Interior Design Has Demonstrated Value

Ok, we're not talking here about your choice of furniture or your use of paint colors. Although, I must admit, I have a distinct personal passion for that topic. 

Rather, we're talking about something that I think should be important to us all.

Positive Psychology has blessed us with a wisdom. For all our inherent efforts to obtain "happiness" based on our investment accounts, or our job/pay, or bigger home, the reality remains that even with the attainment of those things, happiness still largely eludes us. It is it seems, an immutable reality that happiness breeds better performance in every aspect of our life and happiness is an "inside-out" play, not the other way around. 

In a recent article on Huffington Post Jen Grisanti takes from the recent talk at TED.com by Positive Psychologist, Shawn Achor (you can and MUST view the video here) the knowing that "the external world is not the answer for happiness."

That is why in wealth management, we refer to it as "interior design." It's been our experience that the most financially successful clients are those who begin with the notion that they'll first decide what their lives would be like were they their happiest and then, match their financial goals to acheive that life. These are almost always, the most grounded investors, the least likely to panic, the least likely to "quit" when things are getting tough in the markets. They then, invariably wind up being the folks who manage to "get it right" the majority of the time; in markets when they should be and not out when they shouldn't be. 

They're successful not because of a special wisdom about finance or tax policy or the economy or the global financial crisis. They're successful because their goal is to build their lives and they're simply using their resources to meet that goal. 

If you, as we do, start with the focus on the happiest life your plans will be much better, your investments more based on common sense and your willingness and ability to withstand the "whirlwind" of financial news and the whims of the financial markets more centered. Afterall, isn't the plan to live the life you want more than to outperform the S&P 500?

I have to thank Justine Musk for posting this to her Facebook page. You can read Justine's blog at www.justinemusk.com. 

I'd also highly recommend Shawn Achor's book, "The Happiness Advantage" which you can buy on Amazon or from your i

Is What You "See" What You Get?

"Does goal setting work? Yes, but not the way most people seem to understand it. In my experience, the real value of defining desired futures is not so much in the world the describe, but the change in perception the process of setting goals fosters.  David Allen, Productivity Coach and founder of Getting Things Done (GTD) from is weekly email "Productive Living"  Courtesy of Google Images

I couldn't agree more. 

Wealth Management takes on many forms. For most of the profession and the public, (unfortunately) it's an effort to figure out why you should buy something and exactly what that purchase should be. It's a process that has at it's core when applied in this way, something that you need. Implicit in that mode of operation is the embedded notion that a product is going to solve your problems. "Purchase this and it'll set you free!"  Really? If buying financial products solved the problem, we'd have a lot more 1%'ers than we do. You see, the 1%'ers are the people who built the stuff that you should buy. You purchasing their stuff has made them wealthy, not you. 

When you can focus your energies working with someone who relies on you to enunciate the life that will make you happiest; then you are the center of the process. "What would you do differently today if money weren't an object?" There's nothing to buy...only the belief in change. 

Many will say that it does little good to ruminate in wishful thinking of that sort. And yet, we are, what we think. When we focus on life as we want it to be a subtle change takes place; we begin to open ourselves to the possibility that our dreams can in fact be our reality. Maybe not immediately, but over time. If you are what you think (and you are) then thinking that you're destined for greatness is going to attract a lot more positive outcomes than any of your other options. I don't know about you, but contrasting buying something and feeling "insured" as opposed to "on my way to making my dreams a reality" I'm voting for my dreams. 

"The reason for long-term goals is the permission they give us to identify with the greatest value we can so it changes our filtered perceptions. The future never shows up (have you noticed?-- it's always today!)"

That's another quote from David Allen who was talking specifically about Getting Things Done. 

As am I.  

The Compass or the Map

Over the last few years I've read a few of Seth Godin's books and I receive his blog feed just about every day. He's one of the bloggers that I tend to read just about everything he writes and as with his books, I find Seth's perspective on things to be interesting and intriguing. 

On February 22nd, his blog titled "The map has been replaced by the compass" (you can read that blog as well as the other "February" bloggings by Seth.) another interesting paralell has been drawn between whatever inspired his blog on that day and the wealth management process. 

In that blog, he writes..."The compass, on the other hand, is more important then ever. If you don't know which direction you're going, how will you know when you're off course?

And yet...

And yet we spend most of our time learning (or teaching) the map, yesterday's map, while we're anxious and afraid to spend any time at all calibrating our compass."

In the world of personal finance there also exists both map and compass.

And, likewise, maps while inferior at the job tend to win out.

One word of caution; if your map is getting all your attention that's a problem you need to work at fixing.