Key Takeaways

• Paralysis by analysis keeps smart people stuck; the hardest part is simply getting started.
• Start by tackling your biggest financial pain point. Once you get the hardest part done, momentum will follow.
• Optimize for what helps you sleep at night, not what a textbook says you should do.

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Mark walked into my office in 2017 with a problem I see all the time among successful professionals. He wasn't struggling financially. Far from it. He was making $400,000 a year with significant assets already built up.

The problem was simpler and more frustrating. He was paralyzed by options.

Mark had $250,000 in cash. He knew it wasn't optimal. He had substantial company stock, both vested and unvested, concentrated in a single position. He understood the risk. His kids were approaching college age, and he was entering the final decade of his career. He knew he needed a plan.

But awareness doesn't equal action. And that's where most people get stuck.

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The Paralysis of Perfection

Busy professionals often recognize their finances need attention, but they lack the bandwidth to design the “perfect” plan.

So they do nothing and wait for that mythical moment when they'll have time to optimize everything at once: investments, tax strategy, estate planning, insurance, college funding, and retirement projections.

That moment never comes.

Mark lived this reality. He spent his days making financial decisions at work, but his own finances stayed on hold. The irony was clear to both of us. It wasn't that he didn't care. When you know you need to do something and can’t find the time, caring just becomes another source of stress.

The triggering moment came when he realized he was wasting his best earning years without a strategy.

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Financial Advisor NYC: Starting Where It Hurts Most

When we began, I didn’t hand him a massive plan. I asked one simple question: What’s keeping you up at night?

The answer was twofold: too much cash earning nothing, and too much company stock creating concentration risk.

So that’s where we started.

The Cash Problem

Mark had $250,000 in cash, plus $300,000 in deferred stock, along with various other investments.

We identified his needs over the next two to three years and set aside that money in safe, liquid accounts. There was no market exposure for dollars he'd need soon.

Then we tackled his emergency fund. Mark lived through 2008, and that experience shapes how you think about cash reserves. We settled on $100,000. This was higher than textbook recommendations, but it let him sleep at night. That’s what mattered.

That left roughly $125,000 of excess cash ready to invest.

Here’s where we made another practical choice. Mark’s annual bonus was coming in February, about six months away, and would add another $50,000 after taxes. Instead of investing the full $125,000 right away, we set up a dollar cost averaging plan to invest it gradually over the next six months. This let him keep some cash on hand while knowing more money was coming soon. He was investing, but not rushing.

Sometimes the best plan isn’t the most aggressive one. It’s the one you’ll actually execute.

The Concentration Risk Problem

Next was the company stock. Mark had about $300,000 in vested shares and another $300,000 unvested. That’s a significant concentration, with half his portfolio tied to one company’s performance.

I asked Mark to picture two scenarios.

First scenario: He holds everything, the stock tanks, and half his portfolio disappears. Second scenario: He sells, the stock soars, and he misses some gains, but he still has $300,000 unvested that benefits from any upside.

His answer came quickly. He’d rather lock in gains and sleep well than bet everything on one horse.

We started by selling half the vested shares. We set aside money for taxes immediately so he’d have no surprises the following April, and reinvested the remainder into a diversified portfolio.

The key point here is that this money was already at risk in a single stock. By moving it into a diversified portfolio, we actually reduced his risk.

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Momentum over Perfection

Here’s what we didn’t tackle in year one: estate planning, insurance restructuring, advanced tax strategies, or 30-year projections. Not because they didn’t matter, but because momentum mattered more. What we built instead was a checklist to accomplish all those things once we had momentum on our side.

Getting that cash invested and diversifying his stock position were the two biggest pain points causing stress. Solving those first meant he could breathe easier, think more clearly, and tackle other priorities when the time was right.

This is often the hardest part of starting a new advisory relationship. Clients, and even advisors, want to fix everything at once. But trying to do everything usually means nothing gets done.

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The Results

Fast forward eight years. Mark is now 60. His investable assets grew from $700,000 to $2.5 million, bringing his total net worth to $3.5 million.

His kids finished college without financial stress, and now he’s thinking about early retirement, not because he has to, but because he wants to. He can keep working if he enjoys it, or he can leave whenever he wants. The choice is his.

That’s what financial planning actually delivers: optionality.

The years following our initial work together were significantly easier. With a strategy in place, investing became routine. We could focus on retirement planning to ensure the next decade set him up properly. He saved diligently, invested regularly, and built wealth on his own terms.

But none of that happens without taking the first steps.

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The Behavioral Edge

My clients are smart people, and Mark is no exception. But his attention was on other priorities, as it should be. He didn’t need someone to explain what a diversified portfolio is. He needed someone to think ahead, spot opportunities, and help him see what he didn’t have time to focus on himself.

He also needed to know others had been in similar positions and successfully navigated to the other side. There’s a behavioral component here that often gets overlooked. If we can create momentum by doing something, we can fill in the gaps over time.

Most people think they need everything figured out at once. They don’t. They just need to get started.

This is how real progress happens. You focus on executing the big, repeatable wins year after year, then layer in smaller, more nuanced improvements over time.

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Are You Ready to Start With a High Net Worth Financial Advisor?

We didn’t begin with the flashy stuff. No complex tax strategies or portfolio wizardry. We started with the basics, the decisions that would move Mark forward. Then we layered improvements over time.

If you’ve been avoiding decisions, like too much cash, too much concentration, or just too much on your plate, focus on your biggest pain point. Don’t try to fix everything. Just focus on the one thing keeping you up at night.

Solve that first. Momentum will take care of the rest.

At Servet Wealth Management, we specialize in helping busy, high-earning professionals cut through the noise and focus on what matters most. If you're ready to stop overthinking and start building momentum with your financial life, click here to schedule a conversation today. Let's identify your biggest pain point and create a plan that actually gets executed.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How do I know when it’s time to hire a financial advisor?

A: It’s less about hitting a specific net worth and more about complexity and time. If your financial life involves multiple accounts, concentrated stock positions, major upcoming decisions, or growing uncertainty about what to do next, a financial advisor can help you prioritize, reduce mistakes, and create momentum when you don’t have the bandwidth to do it alone.

Q: Can financial planning really reduce stress around money?

A: Absolutely. Having a clear plan and decision framework replaces uncertainty with confidence, making it easier to handle everything from market volatility to major career transitions.

Q: What should I do first if I feel overwhelmed by my finances?

A: Start by addressing your biggest financial bottleneck, whether it’s excess cash, concentrated stock, or unclear goals. Solving one major issue will help you build momentum for everything else.

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*Content in this blog is based on a real story, with details adjusted to protect their privacy.

*Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, the information presented here should only be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice.