Begin With the End in Mind
Personal financial success comes from making appropriate decisions in several areas of finance. Over the next several blogs I’ll share the tips I give my clients to help them make those decisions.
The first tip is tried and true — Begin With the End in Mind. We have to start with where are we trying to get. Without a vision — a goal — we can’t determine a proper course of action. If you don’t know where you want to go, no path will get you there. So start by envisioning your future. Your lifestyle, career, family situation. These all figure into the End you have in Mind. Working on this plan while still maintaining a focus on the present is the challenge. Being able to do that successfully gives you balance.
How Do You Want Your Future to Look?
A year from now? Five years? Thirty-five years? Creating the answers to these questions allows us to develop a game plan for the one thing most clients want to discuss most, “How do I invest to get where I want to be?” And that is just fine because altering their current investment strategy is likely. Progress almost always requires some sort of change. If people are interested enough to want the answer to the question I posed, they are usually willing to make changes to some degree.
In creating their vision for the future we can discuss other aspects of life beyond investments. Are they concerned about financial security for family, outliving their wealth, retiring at a certain age, creating an estate plan? This allows me to educate on topics that may be unfamiliar to them.
Next Step –Take Action
If people start thinking long term, they can usually understand that it takes more than a vision. Action separates wishes from goals. If you have a goal, by definition you are committed to taking steps to achieve it. My next Tip is the starting point for Action and we’ll discuss it in the blog, Live Within Your Means.