In today’s blog we will explore another sketch from Carl Richards’ book titled, The Behavior Gap. This particular sketch is framed in our large conference room because it is so completely aligned with the way the team at Master’s views financial planning. Allow me to explain further.

Friends, we don’t believe the end goal of investing and financial planning should be to see how large of a money pile you can accumulate. Nor do we see it as the number of “toys” or amount of stuff that can be accumulated during your lifetime. While those things may bring temporary satisfaction, deep and long-lasting happiness is found with a different prescription, one that is very counter cultural.

Instead, you start your financial planning process by first stating your deeply held beliefs and values. Then, all planning goals and financial decisions should be brought into alignment with the beliefs and values that have been stated. When you have chosen to purposefully entwine these things together, powerful and purposeful financial planning happens. The result is typically contentment, fulfillment, joy, generosity, and freedom from financial stress.

When Master’s was founded in 1994, we chose “Planning with a Purpose” as our firm’s tagline. Many of you may remember that. Sometime later, we updated to our current tagline, “Managing Wealth for a Life of Purpose.” As you can see, the message of this sketch has resonated deeply with us for the life of our firm and will continue to do so. We have experienced the truth of this principal both in our own personal lives and have witnessed it in many of yours, as well.

We always enjoy hearing from you. How has the timeless truth illustrated in this sketch impacted your financial planning, and/or your personal life?