What is the True Purpose of Your Money?

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." – Steve Jobs

Jobs was right, there is a lot of noise out there, and much of that noise is drowning out the real economic solutions that can help you achieve financial independence and the success you deserve.

Who's responsible for the chatter? There's a laundry list of culprits and most of them are people that don't even know you. The media, the financial institutions and other financial professionals all contribute to the state of confusion and the lack of clarity, confidence and control with regard to our personal finances. 

Sometimes we just need to take a step back and consider what it means to be financially independent, aka, "wealthy".  Should not wealth be compelled by a higher sense of purpose?

Wealth is not about shortsighted fads; it’s about prudent strategies and processes that help serve your financial goals, achieve your life aspirations and create a lasting legacy. Your purpose is not about the growth of your investment accounts or retirement plans; your purpose must be reassessed in order to exceed expectations and to create the life that you envision for yourself, family and community.

Today’s challenging economic times have conveyed an important lesson: with wealth comes responsibility.

So, while it makes sense to allocate your investment account in a way that brings the greatest possible results, shouldn’t the end game be the ability to live the life you desire without compromise (and not necessarily a life of luxury)? Isn’t this why we save and plan in the first place? 

Many of us have great entrance strategies—so we’re told! Term life insurance will protect our family, 529 plans will pay for college, my will protects my wishes and as long as we keep shoveling money into our 401k’s and maximizing company matching provisions, than how can we go wrong? 

What about an exit strategy? If we are saving money and presumably building wealth, what is our strategy to spend and sufficiently enjoy it?  We’re all in the pool, but what if the pool doesn’t have ladders and has 20-foot walls holding 10 feet of water?  

With the right combination of economic integration and wisdom, your wealth management roadmap can be protected from the noise and misinformation that have caused countless families to irrationally stray from carefully constructed strategies.

Financial products are merely off-the-shelf tools that help fulfill your needs. To be truly effective, they must serve a higher purpose: your purpose. Regardless of your life situation, goals or needs and by taking a step back, perhaps you will discover the true purpose of your wealth, along with the proper approach that best suits that purpose.