors are for people that have a bunch of money already. Think that one through, how did those people get where they are. I am not talking about those that inherited it, I am looking at the self made men and women. The ones that worked hard, planned harder and made it. If they didn't know where to start, they asked for help. They found someone that knows how to build a plan and worked with them. That is what we do. We are here for the hard working folks that pick up that tool belt, the ones that drive the trucks that bring us our food and clothes, the electrician that keeps the lights working, the office manager figuring out how that page could possibly get jammed in the printer yet again. At Iron Eagle Advisors, we help you build a plan for the future, help you stay on track, help build the guardrails so you can enjoy the view without driving off the cliff full speed.