How to Align Financial Choices With Personal Values

This birthday lunch was part of a whole day out my wife planned as a surprise for me. IT was an amazing experience - and one that was well worth the money spent. As a financial planner, I want to help people understand how to use their money wisely. "Using" money doesn't just mean saving and investing, even if we do prioritize that first. Using money also means spending. But most financial "experts" don't bother to educate people how to do that. We're adamant about building financial plans that balance the saving for the future while also enjoying life today. There are a few keys things you can do to spend better and get more value out of the money you're using right now: ❤️ Get clear on what matters to you Know your core values and then make sure your actions - including how you spend money - actually align with them. My family's core values are Growth, Contribution, Togetherness, Play, and Wellness. When we spend in ways that get us closer to these values, we get more enjoyment from our money. Don’t use your hard-earned dollars on stuff that doesn’t reflect what you say is most important to experience in your life. Say YES to what matters most, and no to everything else. Note that you don't want to spend on present-day wants in such a way that it interferes with your ability to save and invest. If you value freedom today, you’re probably going to value it in some form tomorrow. Don’t rob your future self of the ability to live that value by failing to save now! 🚫 Don't do what everyone else is doing, just because everyone else is doing it If it doesn’t resonate with you, or if it doesn’t align with your values, or you don’t even like the damn thing… Don’t make the purchase. A big example of this in our own personal life is our lack of interest in buying a new house after we sold our previous one. It’s just not something that aligns with our goals or interests at the moment. It doesn’t mean someone else is wrong for following that path. It just means we are not currently interested - so we don't feel pressured to pursue it, and can use our money in other ways. 🧳✈️📍 Experiences tend to provide more value than stuff Material goods don't usually give lasting happiness. It's too easy to compare and to quantify your stuff, and end up feeling less satisfied with what we have when we feel we don't measure up to what others have. And because we adapt so easily and so quickly, what feels new and novel and exciting today becomes routine, normal, and unexciting tomorrow. Interestingly, people report more regret when they had the chance to take part in an experience but skipped it to save money. Experiences provide opportunities for growth and connection. The memories we form when doing things we enjoy with people we love are some of the most valuable things we can ever possess. So skip the material stuff - but maybe say "yes" more often to sharing an experience with someone who matters to you.

What if I told you the secret to a solid financial plan isn’t in the numbers but in something most people overlook? What truly drives lasting wealth is aligning your financial choices with the core values that define who you are. These values include love, connection, happiness, and fulfillment. They’re different for everyone. But when you check in and ask yourself, “Am I a loving partner? Am I connected with my family? Am I happy? Am I fulfilled?” and your answers are sometimes, “a little bit”, or “maybe”, even "I don’t know”.   It makes you stop and think: Wait a second, why am I working so hard? What happened? One of these values may have taken over—financial security. We need financial security for ourselves and our families. But, security has taken over for most people because they’re using outdated financial strategies. They’re stuck with one income stream, all their wealth is in the stock market, and they’re paying maximum taxes. This feels unstable, as if some random event in the world could happen and blow everything up. Instead, you start to reorient your financial plan around a multi-asset plan (MAP) using both offensive and defensive assets. You can then build multiple income streams, so no matter what happens in the world, you have money coming in. This is the process of becoming financially unbreakable. When you build a financial plan like this, your need for security is fulfilled, allowing you to make room for the other areas of life that are truly more important and may have been neglected. This starts a positive wealth loop, where instead of feeling fearful when events happen in the world, you start to see opportunities everywhere. Things begin to feel easier, and good things happen because you’re living your best life aligned with what’s most important to you. Here’s the tough question: Are you living your values? When I first did this exercise, I couldn’t even remember what my values were. I’ve been self-employed for 20 years. Security consumed me. I was so focused on providing for my family that I neglected many other areas. But once I identified my core values and built my plan to support this, it became liberating. Everything just got easier. Leave me some feedback and let me know if you think we need more conversations about values when building a financial plan. Are you living your values, or has security taken over? #FinancialAwarenessDay

This is going to get me some hate but: The goal of personal finance isn't to optimize your spreadsheet. After talking to 100’s of Money Abroad readers about money, I discovered a secret. Magic happens when people clarify their 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴... ... before jumping into tweaking their 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘵. I can spend my weekends: • running 30-year Monte Carlo simulations • adjusting my expense assumptions • letting the numbers govern my life OR I can spend my Sundays: • reflecting on my personal values • designing work & lifestyle to align with my values • work backwards to the financial numbers required How are you designing your finances to reflect what you value the most?