It’s no secret that the Olympics are on and the athletes are free competing. The stories behind the competition are often compelling. People who didn’t make the cut, that due to someone else not being able to compete, are now the heroes pulling a team through. Competitors who didn’t make the cut last time or the last two times now competing. Countries who have never won a medal, coming back year after year, to fulfill their countries’ pride in competing.
These individuals competing provide inspiration to all of us and provide important life lessons. Life lessons that can be used in our lives in multiple ways. Wealth Management Strategy is one of those ways. What important lessons are there for Wealth Management? From my perspective here are a few.
Hard Work & Persistence: There is little question that Olympians got there by just showing up and saying I want to go to the Olympics. They were not able to pay a financial price and get to compete. They worked over a number of years to gain the privilege of competing at the highest level.
To become financially successful also requires consistent diligence in reaching financial security. You are a financial professional on your “team” to consistently research effective options to meet your objectives.
Focus: The ability to focus on an objective worthy of achievement allows “competitors” to make choices. Choices like following a training program or doing whatever makes me happy for the next five minutes. Every Olympian has had to make choices about what they are going to do, eat and how they lead their lives. Clearly, not all those choices were easy or made them more popular.
Are your “Wealth Management Goals” worth achieving? To meet them requires choices. Choices that may not make you “most popular” or satisfy a short term feeling. If they truly are worth achieving, difficult choices are much easier to make on a day to day basis. If your goals are truly worthy, then focus on them each and every day. The choices are apparent then!
Integrity: I think we are all fed up with hearing about people, who seeking an edge, stepped over the line. The best do not need to inject themselves with performance enhancing substances. 41 year old Dara Torres dares the inspection! Shouldn’t we all?
Warren Buffet doesn’t need inside information to meet his objectives; just common sense and hard work.
Coaching: Okay, this is self-serving but each Olympian has a coach. No one is self taught and/or motivated. Tiger Woods has a coach!
Financial Advice is no different. Financial Advisors have the additional knowledge and experience to fine tune a wealth management plan to maximize the probability of success.
Hard Work, Focus, Integrity and Coaching seem so simple. Shouldn’t everyone be able to accomplish financial security? Of course, if you implement them!