Finding Your Place in Life

Brian’s recent birthday is the inspiration for this week’s podcast. He reflects on the defining moments in his life so far, and shares his thoughts on the factors that determine your place in life, both financially, and emotionally.

The two key issues that he felt were pressing to address in this podcast are:

1. Where should you be financially, and
2. Doing things in life that make you happy.

Financially
Most people will tell you their goal is to be wealthy, but it is hard to put a dollar amount on what wealthy is. So, what is wealthy? There are three definitions we think do a good job measuring what wealth is.
– We like the Millionaire Next Door’s formula to define wealth if you are over 35.

Wealth = (Age x Pretax Income)/10
– If you are under 35, we think the more appropriate way to measure wealth is to look at your savings habits. If you are able to save 15-20% of your pre-tax earnings, we think you are on the right track to becoming wealthy, and truly financially independent.
– The nominal number – Net Worth – The typical threshold for being wealthy is having a net worth of at least $1 Million. Most of the time when you ask someone what they consider “rich” or “wealthy” $1 Million is the number you hear.

Happiness
Most of our listeners are already on the right track to becoming financially solid or they have already won the game. So, now what do you do? How do you live your life to get the most out of your time on earth?

–“If money doesn’t make you happy, then you probably aren’t spending it right.” – Dunn, Gilbert, Wilson

As advisors the two main things we do cash flow wise for our clients are:

1. Convince those that are behind to save more.
2. Convince those that have won the game to enjoy their money, or help them with how to give back.

It’s the perfect time of year to take inventory of where you are, if you’re behind the curve save a little more. If you are ahead of the curve, spend a little more. If you’re not happy with where you are at in life begin to make the changes necessary to put you on the right track.

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