Whelp, I’m officially old.
Apparently, I need reading glasses now, at least according to my eye doctor.
Funny thing about that… my nearsightedness has actually improved but my astigmatism has gotten a bit worse in my left eye.
Anywho, the doc prescribed me two different lenses.
Weird, because no other doc has ever prescribed me two lenses before… and yes, part of the reason is because I’ll be turning 40 later this year and that’s when presbyopia sets in. But, it’s also because lenses have a fixed focal length.
It’s a lens. It’s not going to care whether you’re reading a book or looking across the street.
So, if you wear glasses, what happens is your eye doc tests your vision to see what lens you need to achieve 20/20 vision.
20/20, of course, means that you can see the same object or letters on an eye chart with good visual acuity that a person with normal vision can see… 20 feet away.
Which means… the corrective lens is optimized for looking at things 20 feet away (or farther).
Wut about when u sit at yer desk or are in your phone, arguing with someone on Flakebook at the coffeeshop?
You need a different set of lenses (or bifocals) to optimize vision at closer distances.
… which is the reason doc prescribed two lenses instead of one.
Now… here’s where it got really interesting… when the eye doc stuck those test lenses in front of my eyes in the office, we tested the distance lenses which worked perfectly for seeing far away.
But reading small print up close?
Not so much. It actually hurt my eyes (and was all fuzzy) trying to read up close.
And when the doc told me to read the eye chart with reading glasses?
Things got kind of fuzzy and out of focus. I just couldn’t see the letters very well.
It got me thinking about the nature of shortsightedness… and not just literal shortsightedness.
A lot of folks I meet have myopic vision when it comes to financial planning. And it’s not because they’re dumb. It’s because they don’t know any better. Sometimes it’s because they’re lazy, but a lot of times it’s because they don’t know any better.
By definition, they can’t see.
It’s like they’re wearing reading glasses and can’t see into the distance. The future is “fuzzy” and out of focus.
This is what insurance is for. It makes the fuzzy future, clear. But, in order to see into the future, you need a good insurance advisor… like an eye doc for your money.
Ok OK, enough with the analogies. But for realz, one of the big reasons people simply cannot plan their own financial future is because they lack a deep understanding of a financial concept called “present value.”
In some ways, it’s a basic financial concept taught in every accounting and finance class. But… knowing how (and when) to use it? It’s not at all intuitive.
Hence, the reason to hire and work with a professional.
Unfortunately, a lot of financial advice you find on the Interwebs (and sadly, some financial planning circles) is shortsighted and ignores (or misapplies) the concept of present value.
Good news for me though… it gives me job security ?
One of the things insurance does is it simplifies many different financial problems by taking the unknown and transforms it into a known future outcome.
It also makes determining the present value of your future savings much easier.
For example, even if you have a well-diversified investment portfolio, you can’t ever know exactly how much money you’ll have in the future.
But, with life and insurance and annuities, you do know. You know the exact amount you’ll have, guaranteed. And because it’s guaranteed, you can know what that future amount is most likely worth today. And that, in turn, helps you make much better, smarter, decisions with your money.
Onward.
If you want to remove a lot of the uncertainty surrounding your retirement or maybe just medical expenses as you get older, go join my email list and I’ll show you how it’s done.