What does the term “financial freedom” mean to you?
To us, financial freedom means being able to live life on your own terms. Knowing you can follow your personal passions and realize your goals offers an incredible feeling of freedom.
Even though many people are worried about the markets right now, do you realize what you’re capable of achieving? For far too many investors, the answer is no. And that translates to an investing experience riddled with confusion, stress, fear, turbulence, and exhaustion. But even in bumpy markets investing confidence is possible, and you have the power to gain knowledge that can help you through rough times.
Want to start your own business? Retire early? Travel the world? Earn an advanced degree? Buy a house where your kids and their families can gather? None of this is possible unless you’re in control of your money, your beliefs surrounding money, and your plans to achieve these goals both financially and mentally.
How dreams get lost in the shuffle
There are inherent pitfalls along the journey toward pursuing your dreams. How can you learn to avoid the traps that erode your goals, find your blind spots, and pinpoint the behaviors that sabotage results? By developing a clear understanding of these roadblocks, you have the chance to clear a path for success.
Let’s dive into 5 steps you can take to help make your dreams a reality.
- Explore With an Open Mind
If you were to reflect on the most significant events in your life, a few major milestones would probably come to mind: perhaps graduation, your wedding day, the birth of your children, or other accomplishments. People rarely cite money or financial events in the top five. Why? Because while money is important, it’s not everything. Beyond wanting to accumulate wealth in a strictly financial sense, there are more personal concerns, desires, and dreams at play.
So, what’s at play for you? What does exploring your dreams actually look like? Does it mean having a sense of safety and security? Or maybe living a life of adventure? Is it about financial independence to support dreams of travel, family life, or other personal interests? Exploring what matters most to you is an essential first step in the right direction. Uncovering your purpose and passions then aligning your money with them is a critical element in defining your investment strategy.
2. Go for Your Dreams Like There’s No Tomorrow
We all have dreams. In fact, it is the human condition to have aspirations. Some of these are created through our unique culture and environment, while others are shaped in our own hearts and minds. Regardless of where they originate, many of our dreams rely on financial success to become a reality. That’s why it’s important to make best use of money, invest wisely, and create YOUR best life possible.
Think about what it would mean to live a life where achieving your dreams is a possibility supported by smart investing behaviors. By spotlighting your true purpose for money and making choices that inspire new possibilities, you’re empowered to build a future around what’s most important to you.
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3. Avoid These 6 Common Mistakes With the Potential to Seriously Detour Your Dreams
- Investing without a plan: Investors who create an investment strategy or financial plan significantly outperform those who don’t. A strategic plan that aligns with what matters most to you is absolutely necessary for investing success. Disciplined investing that follows your strategic plan creates a greater likelihood of achieving your goals.
- Too much risk: Investment risk is not just the risk of losing your money; it also helps define your return expectations. When investors take too little risk, it often translates to lower expected returns. Of course, taking too much risk (especially as you near retirement) could also have an adverse effect.
- Outsized expectations: The foundation for investing with realistic expectations is based on smart portfolio planning and design that aligns with your goals and risk tolerance. Investors often envision much greater returns than they should reasonably expect, and many fall into the trap of following “hot” tips and trends in search of fast, short-term results.
- Being a slave to the media: The news cycle is a constant churn of attention-seeking stories. These stories break AFTER most industry experts already know the information (and have likely closed the window of opportunity). A “hot” tip should never be the driving force behind portfolio design or rebalancing!
- Investing without the mentorship of a competent financial coach: A financial coach’s education, knowledge, and experience give them the context to analyze information based on how relevant it is to your personal situation. Amateur investors often succumb to their emotions and make decisions that risk their long-term objectives. A professional removes emotion from the process and operates with the know-how to manage a plan for optimal results over the long term.
- Looking at the short-term only and failing to measure long-term performance: Measuring the success of your investment portfolio is key to understanding whether you’re on track to achieve your long-term goals. Speculating on performance over the short term can cause you to second-guess your strategy, even though the short term is not the relevant concern. We believe it is most important to invest for long-term performance.
4. Don’t Just Talk About It, Actually Live Your Dreams
As you explore your dreams, values, and purpose, view them in relation to your investing decisions and behavior. Doing this can reveal significant insight into how you got where you are today. You can see how past investing decisions may have stalled your efforts to realize your goals, and you’ll have a clearer perspective so you can save, spend and invest to support the kind of life you want to live.
Your ability to achieve your dreams is an outcome of your actions and behaviors for years to come. It’s essential to take a critical look at your existing portfolio with your financial coach and ask questions that are relevant to your long-term success.
5. Share Your Dreams
When you tell people about your dreams, it helps make them real. The essence of creating something big is to share it with those who are most important to you. Recognize all the work you’ve done to achieve your dreams and celebrate them with the people you love. Chasing your dreams demands you to step out and step up to a new level. Money can bring power, independence, freedom, and the kind of life that your parents and grandparents never even imagined. Be hungry to live the life of your dreams and get clear on what the future holds for you so you can begin transforming your investing experience into one that works toward personal freedom and fulfillment.
Successful investing is about more than creating efficient portfolios. It’s about empowering you to overcome the instinctive behaviors that have the potential to destroy long-term investing results and erode confidence in reaching your goals. With proper knowledge of how to navigate today’s challenges, you can feel more confident about money and investing.
To learn about about smart investment strategies in turbulent times, click here to schedule a personal meeting with a financial coach.