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One of the most important questions we help our clients answer is, “What’s the money for?” After all, if the purpose of your financial plan was just to keep growing your nest egg, then the best financial strategy would be to keep working and growing that nest egg as long as you physically could.

Our happiest retirees have improved their Return on Life not by earning as much money as possible, but by using that money in ways that make every day meaningful. Here are three ways you can start planning to build that same sense of purpose into your own financial plan.

1. PUT YOUR GIFTS TO THEIR HIGHEST USES.

A financially independent retiree might consider time to be their most valuable resource. Now that you don’t have to spend 40+ hours every week at a job, you can organize your days around using your personal and professional skills to do work that’s important to you.

So, what do you do best? And, just as importantly, what do you enjoy doing? Somewhere there’s a community organization that could benefit from your pro accounting skills or graphic design background. You could volunteer as a tutor at a local school or adult education center. If you’d like to maintain some ties to your old professional world, you could start your own consulting firm or serve as a mentor to the next generation. Or perhaps your favorite part of the workweek was the spare hours you could focus on exciting new initiatives. Could you grow one of those unrealized ideas into your own company?

2. CREATE A CHARITABLE GIVING STRATEGY.

Do you feel an extra bit of joy around the holidays when you donate to families in need? With proper planning, you can make giving back a part of your year-round routine.

The most effective giving strategies usually focus on making regular contributions to a couple of core causes that are personally meaningful. When you have a special relationship with a particular organization, it’s that’s much more fulfilling to see your generosity in action. You might even feel inspired to start your own charitable organization and work on building a legacy that could impact your community for generations.

3. HAVE SOME FUN!

Some retirees embrace an ‘endless weekend’ mentality about their retirement. That can be negative if your typical weekend involves lots of time on the sofa watching television.

But if you’re the kind of person who packs as much fun as possible into your off days, you might really enjoy filling out a new daily retirement schedule. Set a few weekly tee times with your retired friends and family and see how low you can get that handicap. Take your spouse out for date nights at your favorite restaurants – and between courses, start planning that dream vacation you never found time for when you were both working. Try a new exercise routine. Schedule some extra trips to visit your grandkids and catch their soccer games and dance recitals.

Perhaps most importantly, give yourself some space to experiment. Very few seniors get retirement right on their first try. It’s possible that some things that made you feel purposeful when you were working don’t excite you as much at this new stage of your life. Be open to new experiences. Follow your curiosity.

And if you ever feel your financial plan and your sense of purpose drifting apart, schedule some time to talk to one of our advisors. We can review your plan and work through some of our interactive Life-Centered Planning tools to reestablish that connection and make sure you’re getting the best life possible with the money you have.

Call us 401.241.6693 or Email Us hello@dreambuilder-ri.com

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How the experts at Lakefront Living Realty are helping buyers and sellers make the most out of their lakefront homes!

With Fall coming soon, now is the time to find your New England escape for next summer and every summer for years to come. Whether you’re in the market to buy or sell a lakefront home, the experts at Lakefront Living Realty have the experience and knowledge to provide you with the best possible experience.

Lakefront living specializes in direct lakefront homes and it is the only real estate franchise that is entirely lake-focused. If you dream of summers spent kayaking, tubing, or teaching the kids to fish, Lakefront Living Realty is the most trusted authority in Lakefront life!

As Lakefront experts, they offer detailed information about not just the beautiful homes they are listing, but the lakes as well so you can make well-informed decisions. They also display every direct lakefront home for sale on a given lake, not only for their listings but the listings from the entire listing service. Do you have a favorite lake in mind? You can find every home for sale on that lake instantly at Lakefrontliving.com!

For homebuyers, owning a lakefront property is an incredible lifestyle that Lakefront Living Reality makes even better. Lakefront’s Specialists will make sure that your new home is the right fit for you. Meanwhile, the large selection of homes Lakefront Living Reality offers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and many other states across the U.S. allows you to have the flexibility to live out your dream of family boat rides and lakeside lounging.

For real estate agents, partnering with Lakefront Living will allow you to expand your New England market in the lucrative market of lakefront properties. With our franchising opportunities, you can go from agent to owner within 90 days with the only lake-focused real estate franchise. When you team up with Lakefront Living, you access our protected territories, utilize our proprietary lead generation systems, and benefit from our deep understanding of a booming niche market.

Whether you are looking to buy or sell lakefront properties, Lakefront Living Realty provides the expertise and passion to make sure you get the most out of your lakefront life! Visit Lakefrontliving.com to learn more about them.

It may sound early for most Rhode Islanders, but for the Department of Public Works in your town, now is the time to think about road salt for winter storms. While these traditional ice melting methods are useful for helping to keep drivers safe in icy conditions, typical road salt can have devastating events on the environment. Thankfully, a New England-based company called Safe Road Services provides local public works departments with a much safer alternative.

The Dangers of Road Salt
According to Smithsonian Magazine, an estimated 22 million tons of salt are scattered on U.S. roads every year. To put that into perspective, that’s about 130 lbs. of salt for every American.

When the ice and snow melts, all of that salt has to go somewhere – which happens to be a big problem for waterways, soil, and our infrastructure. When road salt dissolves, it splits into sodium and chloride ions. When those ions run off roads and into the nearby environment, they can cause serious damage.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, these ions can enter freshwater bodies of water through runoff and even seep into groundwater, affecting drinking water. Chloride from road salts can be toxic to aquatic life. On top of that, it can affect wildlife and pets who can often ingest road salt. It also damages the vegetation that wildlife feed on by changing the chemical structure of the soil.

If you’ve noticed how road salt can corrode the paint on your vehicle if it’s not clean, it’s easy to see how road salt damages roads, bridges, vehicle parts, and equipment after years of heavy salt use. According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, “The cost of corrosion damage and corrosion protection practices for highways and the automobile industry has been reported to cost a staggering 16-19 billion dollars per year.”

That’s where Safe Road Services comes in to make a difference.

Safe Road Services Steps Up

SAFE MELT™ is a powerful de-icing product from Safe Road Services that can be used to reduce the amount of harmful chloride ions introduced to the environment from road salt by as much as 50%. Made from calcium chloride and a forestry byproduct of the paper-pulping process called lignin, this de-icer passes some of the toughest environmental safety tests in the country. It is even safe enough to eat as demonstrated on WGME CBS News in Portland, Maine – although we don’t recommend it.

The future of ice melters, SAFE MELT™, is effective to pavement temperatures of zero degrees Fahrenheit. It is biodegradable, low toxicity, safe to handle, and cost-competitive with other ice melters in the industry. Not only is it better for the environment, but it has received glowing testimonials from the highway and department of public works officials who have used it.

“We have been using Safe Melt for the past 8 years and are very satisfied with the product thus far… Using this product means the difference between having to stay later and use more salt or going home to get that much-needed rest. It tends to bind to the asphalt very well and lasts longer than salt alone,” wrote Jim Jones, a foreman who cares for the roads in Brewster, MA.

“We often get comments from other surrounding towns on how well Brewster’s roads are. The use of this product has helped greatly in the response to public safety and with school delays and closures,” Jones continued.

If you would like to learn more about SAFE MELT™, visit saferoadservices.com!

Rhode Island resident, Mary Tanana is known for her folktastic artistic style and colorful art pieces that are available to be purchased on her website, and her Etsy page. Her artwork is inspired by her love of Henna, folk, and Zentangle art.
Mary uses her art to reflect her Polish and Russian heritage. The types of designs available for purchase are colorful folk style art prints, Polish Wycinanki style papercut art, downloadable coloring pages, tea towels, Monogram initial prints, greeting cards, sticker sheets, as well as personalized items.

Mary attended Syracuse University and graduated with a BFA in Fashion Illustration. She started off in a jewelry business where she created patterns that would be etched into metal. She also had the opportunity to live in Hong Kong where she ran a design department. This was a turning point in Mary’s life, where she grew familiar with the open market and everything it has to offer.

Although she loved learning how to create fine jewelry, she decided to make a life-changing decision a few years ago. She took many courses, immersing herself back into pattern design so that she could pursue a career in surface design. Her unique patterns make her pieces easily recognizable.

Because of her passion for traveling, Mary takes photographs wherever she visits. She uses the various landscapes and architecture captured in her photographs to influence the various patterns of her work, taking a different approach to those basic textures and transforming them into new pieces. She is also a lover of gardening and uses the textures of flowers and petals to inspire her as well. The beauty of nature around her acts as a catalyst for her work, capturing simple everyday objects and transforming them into their most beautiful form.

To view more of her beautiful work, check out her website https://groovitydesigns.com/ as well as her Etsy page https://www.etsy.com/shop/Groovity