Are you committing the following Major Crimes against your finances?  Is Lt. Provenza going to have his day ruined trying to figure out what killed your financial plan?

Major Crimes: Episode Money Killers

We’d all like to think we are fine upstanding citizens but might the cast of Major Crimes on TNT come knocking at your door for murdering your financial plan? Or neglecting your bills?

Lt. Provenza always seems to run into a dead body somewhere. It may take a while but he may eventually stumble on the remains of something dead.  While I hope your finances haven’t yet been killed, hopefully, we can get them back on track.  While his numerous ex-wives may make his finances a bit of a mess, he still appears to have reached financial independence.   That means he works because he wants to rather than because he has too.

Captain Sharon Raydor is always methodical when trying to solve a case or interview a witness.  Take this to heart when preparing for your future.  Having a ‘financial’ plan in place can sure help make it a bit easier to know what you should be doing to reach your specific financial goals.

This law enforcement crew is effective at solving crimes, and is financial crew effective at solving your financial conundrums? Or are you still committing the following Major Financial Crimes?

Crime 1: Leaving Money on the Table.   Are you literally robbing yourself of money and income by not taking advantage of workplace benefits?  The most common place to shoot yourself in the foot is by not contributing to a workplace retirement plan, especially when they offer a match or profit sharing.  These dollars may also include health reimbursements, education reimbursements, or even other ways to cut your tax bill.

Crime 2: Not paying overtime.  Ok, so you’d never really pay yourself over time. But if you’re saving plan isn’t set up to make automatic contributions you are working yourself too hard.  To add a little salt to the wound all that extra hard work is likely to still produce less money at the end of the day than if you just make it easy on yourself, and set your savings plan to run automatically.

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Crime 3- Getting High.   Buying into the 24-hour news cycle can make your head spin more than any drug. It can also cause you to make bad financial decisions in regards to your investment whether the market it an Upper at the moment, or a downer.  The fix of that “hot stock tip” may sound great today, but it may leave you with quite a hangover tomorrow.

The Major Crimes cast brings their diverse skills to help solve each problem (case) in each episode.  Your financial cast (Financial Planner, Accountant, Estate Planning Attorney etc) should also draw on their diverse specialties to help stop you financial crimes before they happen.  This should lead to more financial independence and a comfortable financial situation for you and your family.

If you commit major crimes against your financial plan, you may get away with it for a while, but eventually it won’t take a detective to tell something isn’t adding up.   It may seem easier to ignore that smell coming from the other room, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something rotten there.  The sooner you get you started, the easier it will be to make your dream a reality whatever they may be.   Keep things on the up and up and avoid being investigated by the Cast of Major Crimes, or worse one of the victims who untimely demise is the theme of an episode.

DAVID RAE, CFP®, specializes in retirement planning for the LGBT community. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband and two Chihuahuas. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter @davidraecfp or via his website, DavidRaeFP.com.

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