Talane’s Blog of the Week, October 30, 2006

No one cares about your money more than you (not even the experts) ….

Just when we thought we had things under control, we received a letter from our accountant estimating that we owed an unanticipated additional $12,000 in taxes. We were stunned. Then I started studying the letter and asking my husband a few questions. Something just didn’t seem right. He called the accountant back and, sure enough, the accountant had made a mistake. He had overestimated our taxes. Phew!

Paul couldn’t believe it. He thought the experts to whom he pays a significant fee each year to manage his taxes should have been paying attention, picking up the phone and calling him. But of course, no one cares about your money as much as you do, and regardless of who helps you with your financial affairs, their work needs to be reviewed carefully. Paul made the mistake of assuming that his highly paid, professional accountants should know more about his financial situation than he does. In some ways, yes, they are the experts, but they don’t remember everything all the time and they simply don’t care as much – no matter how good they are. It’s up to us to inform them of changes in our lives – such as having a new baby or buying or selling a home. Anything that might impact our tax situation.

The lesson: it doesn’t matter how many experts you have managing your finances, you can delegate the work, but you can’t delegate reviewing it. And, if you want them to call you, if you expect or require a certain level of service, be sure to ask for it. You must be aware of what is going on and take the time to go over your finances on a regular basis. Monthly is good, but you may even want to consider looking every week to make sure you are spending your money in the way that creates the greatest possible joy.

All the best,
Talane