By Ember E. Martin, CFP®
Money may not be able to buy you happiness, but it sure does free you to pursue opportunities that bring you true joy and fulfillment. And in fact, accumulating more money shouldn’t be an end goal in and of itself. Instead, it’s what you do with your money that will bring you the greatest pleasure and contentment in your life.
At Vested Wealth Advisors, we believe that you will find the most fulfillment when your personal values are aligned with your financial goals, habits, and mindset.
Aligning your personal values with your financial situation takes serious reflection to find out how—or if—your values play out accordingly in your day-to-day life. This type of reflection can be demanding, so we’ve developed a short guide on how to engage in the processes that will reveal how you can better align your personal values with your financial goals and habits.
1. Identify Your True Values
Start by separating your values into two categories: the values you were taught, and the values that truly make you happy. There may be some overlap between the two, but the goal is to find out if there is a difference between the values you think you have and the values that are truly meaningful in your life.
For example, you may have been taught to work hard and pour your soul into a corporate job that pays well but which might not bring you any personal satisfaction. But in reality, you might find more fulfillment from a nonprofit job that pays less but whose mission and good work you believe in. To start this process, psychologist Jim Taylor recommends answering the following three questions: (1)
- What do you choose to do in your life on a daily basis?
- What activities are you passionate about that bring you true joy when you participate in them?
- What experiences and people cause you to feel deeply engaged and connected to the world around you?
Digging into these questions can uncover the values you hold that truly fulfill you and bring joy to your life. If you’re constantly unhappy, whether that be from your job, your financial behaviors, or something else, this is a sign that you may not be living according to your true values.
2. Understand Your Money Mindset
You also need to take stock of your money mindset. Your money mindset has been cultivated from your life experience. You may have learned good financial habits from your parents. You may have even learned bad financial habits if you watched your parents fail financially. Whatever your experiences have been with personal finances, they are the key to understanding why you behave the way you do around financial matters.
Understanding your money mindset is important because it allows you to grow intentionally. Identifying a toxic or substandard financial mindset is the first step to changing that mindset. By knowing what you want to change, you’re in more control over how and when you change it.
3. Be (Truly) Honest With Yourself
Here’s the hard part. You need to be honest with yourself about the alignment of your values and your money mindset. It’s tough to be honest with ourselves. It takes hard work. But it’s been said throughout history that self-reflection is one of life’s most difficult yet rewarding endeavors. (Socrates’ famous statement comes to mind: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”)
Reflecting and being honest with yourself about the disconnects you’ve identified will help you get on the right path to healthier behaviors and goals. If this process leads to greater fulfillment and an easier time reaching your realistic financial goals, it will all be worth it.
4. Sync Your Ideal Life With Your Lived Life
After all this reflection, your ideal life probably looks a bit different from your day-to-day lived life, your reality. To reach that ideal lifestyle, you must sync your “living life” with the values you identified that actually make you happy. Remember that these are the values that connect you to the activities, experiences, and people which bring you the most fulfillment.
Only then will you be able to create financial goals that truly reflect your values. When financial goals are connected to your values, your finances become the tool that allows you to reach the real goal, rather than being the end goal in and of itself. From this vantage point, you’re ready to experience long-lasting happiness.
Partner With An Advisor Who Values Your Values
At Vested Wealth Advisors, we firmly believe that wealth management is about your life, not just your money. Every financial decision you make should be in alignment with your values and your values-based goals. If this sounds like a partnership you want to invest in, schedule a free 15-minute introductory phone call online, reach out to me at 844-548-2887, or email me at info@vestedwealthadvisors.com.
About Ember
Ember E. Martin is founder and managing principal at Vested Wealth Advisors, an independent financial planning firm. With over 20 years of investment managing and financial planning experience, plus his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) credential, Ember strives to help his clients live a high-quality life through customized advice and an unmatched level of personal service and confidentiality. Ember has become known for providing personalized guidance, creative solutions, and results-driven services that go beyond what many have come to expect from traditional financial advisors. When he’s not working, Ember enjoys sharing life with his high school sweetheart, Donna. You can also find him cooking, reading, traveling, hiking, playing chess, and spending time with his two teenage daughters, Lucie and Truly. To learn more about Ember, connect with him on LinkedIn.
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