We've looked at some of the ways you can help yourself to stay the course no matter what happens in your life. Now, we'll look at another couple of factors to tie off the Planning with Purpose series.
Be Nimble
It’s crucial not to hold too tightly to a pre-set goal or vision when circumstances dictate that you need to adjust course. Practically, you need to keep your financial arrangements flexible, so don’t tie money up.Don’t take out investments where you pay hefty exit penalties if you move the money in the first few years. – I’m looking at you, St James’s Place.
At Jacksons we NEVER tie money up because life changes too frequently for that. Anything I invest for my clients can be liquidated in a few days if necessary, and you should ensure the same is true. This might entail you looking deeper, and asking your fund managers how quickly they can liquidate their entire holdings should it become necessary. You might not get a clear answer though. Stick to physical trackers and you should be OK.
Maintain a Stoic attitude to what life throws at you. In fact, I strongly recommend you take some time to read up on the Stoic philosophy – it’s incredibly valuable and practically applicable to our modern lives and will help to prevent knee-jerk reactions and to have a serene view on things that happen, and also promote humility in all our interactions.
Clinging too tightly to a path and outcome that we have concocted is a form of hubris, I believe. Understanding that there is a universe much bigger than ourselves keeps us humble, and that in turn will help us to build our plans in such a way as to be nimble in the face of external change.
Be Intentional
No-one gets where they want to be by accident. No Olympic champion fell out of bed and onto the podium. No racing driver passed their driving test and then went on to win the F1 championship. There is always a process of improvement and progress.
And no-one reached their financial goals by accident. Sure, you might get a leg-up along the way from an inheritance or minor lottery win or whatever, but for most of us it’s a long journey, with a million small decisions along the way, all of which lead to one great outcome – your financial independence.
Your success or otherwise will be a result of the compounding of all those small decisions over time, rather than a few big ones which seem important in the moment. These decisions ultimately won’t be the be all and end all, it’ll be the millions of tiny decisions along the way that compound up to get you to the end goal.
There’s no shortcut other than to be relentlessly intentional; to make every decision in light of the end goal. Tattoo it on your forearm or write it in your journal, create a wallpaper for your computer or stencil it on the wall above your desk. Make it your defining character trait – that you’ll do nothing by default, you’ll never drift anywhere but, in all things, and especially in your financial journey, you’ll be intentional.
That's it for the Planning with Purpose series! If you'd like to read the answers I gave to listeners' questions when I finished the podcast season these blogs are based on, start here.
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