Throughout May, we’re sharing tips for promoting wellbeing. This week, we’re spotlighting financial wellbeing with Lance Gooder, Senior Financial Analyst at L&P!

Lance joined L&P 11 years ago as an intern in the Internal Audit Department, working various roles there for four years before transitioning to the Treasury Department. We asked him to share about his role and some tips for staying financially healthy.

What do you do as a Senior Financial Analyst?

My primary responsibilities revolve around:

• cash flow and consolidated financial statement forecasting
• analyzing balance sheet currency exposures and developing a mitigation plan for the exposure risk
• completing regular reviews of treasury-related company metrics and providing executive/board-level reporting on those metrics
• calculating intercompany lending terms/rates

I also provide a supporting role in many back-office treasury functions, such as vendor approvals, payment set-up/approvals, derivative and currency trade settlements, and various bank account admin functions. I help with any ad-hoc projects or initiatives in the department with a specific focus on working capital or financial data analysis.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

With the size of our department, I have the opportunity to work on a variety of treasury-related tasks. In most large corporations, treasury personnel get pigeonholed into one or two related functions. The benefit of working for a company of L&P’s size is that I get to dabble in a little bit of everything – from something as complex as currency derivatives to as simple as approving payments.

While my role provides a general cadence, there’s always unique and challenging experiences. I had a passion for math, finance, and accounting early on, and a little bit of a creative side as well. I’m lucky in that I’ve found a career that calls for the right balance of “science” and “art” for me.   

Do you have some favorite financial tips to share with our colleagues?

I can think of a couple:

First, don’t underestimate the power of compounding or time value of money. This can apply both on the savings and debt side. It doesn’t require an astronomical return to generate a large amount of wealth over time. A lot of people are looking for a quick way to double or triple an investment, and the reality is that there are very few of those opportunities out there. Don’t let that discourage you though, because a steady cadence of contributions with just a slightly positive return will morph into a meaningful amount that will surprise you over time. Similarly on the debt side, regular usage of interest earning debt with little payment toward a principal balance can quickly turn into a difficult obstacle to overcome.

The second is one that I think is important for living a full life: think of money as the tool, not the goal. Set objectives for yourself or your business, and then figure out how to come up with capital needed to accomplish it. Whether it’s buying a house, expanding a new product line, paying for an education, or buying a toaster, determine what you want to accomplish and then identify how much you need to get there. If you’re constantly looking to just grow your cash balance, you’ll never have enough, and you’ll miss a lot of enjoyment along the way.

Do you have any advice for staying financially healthy throughout different life stages?

This may sound cliché, but the first and biggest step is just setting up and maintaining a budget. Understand what your inflows and outflows are and operate within them.

For those who are a little more advanced, don’t be afraid of debt or leverage – understand it. Leverage can be a useful tool for accomplishing your objectives, but it is critical to understand the risk and potential return of what you’re spending that leverage on.

We appreciate Lance for sharing his personal tips for staying financially healthy. We encourage everyone to do their own research and consult a trusted financial advisor when making financial decisions.