What should come first: your investments or your financial plan?
For Sonja at Baobab Wealth, the answer is clear: your investments should support your financial plan, not the other way around.
In this video, Sonja shares the personal and professional experiences that shaped how she approaches financial planning today.
Originally from Germany, Sonja spent more than 20 years in the sporting goods industry, working across Europe, Asia, and the United States before entering financial services. Her own financial life also became increasingly complex after years of living and working in different countries, with savings, investments, and real estate spread across multiple places.
Bringing those pieces together into one financial picture helped change the way she thought about money—and ultimately helped lead her into financial planning.
In this video, Sonja discusses:
- Her journey from the sporting goods industry into financial services
- How living and working internationally shaped her perspective
- Her personal experience managing a cross-border financial life
- Why financial planning should come before investment decisions
- Why trying to predict what markets will do next isn't the foundation of a financial plan
- How income, liquidity, taxes, and risk become increasingly important as retirement approaches
- How Social Security decisions can affect taxes
- How Roth conversions can potentially affect Medicare premiums
- How withdrawal strategies can affect both your portfolio and legacy goals
- Why financial decisions shouldn't be evaluated in isolation
- The importance of understanding the “why” behind financial recommendations
- How Baobab Wealth approaches retirement and cross-border financial planning
Sonja also shares how lessons from competitive golf have influenced her thinking. You can't control the conditions, but you can prepare, develop a strategy, and adjust when circumstances change.
Financial planning can work in much the same way.
Markets will move. Headlines will change. Your life will change, too. A financial strategy should take into account what you're trying to accomplish, what you need from your money, your comfort with risk, and the potential tax implications of your decisions.
For those approaching retirement, this becomes particularly important. Growth is only one part of the picture. Creating income, maintaining liquidity, managing risk, and considering taxes can all become important parts of the financial plan.
At Baobab Wealth, the goal is to help clients understand their options and how different financial decisions may connect so they can make informed decisions about their financial lives.
As we often say: Growing old is mandatory. Doing it well is optional. And doing it well starts with a plan.
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Sonja
00:31 From International Business to Financial Planning
01:13 Bringing a Cross-Border Financial Life Together
01:55 Sonja’s Role at Baobab Wealth
02:25 Why the Financial Plan Comes First
03:08 How Financial Decisions Connect
03:50 Understanding the “Why” Behind the Plan
04:20 A Personal Connection to Cross-Border Planning
04:52 Planning for Retirement
05:19 Doing It Well Starts With a Plan