Time freedom is to have complete control over one’s time.
Imagine this for yourself: If you genuinely had all your cares taken care of, not just in your life but for all around you, what would you do with your time? Imagine not having to go to work and having all the resources you needed to live in all the comfort you could handle. What would you do with your time if it was all yours, to spend 100% according to your own schedule?
Many of us invest because we’re trying to build up financial resources for later on – If we can accumulate enough wealth, we can achieve a type of time freedom. I want time freedom too, I want to be comfortable – my only concern is that I’ve seldom seen true contentment in others when they’re engaged in inaction. It’s as if humans are built for struggle and designed for challenge. Time freedom spent solely on comfort is like having the power to achieve great things, but instead, you’re sitting in neutral.
Paradoxically, the pursuit of pleasure or the chase for comfort can itself provide a type of meaning, though deep down, we know we’re not meant for perpetual ease.
Investing, even when not strictly necessary, can be about creating a meaningful struggle, finding purpose by placing your resources at risk. On the other hand, too much action without a chance of ever ‘arriving’ is equally dangerous.
It’s unwise to invest, just because you can, without a purpose.
This, of course, flies in the face of conventional advice from an industry that insists your money should always be at work. An industry that wants us so fixated on making the best moves, that we forget to consider where we’re actually going and why.
Not investing, because you’re already ‘comfortable’, or investing willy nilly, just because you can, are both mistakes that we can avoid early on. How, by formulating a financial strategy that starts with purpose, then defines goals to achieve using a strategy that’s been specifically designed just for you. THIS is why seeking out financial advice can be so powerful.
Periodically I’ll connect with other likeminded financial advisers. There’s much to learn (and so little to lose) by comparing notes with competitors in my industry. Financial advisers aren’t merely the gate keepers of financial products and they don’t own the rights to the only strategies that work; they effectively craft life plans. A plan that might start with our instinctual quest for comfort but must evolve into a pursuit of purpose.
Royden Shotter, with nearly 30 years experience as a financial adviser and as a co-founder of Planolitix, has helped revolutionise financial advice businesses in New Zealand (including mine) with his financial modeling tool. Although part of our discussion today is just two advisers talking shop, I trust you’ll find some value in this candid conversation, especially when considering the pitfalls of a ‘just because’ investment strategy.
Remember, investing shouldn’t be about growing growing an investment account, but be about giving direction and meaning to your actions, ensuring each step taken is with intention, towards a destination that resonates with your deepest values and purpose.
