During holiday weekends many of us decide to get a household or home improvement project completed with those three-day weekends. It\u2019s ![\"WhyamIMe\"](\"https:\/\/americanretirementadvisors.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/WhyamIMe1.png\")
part of being a proud homeowner. Sometimes the project is out of necessity, and other times it\u2019s just a nice small upgrade you decide to do yourself. As with anything, there is a certain amount of planning and\/or budgeting for the project of time, labor, and materials. Before starting a task we all think, \u201cCan I get this done by myself?\u201d There are several home improvement shows on TV and they all make it look so easy! But as with anything, it\u2019s your frame of mind, willpower, and expertise that makes the difference in tackling a task. Over the years we\u2019ve all performed these improvement projects and, I\u2019ll bet with mixed results, but the successes and the failures that we learned from, makes you\u2026..you! My wife always pokes a bit of fun at me and calls me \u201cThree Trips\u201d. What she is jokingly referring to, is that it usually takes me three trips to the hardware store to complete any project around the house. If she isn\u2019t calling me three trips, it\u2019s the other name \u201cTim\u201d. Remember the show \u201cHome Improvement\u201d? Well this past holiday weekend I decided to repair my metal and wood gates to my yard. The wood boards were rotten and pretty sad looking. I figured it would take me just one good day to get the project done. So, early in the morning I started. Removing the old boards from the metal gate frame was easy as they were almost ready to fall off anyway. Thirty minutes flat, step one was complete. Next was to inspect the metal gate to ensure they didn\u2019t need replaced or weren\u2019t rusted out. Upon inspection, the frame was in great shape. Terrific! All I needed now was to sand down the metal (three hours), prime the metal (one hour), paint the gates (one hour), and let them dry. Yeah, I took that time to eat lunch and refurbish my electrolytes as it was nearing 110 degrees by early afternoon (got to stay hydrated!). Last step was installing the new planks (two hours). Ta-Da! Project completed! And best yet, only one trip to the hardware store! Good planning helped! In reviewing the project, I realized that one thing I had in my favor was \u201cgood bones\u201d. If the metal was rusted out I would have had to purchase brand new metal gates and then I would have needed to call in a professional for the entire project. But by painting the frame every few years I had protected the metal from rust. Where\u2019s this all going? Well just like my gates, you have to decide to have a self-improvement project on your retirement. Some of this you can do on your own, but you need \u201cGood Bones\u201d. Many times when we are assisting folks with their retirement plan we look at all aspects of retirement so you only have to take on the project one time to have a complete retirement package. During this process we discover that a client has some things they didn\u2019t know they had or features in some investment they weren\u2019t aware of, that are often in their favor. Do you have hidden value in your pile of stuff somewhere you don\u2019t know about? Maybe there\u2019s just a little rust on top and it just needs some prep and new coat paint? One last thing is that regular maintenance with your retirement plan can keep it from rusting out! So whether you just need some help reviewing, or a complete planning project, give us a call, we\u2019re here to help!<\/p>\nClick here to read more<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n