A common question I get: "I know I'm financially successful but how do I feel like I'm successful in the areas that matter?"
Here's how I go about answering this question and helping the client.
Money is just a tool. Finance is the discipline of leveraging money to accomplish specific goals.
Financial Success is when you achieve your stated goals by leveraging money in a way that's aligned with how your values about money.
Since financial success is personal and varies from person to person. So in a world where we're bombarded by endless marketing and easily aspire to greater and greater levels of "financial success," how do we find what kinds of financial success brings us deeper satisfaction and fulfillment?
George Kinder developed the following three questions to help clients articulate their money values and identify what financial success means for them.
Many financial advisors and planners have since adopted these questions to better guide their clients.
Question 1: Design Your Life
"I want you to imagine that you are financially secure, that you have enough money to take care of your needs, now and in the future.
The question is, how would you live your life? What would you do with the money? Would you change anything?
Let yourself go. Don’t hold back your dreams. Describe a life that is complete, that is richly yours."
Question 2: You Have Less Time
"This time, you visit your doctor who tells you that you have five to ten years left to live.
The good part is that you won’t ever feel sick. The bad news is that you will have no notice of the moment of your death.
What will you do in the time you have remaining to live? Will you change your life, and how will you do it?"
Question 3: Today’s the Day
"This time, your doctor shocks you with the news that you have only one day left to live. Notice what feelings arise as you confront your very real mortality.
Ask yourself: What dreams will be left unfulfilled? What do I wish I had finished or had been? What do I wish I had done? Did I miss anything?"
Most of the time, once you've answered all three questions, you'll see a common thread. It may be spending more time with family, leaving a legacy for grandchildren, starting your own business, or traveling more to see the world.
Regardless of what the answers are, they have shown you what you value and given you the goals to live in alignment with those values.
The last step is to work backward from those goals to identify how to use the money you have at your disposal to achieve those goals.
I'll leave you with an example.
If you find that spending time with family and seeing the world are recurring themes, then you might do the following:
Identify additional times throughout the year to spend more time with family. If you live away from them, you might set up a savings account to put away money to make it easier to travel to them.
To see more of the world, you might make a list of places you'd like to see and rank them. Then open a savings account to consistently put away money for making those trips a reality.
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