Financial Goals

This week, I was a guest on the Thriving Launch podcast, with hosts Kamala Chambers and Luis Congdon to talk about financial goals and measuring financial success. Luis has an interesting perspective to bring to the table as he was once broke and homeless. At that point, financial success meant having enough money to put gas in his car. For me, financial success used to mean making more than my father did. When you think about it, it was a pretty disgusting way to measure my success because it trivialized my father's entire career. Then for a while, I wanted to just make enough money to buy whatever I want. It didn't take me long to realize I would never be satisfied. Now, my goal is to have as few financial obligations as possible. This doesn't necessarily mean I don't buy anything I want, it just means I don't want to commit my financial present to debts from the past.

What about you? How do you determine your level of financial success? A lot of people will answer based on their mood or recent events. You feel stressed because of an unexpected medical bill or you feel relieved because you just received your tax refund. You might go straight to your amount of debt and assume you're in a bad place. But sometimes, that debt wasn't a terrible idea. Maybe it meant you were able to finish your degree. Finally, people will judge their success based on the amount of money they earn, which doesn't mean anything. What matters is what you do with that money. Same goes for a large influx of money in the form of an inheritance.

As an example, I had a recent email from a 65-year-old woman asking if she was financially stable enough to retire earlier than planned. She's made over 4 million dollars in the past 20 years but only has about 1 million to show for it. At first glance, you might think she's not doing too bad. But the reality is, over that 20 years, she should have saved up and invested much more. She's addicted to her lifestyle and because of it, her savings won't last her long in retirement.

The way we measure financial success at Pete the Planner® world headquarters is with my Power Percentage. This factors in everything you do to move your financial life forward and shows you how efficient you are with your income. If you're measuring financial success by any of the methods I mentioned earlier, you're going to find yourself unsatisfied. A lot of people are held back from doing what they really love because they're measuring financial success by how much money they're making. If you want to do what you love, stop measuring your financial progress by metrics that don't mean anything. Focus instead on your Power Percentage and how you can keep moving that forward. No matter your income, it will give you an accurate picture of your financial progress.

For a complete transcript of the podcast and more, check out the episode on ThrivingLaunch.com.