Thinking about investing and growing your wealth? Don’t just start with the how.

In my line of work, I find people love to start with the how. They want to know ‘how do I invest’, ‘how do I grow my superannuation’ or ‘how do I go about sorting out my finances?’ It’s very much focused on the how.

That’s good and well, but I think it’s an extremely important thing to start with more than that. When investing we should always consider three important aspects… the what, the why and the how.

The What

The first step is knowing ‘what is it’ that I actually want? What is it that we’re actually working towards? Maybe you and your significant other have plans for the future? Maybe you haven’t considered them yet. I find that in my line of work, this is not an area that many people consider. What goals are we actually working towards?

Maybe it’s retiring by a certain age. Maybe it’s leaving a legacy for your children. I find that many a time, we actually just don’t know. I was guilty of that too. We think about our what, but don’t go into specifics. We don’t really go deep into the what because we’re uncertain of what the future holds. 

Alas, it’s extremely important to have an idea of what you’re working towards. It can be as detailed or broad as you like but have a clear understanding of what your ‘what’ is.

The Why

Once you’ve got your what, now consider your why. You know your goals, but why are they there? This process helps to unveil what is truly important to you. This is a really vital question because we don’t want to be striving to reach these financial goals for no reason. When we understand our what and our why, it starts to unlock the cogs of financial freedom. Let’s use retirement as an example.

Let’s pretend that our ‘what’ is to retire early. We’ll have to make some sacrifices and work extra hard to reach this goal. What is our why around this?  Maybe we just want to do better than others or feel like we got there quicker. Maybe we want to retire earlier so we can spend more time with our grand kids. Ultimately our why reveals what is important to us.

For me, I don’t have a set age to retire. What’s important to me is working hard, giving my best and adding value. I value work life balance… being able to spend time with my family, friends and do things in the community. It’s being a person of good character. These things are important to me and the reason why I do what I do.

Have a think about your why.

The How

At Fortitude Wealth we help people with the how… superannuation, wealth creation, debt, life insurances and more. Our approach is to help everyday people live their best life through smart and meaningful decisions with their wealth. The smart aspect refers to knowing the what, guided by the why. It’s having meaning and purpose in everything we do. 

So before reading the latest ‘how to get rich blog’, always consider the what, the why and the how.