Financial Tug of War

Today's Newsletter:

• Quote From Henry Thoreau

• Now versus Later

• A Money Question

Quote

“The price we pay for anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” - Henry Thoreau

Henry Thoreau was a 19th-century poet and philosopher. This quote stopped me and made me think, I hope it does the same for you. To me, this quote speaks to the chase of more, more, more. You can have anything you want in life (within reason) if you are willing to make sacrifices. Are the sacrifices you are making worth the things you are chasing?

Now versus Later

I am excited to write about today’s topic. Want to know why? Because it has been a constant struggle for me throughout my life. It is also one of the reasons having a financial advisor is helpful (not a pitch just the truth).

Today I want to talk about spending money. Ya, the guy who is supposed to preach saving and investing money is going to talk about spending it. There are nearly no absolutes about money. There is no spreadsheet in the world to account for each of our unique thoughts around money. Yet, the one money principle that applies to all of us is this ~ money is a tool.

Think about the most valuable tool in your house. What is it? Well, chances are it is a tool that has saved your bacon or gets used a lot. For me, our Shop Vac (water vacuum) is one that comes to mind. It has saved me a few times when my plumbing skills have failed me. It is valuable because I use it. The same can be said about money, the more we use it the more value we derive from it.

So why am I writing about spending money?

The vast majority of families that work with a financial advisor leave more money in their legacy bucket than they plan for. In simple terms, they were conservative with their spending and have more money than they planned. This is not a bad thing but remember money is a tool. Tools we use more often bring more value.

This happens for a few reasons. One of the major reasons is it makes families “feel secure” to have more than they thought. This is my favorite reason for not spending more. Another reason is they did some planning a few years back and never revisited it. This is not a great reason. Another reason I hear quite a bit is “I don’t have anything I want”. On the surface, I get it but dig a little deeper and there are usually friends, family members, and charities that they might love to direct resources to.

People often spend too little, leave more to the next generation than expected, and wonder how it happened. 

Well, here is how we work to help this:

1) Keep the plan alive ~ A financial plan is an ever-changing document. Your goals, situation, and range of outcomes are always changing. Your plan should be changing with them.

2) Instill confidence ~ Flipping the switch from save, save, save to spend is awkward. I still take guidance on this and always will.

3) Dig deeper ~ We think about money like the movie “The Italian Job”. In the movie they steal a bunch of gold, one of the partners rips everyone off and buys everything his other partners wanted. Money is personal just because your neighbor or friend spends it a certain way doesn’t mean you need to.

My challenge today is not to all your money. It is to be intentional about how we spend our money. We can all make a positive impact in this world with our finances. That can be creating memories, rewarding yourself, donating to charity, or seeing a friend thrive. How you spend it is your choice, but know a garage full of never used tools is useless.

A Money Question

If you could give your younger self one piece of financial advice what would would it be?

Before we go, I just wanted to say how grateful I am for those of you that are on this journey with me. I have enjoyed writing these and look forward to continuing to learn alongside you.

Work with Jacob

I help athletes, entrepreneurs, and executives pay less in taxes, coordinate their financial life, and invest for the long run.

 JL Strategic Wealth Introductory Call

Until Next Time, My Friends

JL Strategic Wealth, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor, located in the State of Missouri. JL Strategic Wealth provides investment advisory and related services for clients nationally. JL Strategic Wealth will maintain all applicable registration and licenses as required by the various states in which JL Strategic Wealth conducts business, as applicable. JL Strategic Wealth renders individualized responses to persons in a particular state only after complying with all regulatory requirements, or pursuant to an applicable state exemption or exclusion. Nothing in this content is intended to be, and you should not consider anything in this content to be, investment, accounting, tax, or legal advice. n