Putting Money in the Context of Life
Financial Life Planning is a holistic process that will help you to clarify your values and guide you in defining and designing your unique version of the “rich life.”
Goal setting is an essential component of this process, and a powerful tool for experiencing what is most important to you. When you imagine what you want your life to be like and what you want to achieve, these images will become the basis of your life and financial goals.
In addition, when you translate those images into words and write them down, your goals will become clearer and more compelling. You will derive many other benefits from goal setting as well:
- Goals provide a positive expectancy of the future
- Goals stimulate personal growth and development
- Goals help you to focus on the desired end result and provide the motivation you need to bounce back from setbacks and disappointments
- Goals facilitate “future thinking” – a way of looking ahead and anticipating upcoming needs and wants
- Goals that are inspiring and purposeful will keep you on track and help you to avoid distractions
Despite these important benefits, many individuals are reluctant to set goals. For them, goal setting has been unsuccessful in the past. They missed their targets and became disillusioned.
For others, setting goals creates internal stress by mentally switching a dream from the “want to” category to the “have to” category. Then they begin to feel pressure to preform and experience fear of failure.
Nonetheless, goal setting is an essential component of the Financial Life Planning process. When you clarify what is important to you and what you want your life to be like, you can move toward those images in an intentional way.
Therefore, it is important to adopt a fresh perspective on goal setting, and to set life and financial goals that are based on your values and priorities.
The greater your understanding of what is important to you, the easier it will be to “paint a picture” in your mind of what you are working toward. Whatever you identify and claim for yourself will become the basis for aligning your life and financial goals.
In her book, The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist wrote: “When you let your money move to things you care about, your life lights up. That’s really what money is for.”
Putting Money in the Context of Life™ is published four times a year by Money Quotient®, a non-profit organization focused on education and research. Putting Money in the Context of Life™is intended to provide readers with information to promote new perspectives on financial well-being, life planning, and retirement preparation. Each issue features inspirational and educational articles that explore life transitions and guide individuals in aligning their financial decisions with their values and priorities in all areas of life.
