Feeling Secure
/Like everyone, my personality, values, dreams, and hang-ups have been shaped by my childhood. For various reasons, I didn’t feel like I had much security in my life while growing up. I developed a strong sense that I had to fend for myself. To be fair, though, I think being the first born, with all the typical first-born traits, has played into this as well. Regardless, I crave security in my life as an adult—I always have, and I assume I always will. I want to make sure I have a plan for everything, along with a Plan B, in case things change.
One of the perks of my job (at least in my eyes), is talking to clients and learning about their experiences. The good, the bad, and the ugly help me become a better financial planner and help me continue to work toward security in my own life—because, you know, security is never one of those things you attain and then sit back and relax! Sometimes they are big things and sometimes they are little. Regardless, I learn from all of it.
One of the little things I learned came out of a client getting her wallet stolen. As I listened to her story, I put myself in her shoes and saw the inconvenience a stolen wallet would cause. Trying to remember everything that was in the wallet was the first hurdle, then it would be a matter of alerting all the banks and credit cards, getting replacement membership cards, and more. I wasted no time and copied everything in my wallet (front and back), and now I keep those copies at home. I did this for my husband and daughter as well. In the end, I hope my drive for security helps my clients feel secure themselves.
- Juli Erhart-Graves, CFP®, Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors
