As I discuss with people their personal financial situations, one important principle I always start with is the idea that your financial efforts are really akin to a journey. In fact, the destination of the journey isn’t money or wealth, but rather, what you might consider your life “mission” or “legacy.” If you haven’t taken the time to look forward in your life, I encourage you to think about what you hope to achieve throughout your life. What key accomplishments, relationships, or goals do you hope to achieve?
Once you’ve established your lifelong goals, your finances become the fuel to carry along your journey, rather than the destination itself. For some of us, it may take little to no financial backing to achieve those things that we hope to accomplish; for others, finances may play a significant role. In either case, I encourage you to view money in context of what you hope to become or achieve in your life and avoid the perilous view that money is a destination by itself.
I believe that money should never be the driving factor in decision-making, but rather it should act as simply a resource to assist us along our life journey.
