What is the purpose of all your money?
Have you ever wondered why you have the money you have? You have means but what is its connection to meaning? To put it simply, what is the purpose of your money?
Mitch Anthony of Advisor Insights is a leading trainer for Financial Advisors. A month ago, I spoke at a national conference Mitch was speaking at. I gleaned some important insights from Mitch that I want to pass along.
The most common question I hear from clients is “Will I/do I have enough?” The answer to this question is something we regularly monitor for our clients. Mitch suggests a more valuable question to ask is “Am I managing my money in a way that is improving my life?” This requires the holistic approach our firm provides by addressing investment management, debt management, spending management, risk management, relational management, and financial & estate planning.
Money goes into motion when life goes in transition. It is better to prepare for those transitions than to repair the damage after them.
Unfortunately, our industry tends to only focus on the math – the Return On Investment (ROI) and not the Return On Life (ROL). Mitch defines Return On Life as getting the best life possible with the money you have. I think maximizing our ROL is way more important to most of us than maximizing our ROI. When I have written about this in the past, I have taught that contentment is not found in acquiring an amount of money. I am not saying to ignore ROI, my point is to not ignore ROL, especially if you value it more.
To maximize your Return On Life, define what success looks like for you. This does not need to be a complicated process. A succinct approach is to envision us chatting over coffee in 3 years (10 years, end of life, etc.), looking back over those years. Ask yourself, what would have had to happen for you to be able to say, ‘I’ve hit it out of the park, these years have truly been an overwhelming success’? Your answer will give you the purpose for your money. You will then be able to evaluate if you are managing your money in a way that is moving you closer to this reality.
Transitions are a critical time for us and our money. Is there anything happening right now or in the near future that could impact your financial future? Mitch teaches “Money goes into motion when life goes in transition. It’s better to prepare for those transitions than to repair the damage after them”. Most money mistakes are made during transitions and it often affects us for years.
If you manage your money in a way that is improving your life, you will be confident that you will have enough. You will also know you are living on purpose and successfully! If you are not confident of this, book your free consultation today. We love guiding families to their preferred future!