Hayduchok: What fathers teach about life, money

For some fathers, the accumulation of wealth is not just important for stability but is a way they define their level of success, a value they may have passed on to others around them.”

Len Hayduchok is the CEO and owner of Dedicated Financial Services in Lewes and guides others as a certified financial planner and a certified life coach. Free resources are available at dedicatedfinancialservices.com and maxamazing.com.

What do memories of fathers and the special men in our lives teach us about the pursuit of wealth and financial security? Perhaps it is the value of labor, the joy of hard work and the skill of smart planning.

Fathers can model many things to their children, including specific financial skills (such as saving, spending and investing money) and how money can empower what they may want their life to look like. Accomplishments of all types are critical in life — so critical that (in good and bad ways) how people view themselves is often impacted by the various successes they have experienced. For some fathers, the accumulation of wealth is not just important for stability but is a way they define their level of success, a value they may have passed on to others around them.

Financial success is attained by accumulating wealth. The accumulation of wealth can provide a feeling of accomplishment in several ways, beyond being confident that basic needs will be met:

1. The standard of living people are able to experience throughout their lives and in retirement
2. Purchasing material goods they take pride and pleasure in, which may signal to others the success they have achieved
3. Funding other accomplishments that may be important — perhaps acquiring additional knowledge and abilities that allow individuals to grow

The question for many retirees is, how important is it to continue growing wealth in a stage in life when it may be more important to distribute it, to enjoy it or perhaps to gift some of it to others or donate it to charities? This is where financial planning that includes more than simply investing becomes very important. Financial planning offers individuals the freedom to spend money in a way they enjoy and may help them feel successful, while they can be confident that assets will be available to them for as long as they live. Financial planning considers the current desire to spend, the future need for wealth, risks to wealth (including investment risk and catastrophic life events) and how people psychologically process uncertainty in life.

Whatever financial strategies are used and how much wealth individuals and couples have been able to accumulate over their lives is not as important as establishing what they value in life and aligning what assets they have accordingly. Hopefully, money is handled in a way that is consistent with the most important values people hold dearly. Perhaps these were values modeled by the special men in their lives, like Dad.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.