Imagine absence

Delete one piece of the situation and watch what collapses. Not what would cause failure, but what quietly holds the plan up. Whatever breaks when you subtract it was load-bearing, and you now know exactly what you were depending on.

Delete one piece of the situation and watch what collapses. Not what would cause failure, but what quietly holds the plan up. Whatever breaks when you subtract it was load-bearing, and you now know exactly what you were depending on.

Example

In the retirement plan, delete the employer match. The projected balance at 65 drops by about a third, which tells you the plan was never resting on your savings discipline. It was resting on staying at an employer who offers 5%.