How To Achieve Any Financial Goal
Simple -- but not easy -- this one step will clear the path for you to achieve your financial goals.
Hello, Talking About Money Community, how are you? Drop me a line and let me know how you are.
In today’s post, I want to discuss a question that I frequently get from prospective clients who reach out to me for financial coaching (see my offerings here). Lots of times they send me long notes detailing their financial circumstances, and sometimes how they got there and what led them to seek help. I am humbled that people reach out to me and bare their financial selves, but then again, don’t most people want to talk about their money with someone that they can trust?
After this soul-sharing and understanding of their unique situation, here’s where things get interesting (at least, they get interesting to me). What comes next is that some prospective coaching clients want me to give them a generic map to follow, something quick and straightforward that they can use to get them on track.
But wait a minute, didn’t you just describe to me how complex and unique your situation is? Why do you think that a one-size-fits-all solution is going to work for you?
So, let’s talk about what does work.
The Problem with a One-Size-Fits-All Solution
Here is my take on the problem with a one-size-fits-all roadmap – everyone is going in a different direction!
Your path is different than your friend’s, and different than your neighbor’s. If you follow a generic roadmap and it does not lead you to where you want to go, you might be tempted to blame the roadmap, or worse, you might blame yourself for not following it correctly.
All too often, people make seemingly “bad” financial decisions for very “good” reasons: Putting household expenses on high-interest credit cards in order to buy groceries for your family, overspending on gifts in order to show your love to those you hold dear, agreeing to pay 23% on a car loan so that you have reliable wheels to get to your new job. When you take the first half of the equation on its own, it’s easy to judge the bad behavior. But once you know why, does your perspective change?
Here is what is important to remember: A generic roadmap is not going to get you where you want to go, and you are not to blame! Many negative financial situations that people find themselves in – a medical crisis, a job loss, a divorce – are not ones that they would have chosen for themselves. Further, the results of the “bad” financial decisions that you were forced to make frequently show up on your credit report, making it look as though you did this to yourself. And you and I know that many times this could not be farther from the truth.
What Does Work: Getting to Know Your Values
So, after you have taken a hard look at your financial reality, how do you make a plan to get on a path to success? This is what I tell the amazing people who I serve as a financial coach or teach in community workshops: To ensure your longstanding success, you need to take the time to get acquainted with your core personal values, those special qualities that make you you.
What do values have to do with financial success? Think of them as a compass: Once you have identified your personal values -- those special characteristics that give you the motivation to get things done -- then you can make a customized roadmap that will surely lead you to success.
To identify your core personal values, ask yourself what is most important to you. Is it:
Your family?
A desire for accomplishment?
A longing for adventure?
Your faith?
A sense of security?
There are many tools out there to help you identify your values (a common one that I use can be found here). Once you have identified your core personal values, you now have your compass – your true north.
What Then?
Once you have identified your core personal values, you can begin to build in guideposts along your route. Every time you make a financial decision, ask yourself, “Does this align with my values? Will this get me closer to – or farther away from -- achieving my financial goal?”
The answer will tell you if you are on the right track or if you need to adjust your course. Make a note of this, and after a while you will notice that you are more consistently making financial decisions that align with your core personal values. You might be able to do this on your own, or you might want support. You may elicit help from a friend or a family member to serve as your accountability partner. If you have someone in your life that you can trust in knowing about your personal finances, you can agree to check in on a regular basis to provide mutual support in realizing your financial goals.
If you do not have someone in your life that you want to lay bare your financial information, or if you feel that you could use some professional help in getting unstuck, a financial coach might be the right person for you. A financial coach partners with you in regular one-on-one sessions designed to coach you in how you behave with your personal finances so that you meet your financial goals. It is different from counseling, in that coaches are not the experts in the coach-client relationship (though they are specialists in personal finance and money management). Coaches provide encouragement and monitoring in a process driven by you.
To learn more about what financial coaching can do for you, see here.
Now, I want to be clear with you as I share these thoughts. Exploring your core personal values is a key piece in achieving your financial goals, but that alone will not always guarantee success. Structural factors keep plenty of people from building the wealth that provides an essential safety net for themselves and their families. Women still make a fraction of the earnings of their male colleagues who perform the same job. Black households have been plagued with generations of housing discrimination. Young parents are on their own to devise their own childcare solutions, and this typically leads to the mother not working at her highest and best capacity. All of these realities cripple the ability for hardworking households to build the wealth that they deserve.
So do values matter? Yes, of course they do. But does systemic change matter too? You bet your bippy it does. 😊