WHere’s The Money
This week I had a client mention how she noticed I haven’t written very many “money” focused Daily Notes—that was music to my ears.
First, it was so great to hear that she was reading and enjoying the Daily Notes. My focus on helping people align their spirit, mind, body, and money did not begin until the last couple of years, so the clients I have worked with for so many years did not seek me as their financial advisor for that focus or consent. So to know that she, and other clients, are finding value in my new approach to planning is exciting to learn.
Second, her awareness of the imbalance toward notes about spirit, mind, and body tells me that at least one person has noticed where the importance lies in the Pursuit of authentic living.
Finally, I have no doubt that her comment planted in my subconscious that it was time to write a note about money because I thought I’d be waking up this morning to write about another topic.
So let’s talk money…
If you want to talk about Roth IRAs, asset allocation, estate planning, or why you shouldn’t react to headlines like the debt ceiling there are plenty of great blogs covering those topics and I’ve even written about them in the past over at All About Your Benjamins. In time, maybe some of those topics will show up in the Daily Notes but for now, there is plenty of great content on those subjects and I don’t believe my greatest value is adding more to the financial blogosphere library.
The topics I mentioned, and the countless that I didn’t, are all very important and certainly make up a critical part of the execution of a financial plan. However, when you are planning to design your authentic life, you cannot effectively use them in your plan without being clear about the life you are pursuing.
Choosing a specific investment or tax strategy, like doing Roth Conversions in the early years of retirement, may be a great strategy on paper and in spreadsheets but if your authentic life requires access to your investments prior to retirement, socking away pre-tax dollars early in your career to try to minimize taxes over your lifetime may not be the best strategy for YOU.
Side note: Another reason the money notes are fewer than the rest is they can get really boring and dry when covering planning topics. And thanks to the complexities of every individual’s situation being different and trying to cover multiple possible scenarios the notes would end up being too long.
There’s no way to know what you should do with your money unless you know what your values and goals are. This may not be the case for you, but the vast majority of people do not really know their goals or do not have the confidence to pursue the authentic life they keep hidden in their heads.
So for this early stage of my Pursuit of helping more people discover their authentic life, my focus is trying to wake people up to the fact that they have more control over the path they travel in life and that they don’t have to stay on a path not meant for them.
My focus is trying to encourage people to connect with their Inner Self to begin to understand who they truly are, what their passions are, and begin to identify what they authentic life looks like—the alignment of spirit, mind, and body.
My focus is to give people the inspiration and confidence to challenge their status quo to uncover the “whys” behind their current life and recognize the influences on their life placed upon them by others.
My focus is trying to get people to be ready to have a conversation about how their money aligns with their authentic life.
I’ll let you in on a little secret—the notes on spirit, mind, and body, even though they are not directly related to money, have all been about money. They’ve been about money because they are helping to move you closer to your authentic life. And once you are there you’ll be able to create a plan for your money directly aligned with the life you were meant to live.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
