Getting Fiscally Fit: Program Recap

Published August 12, 2025

Becoming Fiscally Fit for Financial Stability

While it may take years to notice your gains, remaining dedicated and committed is key to realizing financial stability.

One of the major takeaway’s from Larry’s Metzler’s presentation is that financial security is an iterative process that needs to be revisited and changed based on your current financial situation and goals.

What It Means to Be Fiscally Fit for Financial Stability?

Fiscally fit is a combination of decisions and behaviors that help lead you to financial independence. As you become fiscally fit, you will undergo a transformation that will adjust the way you think about your finances and replace your old, less-than-optimal habits with successful ones. As you progress, you will work to eliminate your debts, increase your income, and plan and save for the future. While we can’t all become millionaires, we can all make adjustments, big and small, to how we approach and use our money, ultimately leading to a more stable financial future.

Becoming fiscally fit means that we are creating financial security in our lives through five main objectives:

1. Protection – Ensuring we are protected against possible loss in all areas of our lives (job, income, spouse, economic downturns).
2. Retirement – Having enough money to preserve your lifestyle after employment. Part of this is ROI, or the reliability of our income streams after we stop working.
3. Investing – Are we diversified (Protection)? Do we have the right asset allocation for our current financial goals (both short and long term)? Can we try to mitigate any potential losses?
4. Taxes – They are due every year. Generally, the more money you make, the more you pay, so are we both planning and prepared for fluctuations in our tax obligations?
5. Estate Planning – Ensuring that all of our documents and designations are in order to leave assets to loved ones or fulfill other wishes.

This is a long, iterative process that takes commitment and discipline; always talk with a financial advisor to help you on your way.

Key Challenges on the Path to Becoming Fiscally Fit

Before we talk about the steps to becoming fiscally fit, it is important to identify the many challenges we may face so we are better prepared to deal with them. Many of these challenges are also considerations we need to keep in mind as we plan and take steps to become fiscally fit.

For example, as we are experiencing longer life expectancies, we may be forced to work well into our retirement years in order to set ourselves up for financial well-being during retirement.

Additionally, we need to recognize that once we retire, our standard of living will generally be lower and will continue downward unless we can keep up with inflation.

As a result, relying strictly on Social Security or personal savings is not an option, so the more we can prepare in our early years, the better off we will be.

Strategies for Overcoming Challenges to Become Fiscally Fit

Now that we understand what some of our challenges are, let’s talk about some steps we can take to overcome them.

First and foremost, we need to develop a plan, taking into consideration our current financial situation and our short- and long-term goals. Part of this plan is building a budget by identifying all of your sources of income and all of your monthly debts.

Can I afford my current lifestyle? What can I live without?

Through your budget, you can identify areas where you can cut spending in order to pay down debts, start an emergency fund, or contribute to a long-term savings or retirement account. Start asking yourself tough questions, such as “Can I afford my current lifestyle?”, “What can I live without?”, and “Is what I’m buying a want or a need?”

Is what I’m buying a want or a need?

Once you have built your budget, you can start identifying ways to increase your income, such as through additional jobs or by getting a better job through schooling or skills development. In addition to increasing your income, you can look for ways to reduce your taxes through contributions to retirement accounts using pre-tax dollars or focusing on retirement accounts with little or no tax consequences.

If you have debt, this is the right time to start taking control by applying any extra funds to pay it down using the Snowball Method. Start with the lowest debt amount and pay that off as quickly as possible while making minimum payments on your other debts. Once the lowest debt is fully paid off, take that money and apply it to the next lowest debt amount, and continue the trend until you are debt-free.

During this time, you should also create and top off your emergency fund, which should contain enough money to cover six to twelve months of your monthly expenditures.

Additional Factors to Support Becoming Fiscally Fit

While increasing income and lowering debt are important components of becoming fiscally fit, there are other considerations we should be aware of to help us become financially stable.

Protection through proper insurance can ensure financial stability in the event of a disaster, such as death, a car accident, or a home or apartment fire.

In terms of investing, be sure to diversify your portfolio to protect yourself from downturns in the market, and revisit your asset allocation periodically to ensure it meets your financial goals.

Lastly, make time for estate planning to ensure that you have a will, power of attorney, and medical directives in place so that you can leave your assets and clear instructions to your loved ones.

Looking for More Information?

Thank you to Larry Metzler from the Society for Financial Awareness for sharing the steps we need to take to Becoming Fiscally Fit for Financial Stability.

If you have personal questions about your finances, you can contact Larry Metzler at lmetzler@apogeefinancial.net or schedule an appointment at https://calendly.com/lmetzler-1/60min.

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