Microsoft announces first yearly sales decline since going public. Alaska Airlines reports a first-bag handling fee. Boeing readies its first new Dreamliner for flight.

These are just a few of the press releases I saw recently. As a small business owner myself, I find it fascinating to keep tabs on major corporations as they try to stay one step ahead of the competition.

One way I stay ahead of the competition in my own line of work is by creatively explaining to investors that although it might be interesting to watch local companies in action, building a portfolio based on press releases is a loser’s game.

Want to know the most important component to building long term wealth? It isn’t press releases, it is you, and your ability to put together your own financial plan.

I know, I know, it is much more fun to keep tabs on local companies than it is to keep tabs on our own financial affairs, but if you are serious about building lasting wealth, it is time to turn inward and create an authentic financial plan that will allow you to stay one step ahead of the competition, not to mention a very uncertain political and economic future. Here are some things to think about when putting together your own financial plan.

The financial plan you create today and the inputs you use to develop that plan will have numerous changes over your lifetime. In fact some of your plan’s inputs won’t even come close to matching the reality of what will unfold later in your life. That doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that establish a plan, review it at least once a year, and then adjust according to changes in your life.

For instance, inflation will have a sizable impact on your purchasing power over your lifetime. But what inflation figure should you use in your financial plan to recognize that? In the end, whether you use 2, 3 or 4 percent inflation in your projection isn’t nearly as important as how much your cost of living is increasing each year.

If you can keep your expenses at a 2 percent increase year after year, then that is a good inflationary number to use in your projections. If your burn rate is increasing 5 percent a year, that is the number to use.

Another essential component to your long term planning is the projected growth rate of your portfolio.

Using a number north of six percent might provide you with an optimistic projection, but is it realistic? Are you confident you can achieve that return with the allocation of your portfolio? It is far better to err on the side of being too conservative than too aggressive in your portfolio projections, and then adjust your portfolio to its actual value at your year-end review.

Creating an authentic financial plan isn’t always easy, but worth it if for investors who want to build wealth, ignore Wall Street and get on with their lives.