Planning Your Financial Future: Why Money Isn't the Only Factor!

Are you focused solely on the numbers in your bank account or the balance of your retirement funds?Could you be missing the bigger picture?Today we're exploring why true wealth goes beyond the dollars and the cents, and some of the stories in the quote surprised even us. Hey, welcome to the Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast. We love helping you not only reach your financial dreams, but your wealth in other areas of life, right?And so today is going to be all

about that. So don't forget, hit that subscribe button, like and share. And the hope is in this episode you grow not just in monetary wealth. But seeing how wealth is in so many other areas

in a world where chaos seems to reign supreme, where uncertainty lurks around every corner and financial markets are now more unpredictable than ever. There's one place you can turn to to find clarity and control. Welcome to the Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast. Hey, I'm Brandon. And I'm Amanda. Join us as we dive deep in the world of personal and business finance to assist you in navigating through the chaos and building the

financial future you deserve. We believe when conventional financial thinking doesn't get you where you want to go, you need wealth wisdom. So if you're ready to take control of your financial destiny. Tune in to the Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast because in a chaotic world, your money shouldn't be. Subscribe now and never miss an episode. OK, welcome back, financial freedom seekers. Is that when you say financial freedom seekers?Sure, yeah. Today we're diving into a topic that might just

change your perspective on wealth. Yeah, when we talk to about financial planning, a lot of times. most people immediately just think about their money in their bank account, right? Or the values of their retirement accounts. And that's, of course, we, we are talking in financial world, right? But here's the truth. Money is just one piece of the puzzle. True wealth encompasses much more. Like when we talk to clients, they're awesome.

They're often surprised that we bring up other areas and I'm asking about, you know, their family life and other other places. Yeah. So today we wanted to

do an episode where we're going to go through five puzzle pieces that are part of building wealth. Never fear, next week we're going to come back to money and talk about building a financial ecosystem that aligns with rather than detracts from these five puzzle pieces we're talking about today. So we'll just start this new theme for this month, October 2024. Our theme this

month is virtue and kindness. And if we're going to talk about theme, we wanted to talk about that theme from this larger definition of wealth before we dig into the money puzzle pieces that complete the entire picture. So think of the five that we're sharing today as the outside pieces of the puzzle that your financial puzzle pieces need to fit inside and line up with. You know how when we're a puzzle family, we build puzzles. Our son loves to make puzzle,

like put puzzles together. You start with the edges first, right?And then you build in the middle, unless it's like a weird puzzle or, you know, like in a different shape or, you know, something like that. So that's what we're doing today. We're starting with the outside edges of the puzzle and then next we're going to come back and fill in the middle. OK, so we got the five outside edges. Brandon, why

don't you go to the first one?Well, before we get into that, I do want to share that we have a video that we did of defining wealth and we'll drop that here. But we define wealth means that's what your means. I forgot when some people are just listening. So go to the show notes and then listen or see that on what we define as wealth. So #1 puzzle piece. We're ready for that. Yep. So first thing we'll go into is

a something that rhymes with wealth and that is health. Now without it, no amount of money matters. So. There's this guy, you might've heard, heard him. His name is Steve Jobs. He's the co-founder of Apple, if you didn't know. Um, and if you didn't know, you were probably on a rock, on a rock or something. I don't know. You probably listened to it on a podcast. Or you get more important things to take about. Yeah. So he says this, says, I reached the pinnacle of success

in the business world. In others' eyes, my life's an epitome of success. However, aside from work,I have very little joy. Despite his immense wealth, Jobs couldn't buy the one thing he needed most in his final years, his health. So if you didn't know, he was, um, well, not very healthy at the time. I think he had cancer and, and some other things that happened. So he had no joy because of that thing. that he was dealing with. So health is really

important. Yeah. I would say a personal story I had was running a business and we were doing okay in the business. However, there was a time where I ended up in the hospital because I wasn't taking care of me. I wasn't dealing with going to the gym and the the exercise that I needed to do. And so making sure that you put health as a priority,is really, really, really important. Yeah. So that's the first

puzzle piece. That's health. No matter how much money you have, if you don't have health, you don't have, you can't enjoy it. Number two is

relationships. Doesn't rhyme with wealth. Does not rhyme with wealth, network relationships. The support network that really enriches our lives. Consider the case of John. John was a high-powered executive who focused solely on his career for years. And he amassed significant monetary wealth, actual money, but realized he had neglected his relationships. So then, when he faced a personal crisis, he found himself alone with no close friends or family to

support him. John learned the hard way that his network of relationships was as crucial to his well-being as his financial portfolio. They say money can't buy you friends or love. Yeah, or both, right?Like this is the the kind of thing if we're not building our relational capital. Then we can't buy it later. It takes time. It takes energy. If you want to have friends, you got to be a

friend. All those cool things we learned as kids, we got to apply those in adulthood and really build that piece of our wealth puzzle, our relationships. Well, and that also goes into this idea of I was again listening to a podcast and they were saying this, the CEO of Starbucks or Star Schmucks, whatever you

want to call it. That he, they were, these all rich people were laughing at him because he said he turns off his, uh, phone at a certain time and it'll answer the next day, um, because his relationships are more important than the business or the, the things that he needs to do. Now, again, there's a lot of people, maybe they focus on the business and that's for a time that they do that, right?But maybe those same people are, um, moving into divorce or not knowing their kids or

other things. And so focusing in on those relationships, making sure you put that time and place to be there with your kids, say that maybe the business isn't the priority, the family and the relationships are, and that's gonna bring you more wealth. I'm really, yeah, I'm really glad you added that, Brandon, cuz I talked about, um, friends, but family is some of the most important relationships that we have. So don't neglect those either. Onto number three, which is purpose. We need

to find meaning. in our lives beyond just our stuff, our material possessions. Here's a great example. Yvonne Schwinard, I had to look up how to pronounce that one. Yvonne Schwinard, he's the founder of Patagonia. He recently gave away $3 billion from his company to fight climate change. He chose purpose over profits, demonstrating that for some, making a positive impact is way more valuable than

accumulating wealth. And we told this story on the podcast before about the builders where you walk into the first builder and they say I'm just, I'm, you know, putting bricks on top of bricks. You go to the second builder, I'm building a church in the, I think the as the people goes. And the other one is I'm building a place for people to worship God. Whatever jobs we're doing, we can find meaning and purpose in them. We don't have to give away a whole bunch

of money like Yvonne did. Or maybe you do, and that's part of how you feel, find meaning and purpose. Or maybe you volunteer. And in addition to doing your regular job, maybe you find more meaning and purpose through spiritual aspects, whatever it might be, having that meaning is super critical. No one wants to live a pointless life, but to feel like you're making a difference for others is, I think, one of the things that drives all these other puzzle pieces

that we're talking about too. Yeah, it's kind of like knowing your your why. Thanks, Simon Sinek. So I think something like that and but you can't have just focus on purpose without the money either. So I think there's that overflow when we had the the coffee shop where we would focus on purpose, but we needed revenue and so you have to balance those. It's kind of a back and forth and you have to know where you're at. Maybe not balance. I wouldn't use that word.

Yeah, not balance. But we're gonna come back to that later in the episode though. I've got a whole thing. Yeah, I don't know if I like that word balance either. So yeah. OK, #4, you wanna start this one?

Yeah. Personal growth. Continually improving yourself, right?So there's this guy and his name's David. He's a successful software engineer at a major tech company. Despite his high salary and comfortable life, he felt stagnant and unfulfilled. Realizing that his personal growth was missing from his life, David decided to invest time and money into learning new skills outside his field. He took up woodworking classes and eventually started a small custom

furniture business on the side. While his mentor didn't immediately increase his income, he provided a sense of craftsmanship and creativity that was missing from his day job. Purpose of personal growth not only enhanced his overall life satisfaction, but also opened up his new opportunities for future career pivots and financial diversification.

So personal growth is I think a lot of times missing in a lot of people we we are self-reflective and to kind of see those things and and seeing where we can grow through maybe Enneagram tests or other areas. In our business or in our life for that matter, yeah. Learning new skills, trying new things, trying out a new hobby. See

if it becomes something you like. You don't have to turn every hobby into a business, but also the people you meet, the ways that allows you to find purpose, to build relationships and to increase your health. Like if you can find that personal growth that does all of those. How amazing would that be?Don't ever forget your biggest investment, your most important investment is yourself. All right, so we're going to come back to that, but let's go to #5.

Yeah, #5 is time. This is the most non renewable resource we have. And it's also the thing that most people use in as an excuse not to do the other four. I don't have the time for my health. I don't have the time to build relationships. I don't have the time to find meaning and purpose in my life. I don't have the time to do personal development, find a new skill. Well, think about Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world, right? Both monetarily and maybe in other ways

too. He famously said, I can buy anything I want, basically, but I can't buy time. This underscores the huge importance of valuing and properly allocating our time, regardless of our financial status. Some of the words I most dislike is this phrase, I don't have time for that, because I used to say that, and I've replaced that in my life with, I have time for what's important. And if I'm saying no, I don't have the time for that, it's actually what I'm saying is

that's not important enough to me. But if your health, your relationships, your meaning, your personal development are important to you, you will find the time. And also how you manage your time speaks volumes into how you're building your financial wealth as well as all these other areas of wealth. Yeah, I think about this whenever I talk to clients and we ask a lot of these questions. in the financial analysis,

right?And you'll see that a lot of the the people we would work with, that they are busy, busy, busy, but there's just kind of mishaps, right?And so by asking certain questions about goals and all that, that helps us build the strong foundation of what is important. Remember, our well-rounded approach to wealth considers not just your financial capital,But also your human capital, your skills, your relationships, your health, and your

personal fulfillment, right?So those things are so important, and that's why even doing what we do, but is is powerful, right?So that's why we're going to show this little. Flip Pierre. Well, and stay tuned after the break. All those skeptics out there that are saying, yeah, but right now we got you after the break. Ready to take the next step towards securing your financial future, whether you're planning for retirement, saving for your dream home, or you just want to

make your money work harder for you. The team at Wealth Wisdom Financial are ready to assist you, and now it's easier than ever to see how we might give you a boost on your financial journey. Schedule a 15 minute discovery call with one of us today and let's discuss your questions and your financial goals together. Don't wait any longer. Your financial freedom awaits. Schedule your discovery call at www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.

OK, so now I know what some of you might be thinking, but I need money to support all those other things. I need money to find my meaning. I need money to do personal development. I need money to like even go out for dinner with friends or to do whatever, right?Go to buy a gym membership. You're not wrong. Money is important. It's a tool that can help you achieve so many goals, but it's not the end goal in itself.

Consider this. A study of Princeton University found that emotional well-being rises with income, but only up to about 75,000 per year. After that, additional income doesn't significantly impact the day-to-day happiness. So once you reach a certain level, you're pretty upset, it sounds like. Well, your happiness is like not then impacted by how much income you have. Your happiness might be impacted by

your health. your relationships, your sense of meaning and purpose in life, your personal development, and how you're using your time. Those are going to give you the happiness that goes well beyond just getting your income to that basic $75,000 that Princeton found. So it's true. Yeah. The key here is to win in all areas. And I know Brandon is so passionate about this, about using money as a tool to support all these other aspects of our lives rather than making

it a sole focus. And this is where it's not about balance. It's holistic. It's winning in all areas. It's both and not either or. It's an ecosystem where the parts mix and mingle rather than exist in vacuums, right?A whole a puzzle. Once you put it together, all the pieces form the picture. They're interconnected. That's why we use that analogy here. And Brandon, want to tell them what you've been dying to say the whole time about

what's really important here. I'm a big fan of being a part of communities and being around people that are different than you and have strengths and weaknesses that are different than you. So I'm a part of a community called Gathering the Kings that is about winning in all areas. So that's if you. Look it up gatheringthekings.com or something like that. You can say, hey, you found us, found it through me, but it's not just about winning

in. My business life, but in my family life there's a call for women, female leaders or something like that. I'm not part of it apparently. And then there's marriage calls, there is health and in that area and we also that's one of the reasons that we have the wealth wisdom financial community. Now we focus on the financial side because that will overflow into the other areas, but it's. About building those relationships so that way we can move into those other

areas more effectively. Yeah. So join the Wealth Wisdom Financial community. You can find out more about how we're trying to help others and ourselves also win in all areas, not just with money. OK, let's wrap this up. As you plan your financial future, which you are planning your financial future, right?Yeah, I hope so. Remember to take a holistic approach. Set financial goals,

absolutely. But also set goals for your health, your relationships, your personal growth, and how you'll spend your time. True wealth is about creating a life that's rich in all aspects, not just financially. And actually, I kind of don't like that word rich because it denotes monetary wealth even more than just the word wealth does. You know, be wealthy in all areas, not

just with money. Yeah. And again, I think that if you are saying, well, I can't do this or that or whatever, maybe check yourself, ask yourself why are you putting those barriers in place and then take some time. use, uh, a piece of paper, write down our acronym STILL, set your sights, track your in and out, inspect your progress, look for 1% and live deliberately, and take this and say, how am I winning in, I don't know, uh, health?How am I winning in relationships?And take that STILL method

that we have. And if you wanna use our book, you can use it for, um, the financial sideor all other areas as well. Yeah. So I have two extra resources for you other than five smooth stones right here. Um, the first one, if you want to learn more about winning with your financial goals and, um, making sure it wins with all the other aspects of your life, we've got a resource in the Wealth Wisdom Financial Community just published today. It's

called the Holistic Wealth Planner. And I'll walk you through how to do some of that with your health, your relationships, with your purpose, with personal development, and with time. And then we'll give you a couple other puzzle pieces that we think go around the outside of it too. So check that out. And then I didn't tell Brandon I was gonna say this. He might make me cut this out of the final cut. Let's see. That time part is so critical, and there's so many productivity gurus and

things like that out there. I've done a lot of those things. I'm I've gotten a lot of those productivity time things. And I really love this like last part of the year in dreaming and planning for the year to come and then having different things in place for the year to come to make sure I have moments to plan, to reflect, to make sure I'm still for a little while and

moving things forward. I'm thinking about putting together a little retreat for people who would want to do some dreaming about next year in this more holistic wealth kind of way. If I I want to see if there's interest in it before I make it, it could be online or it might be in person here in Cincinnati, Oh. If that's something that you would like to see, might be toward the end of 2024 or maybe even early 2025, just depending on what works for me and for the people that say they're

interested. I want you to reach out to me. You can reach me at amanda@wealthwisdomfp.com. Just send me a quick e-mail, just say I'm interested in your retreat and then I'll I'll touch base with you to let you know if I get enough people that seem to be interested if we're going to do it or not. Because that time component impacts all these other areas too. And they say time is money. Yeah. You know, money is time. Like these kind of things, we need to to make sure they're playing well with

each other, our time and our money. And when we're productive with our time, we'll be able to make more money and manage it well. If we're managing our money well, we can learn things about how to manage our time well too. Yep. It's called thinking time, right?So thinking time, I think it's important. So instead of binge watching, maybe do that paper and do do the... I guess we're we're going to do a some kind of retreat

or something. Yeah. Well, if people are interested, again, you got to reach out to me and let me know. Yeah. So thanks for joining us. Don't forget, hit that subscribe button and make sure you make time for yourself and in all areas so you can overflow and live long and profit. The topics presented in this podcast are for general information only and not for the purposes of providing legal, accounting, investment or even

productivity advice. On such matters, please consult a professional or go to a place where you can dig in, get into the details of your specific situation.