Balanced and Meaningful Life

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Pursuing a Balanced and Meaningful Life
Mitch Anthony

The greatest investment challenge facing our culture is not centered on how to obtain material resources but on how to invest our lives. Survey after survey affirms the idea that the limited bucket of time carried by most Americans has a noticeable leak. The majority of respondents feel a constant stress and list having more personal time as a top priority. As people mature (when their “time” bucket is less than half full), they begin to notice this performance in their reservoir of time (an awareness of their mortality). When asked what they would do with their increased personal time, most respondents pointed to family, leisure, and activities that give them a sense of connectivity and meaning. Many midlife professionals speak of being tired of deferring satisfaction to a later date in life. Some are on their second family—having seen the price one often pays in all-consuming careers.

Advisor and author, Karen Ramsey, has captured this sentiment.

“Few people are able to find total satisfaction and contentment in work alone. We also need relationships with others in our lives—and the time needed to invest in those relationships. We often find ourselves too busy to spend time with those we love, and the rewards of our long hours of toil are rarely sufficient to fill the resulting void. To find harmony and balance in our lives, we may need to implement changes. That may mean doing what we want, rather than what everyone else expects.”

A job can be defined as a trade in which we exchange our time for someone else’s money. The fairness of that trade should be under constant scrutiny. The impact of that trade on other important aspects of our lives should be a point of perpetual examination. When people say they are feeling stressed and need more balance in their lives, they are really admitting that they have surrendered the locus of control of their most precious commodity—time. Would these same individuals give up control of their material assets and complain about the resulting stress and hopelessness of their predicament? Wise investors understand that time and energy also contains the seeds of compounding wealth. What is the point of putting your money in aggressive growth funds while your time and energy are in the equivalent of passbook savings or, worse, a losing enterprise?

Maybe what people are saying is that they are waking to the realization that it is not just the money that they want—there are more lasting prizes to be had. We have found that oftentimes these people are waiting for someone to “give permission” to think this way.

Author Mark Eisenson demonstrates that the investment metaphor cuts incisively to the soul of the materially focused but perplexed individual. He writes:

“Quality of life means different things to different people—each person’s definition is unique. But the important thing to realize is that your life is multifaceted and each facet contributes to the quality of life you experience. Each facet is an integral part of your “life portfolio” and your investments of time and energy are how you make that portfolio grow. Are they experiencing the “value” for your investment that you should expect? If not, it’s time to reevaluate and rebalance your portfolio. In the same way that a Wall Street investment appreciates in value, you want your investments of time and energy to offer high yields. They should make you feel good—happy, satisfied, energized, or relaxed. If you’re really lucky, they may even make you money.”

Like a sense of balance, our sense of meaning is also affected by our time investments. The word meaning can be abstract and difficult to define, leading to deep philosophical questions such as, “What is the meaning of life?” However, in terms of financial life planning, the more practical question is, “What is meaningful to me?” In other words, as clients design their future, the top criterion for investing time should be to spend time in a way that is meaningful.

Whether paid or unpaid, it is especially important that each individual’s work enhances his self-worth and personal identity. Do you know of any advisors who, although successful, seem not to be enjoying what they do? Such demeanors are often symptomatic of a disconnect at this level. Author Barbara Sher explains that the first step to finding work that “fits” you—in other words, matches your skills, interests, values and preferences—is to understand the connection between doing what you love and doing something worth doing. At that intersection you will find meaning. Sher writes: “When something really matters to you, you must bring it into your life. It’s a tribute to the success of our culture that so may of us have freedom to search for our own life’s work.”

We have found that a majority of those who do not possess this freedom have also compromised their freedom in the realm of financial decisions. By borrowing and spending too much, by making ill-guided investment choices and strategies, and by neglecting to bring their financial lives under analysis and control, these individuals have delayed or abandoned their quest for meaning. This is where a good financial life planner can make all the difference in the world. First, help clients think about locating the intersection where meaning will be found. Second, help clients align their financial lives with the objective of reaching that destination. Without a clear vision of the destination, the process rings hollow and will be compromised by every impulsive whim and wind of influence.

Excerpted from Your Clients for Life: The Definitive Guide to Becoming a Successful Financial Life Planner, Second Edition by Mitch Anthony. (©2006 by Mitch Anthony. Published by Kaplan Publishing