Newsletter Introduction
By Chris Cassidy, CEO
October 2026
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HAS a lot of great quotes. One of those is: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This rings particularly true in the world of finance.
Recent survey data from Northwestern Mutual suggests that the typical American worker believes they need $1.46 million to retire comfortably. Despite this sentiment, a recent report from the National Institute on Retirement Security found that the average American worker has less than $1,000 saved for retirement. Clearly there is a need for financial planning and financial education. According to Savology’s State of Household Finances Report, people with a financial plan are more than twice as likely to adequately save for retirement. Despite these numbers, only about one in three Americans has a detailed financial plan in place.
Although financial planning can be daunting, working with a professional firm, such as Trust Company of Vermont, can make the process easy and painless. We use eMoney financial planning software that allows us to construct financial plans using inputs such as assets, income, and expenses. According to the Journal of Financial Planning, individuals who used a professional planner generated more than 50% greater savings than individuals who did not.
As with most things, the earlier you begin the planning process the better. Keagan Bradley was playing golf almost every day by the time he was six years old. This partly explains why he gets to walk on the fairways in PGA Tournaments and the Ryder Cup. In contrast, I started playing golf later in life. This partly explains why I walk around the woods and near water hazards trying to find my golf ball.
Working professionals often want to know how much they should be saving and when they can safely retire. eMoney allows our financial planners to run various scenarios to answer these important questions. While financial planning is valuable for those still in the workforce, it is also a powerful tool for those already retired. Financial plans can help answer questions around gifting to children and grandchildren, projecting estate values and taxes under various scenarios and ascertaining the potential benefits of Roth IRA conversions.
Jill Dolan, one of our financial planners, has written an article this month focusing on the importance of financial literacy and the types of questions that we should be asking. As for me, my wife and daughter both like to ride horses, so the answers to my financial questions are not hard for me to find. How much should I be saving for retirement? A lot. When can I safely retire? Never. I’ll need a financial plan to fill in the details.