By Lorie Jones, Fearless Financial Advisors
My daughter went on a road trip last year with her friends. She and four of her besties spent weeks planning exactly how many miles they would drive each day, where they would stay, and what they would do. She is my daughter, so I’m pretty sure there was a spreadsheet involved somewhere.
It was really a fun process to watch, because two of the girls were planners and two of them were more “see what happens” types. They navigated the challenges and ended up with a two-week road trip through California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah all mapped out. It included skydiving, camping in National Forests, and sounded like a lot of fun.
I made them pack their bear spray and gave them a very strong lecture (where all four of them rolled their eyes at least once) about not getting kidnapped or doing stupid things… and then they were off.
They had an absolute blast and a memory they’ll carry for the rest of their lives. It was that last fling with their girlfriends before life starts to look a little more like “adulting.”
What I found most interesting, though, was the after-action debrief. How did the plan actually work?
Sammie told me it was pretty good, but they had planned to drive and stay somewhere new every single night, and she wished they had stayed in one place for two nights here and there so they could explore a little more. They also hit an unexpected bump in San Diego and ended up staying in a motel one night instead of driving late into the night (so maybe my “don’t do stupid things” lecture worked after all).
If they were going to do the trip again, they wouldn’t scrap the whole plan, they would just make a few small adjustments.
• Stay a little longer in the places they loved. • Build in a little more breathing room. • Expect that not everything will go exactly as planned.
And that is exactly how real financial progress works.
This story obviously made me think about finance—as it would most true financial geeks.
I’ve created thousands of financial plans over the years, and I can tell you this: the people who build real, lasting wealth are not the ones making dramatic, overnight changes.
They’re the ones making small, consistent moves, and adjusting along the way.
Because just like that road trip, life doesn’t go exactly according to plan.
There are unexpected bumps.
• A job loss.
• A health scare.
• A shift in priorities you didn’t see coming when you first mapped everything out.
It’s easy in those moments to feel like the whole plan is ruined, you have fallen behind, you have to start over. But most of the time, you don’t need to throw everything out, you just need to adjust the route.
When I plan with my clients, we don’t just map out the “perfect” scenario. We build in room for the real one.
• What if the market has a downturn the year you retire?
• What if you need to stop working early to care for a parent?
• What if inflation is higher than expected?
• What if halfway through, you realize that staying home with your kids matters more than the vacation home you thought you wanted?
The people who feel the most confident about their future aren’t the ones who got everything exactly right the first time, they are the ones who kept going even when things were going wrong.
• They keep saving, even when it didn’t feel like much.
• They made small tweaks, not big emotional decisions.
• They trusted consistency, kept making the right moves, even if it wasn’t perfect.
That’s the 1% rule. Tiny moves, done consistently and adjust when needed.
Over time, those small decisions compound into something much bigger than you expected.
Just like that road trip… you don’t need a perfect plan, you just need to keep moving in the right direction, and be willing to reroute when life throws you a detour.
So if you’re feeling behind or unsure, don’t scrap the whole plan.
Start small:
• Increase your savings just a little
• Look at your numbers (even if it feels uncomfortable)
• Make one decision today that your future self will thank you for
Progress doesn’t come from doing everything perfect, it comes from doing the next right thing, consistently.
