I have the best profession in the world and it provides me the opportunity to work with successful people. It is an honor because, not only do I get know them and work with them, I get to learn from them. One objective way the world quantifies success is by how much money people can accumulate over their lifetime. Other areas that I also like to look at are more subjective like having a balanced life, spending quality time with my wife, friends, outdoor sports, downtime, and peace with people and my Lord. The people I work with have a great balance between the objective and subjective. For the sake of this post, let’s focus our attention on the objective or easily quantifiable area of net worth.
Being able to add up the value of our assets minus our debt liabilities equals our net worth (A – L = NW) helps us to see how financially successful we’ve been. By virtue of the calculation, a person can increase their net worth by increasing assets or decreasing debt. I’ve had little and I’ve had much throughout my life; I prefer the latter. So, the question becomes “what makes some more successful than others”? The answer lies in having written goals and plans. Notice, I didn’t just say goals and plans, I said written goals and plans. A famous study done by Harvard University entitled The Harvard MBA Study on Goal Setting - https://www.wanderlustworker.com/the-harvard-mba-business-school-study-on-goal-setting/ shows the quantum benefits of having written goals and plans. What it comes down to is that 3% of the class that had both written goals and plans earned ten times more than the other 97% of the class combined! An amazing difference.
Now that we have established that having written goals and plans can help us, how does this translate to managing your financial assets you have, are earning, and will earn? A study by Russell Investments has been able to quantify the value or return a person realizes when they work with a fiduciary advisor. Yes, fiduciary advisors don’t work for free, however, the amount we charge for our services comes back to you at least four times (4X). Why, because we help you establish written goals and a written plan to follow - https://blog.helpingadvisors.com/2017/03/21/2017-value-fiduciary-advisor-4/ . The reason I got into the business of financial advisory services is that I saw too many seemingly successful people winging it without written goals or a written plan, in other words, they were flying by the seat of their pants. I had just completed 10 years at a well-known investment company and had just past my CFP® exam and I was equipped to help save these people from themselves. People in my profession get bad press because of the few con men that steal people’s money. I do business the right way and the value of what I do helps my clients tremendously. According to the Russell study, if I charged a client $1,000 per year for my services, including a written financial plan with written goals, they stand to receive nearly $4,000 in value from the work I do for them. So, they invest a little, and they get a “four bagger” return in a relatively short time through tax, estate, investment fee reduction, and other financial planning efficiencies.
Final thoughts: People that don’t have written goals and plans have a lot higher mountain to climb than those that do. People that think it is too expensive to hire a fiduciary financial advisor to help them manage their net worth, take another look and think again. We are here to help you build and measure your financial success objectively so you can define your personal subjective success.
One of my written goals is that I want to be able to give away $1million in my lifetime. By God’s grace and provision, I believe it can happen. However, if it doesn’t, I trust that this goal will be accomplished at my death.
Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. Snow Financial Group, LLC is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS.