Human beings don’t like uncertainty, especially when we’re contemplating our financial futures. It’s not enough for us to think that we’ll have enough money to send our kids to college, or to retire. We want to know exactly how much money we’ll need to achieve those goals — and precisely how we’re going to get it.
But I don’t think that certainty is possible. Not at all. Not even a little.
So here’s another idea: We should simply take our best guess — let’s call it what it is — at what we want our financial future to look like. We don’t have to be accurate. But we do need to set a direction based on our deepest inclinations. Then we can make decisions that support our goals — with lots of improvisation and further guesswork along the way.
Read the rest of the article on The New York Times.