Episode 735 - Are You REALLY Prepared?

Preparation feels good, but maintenance takes discipline, and that’s the focus of Episode 735 of Monday Morning Mojo. Phil shares a winter weather close call that exposed a dead generator battery and sparked a bigger realization about financial planning. Buying the generator was an event, but true readiness requires continuous attention. Phil draws a clear parallel to wealth management, where even well-built plans can quietly drift off course without regular monitoring and updates. This episode is a reminder that advisors play a vital role in helping clients “test their batteries” before challenges arise, and that personal financial readiness deserves the same level of care and consistency.

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Transcript

Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I'm Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. To, I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining. 

Good Monday morning. It is Phil here with episode 735 of Monday Morning Mojo. I've got a lot of pals who live in what we would call the more northern climates, uh, and they tend to have a lot of fun with those of us who reside in the south when winter weather comes our way. News, videos of cars slip, sliding down the freeway and spinning out can and do make for fun and interesting viewing.

The main reason most Southerners struggle with winter driving has nothing to do with snow. Driving in and on snow is usually quite manageable In the south, what we tend to get more of is freezing rain. Now think about the difference between freezing rain versus snow. Snow is puffy compacts very nicely.

Freezing rain forms, sheets of ice, that can be inches thick, and that's a challenge for any driver regardless of where you grew up. Well, last week we were forecasted to get an ice storm and we in fact did now as fate would have it, I had a business trip scheduled. Thus, I was gonna be in a situation of leaving my wife at home.

To brave the winter storm alone? Well, not totally alone. We've got two dogs, but they weren't gonna be very helpful in our prep. So I was that husband that was leaving just before the storm. Typical guy, right? Well, given past experiences with ice, I had several years ago, purchased a portable generator.

It's a. Quite sizable deal, but it is portable, and so at the end of each winter, I always go through a process of draining the fuel, fogging the engine, and keeping it secure in the warmer months. Now knowing that the storm was coming, and this was our first storm of the year, I thought to myself, I've gotta get the generator out, get it crank, put in fresh, uh, ethanol free gas, you know, check the oil, do all the, do all the right things.

And so I went through my process of doing it, and I was ready then to hit the power button. In purchasing the generator that I did, I chose to have a battery powered starter. So no pulling of the cords to crank it is necessary. So having done all the prep work, I hit the button and I heard nothing but silence.

The battery was dead now having no other option. In that moment, I decided to pull the cord, and in doing so, the engine fired up on the first pull. So all good with the engine. After letting the generator run for about 10 minutes, I shut it off. The off button, doesn't need a battery. Uh, but I then removed the dead battery and headed to the battery store to buy a replacement.

Evidently so had every other generator owner in the northeast Georgia area, they had bought replacement batteries that day. There was not a battery to be had. I went to five stores and finally. Gave up the pull cord would just have to suffice. Then reality set in while I was okay with using the pull cord, my wife wouldn't be, now normally she would be fine, but due to an arm injury, she has her right wrist and a cast.

This is a big problem. Then it hit me. I have a neighbor who happens to be the provost of the University of Georgia who. Could come crank it. So I made the call and told him that if he would do this for me, that I would make sure my wife videoed it and proudly would post that on the University of Georgia website.

He laughed and said, no problem. Well, luckily, although the ice storm did come, our power never went out, so the generator wasn't needed, but the whole ordeal reminded me that being quote unquote prepared. Is actually a continuous process. It's not a single event. Buying the generator was an event. It was, but a piece of being prepared.

Now I gotta, thinking two months ago, I should have tested the generator. I should have identified the dead battery. At that point in time, I should have had a reminder on my calendar to prompt me, which I have since done. I have also put reminders on the calendar to empty the gas at the end of the season, fog it, and prepare it to, uh, sit dormant.

Now this has a corollary to the world of wealth management planning. And that is that clients can fall into a trap of complacency around key areas of their financial lives by simply having taken proactive steps at some point in the past and feeling the relief that comes of having an issue addressed.

But the passing of time brings the need of monitoring and reevaluating. That the initial preparation is still appropriate and that there are no quote unquote dead batteries, and that's where we as advisors really are essential. This is where we excel. Having done fundamental planning is great, but not doing continual testing and maintenance of the plan will leave clients with their own dead batteries.

And often that's not exposed until the moment that the ice storms of life arrive. More importantly, maybe not more importantly, but as importantly, you and I have to look at our own financial life and ensure that we've got our own monitoring and maintenance of our quote unquote batteries, and that we are ready.

For our own ice storms of life, test your batteries. Now. Monday morning Mojo is production of Cannon Financial Institute; executive producer of Monday Morning Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week.

Thanks for being part of the Mojo community.