Fast Financial 101: Is It Time For A Money Mindset Makeover?

David Treece, MBA, AIF®, CLTC® |
Categories
Financial Advocacy

Financial advisors are required to pass intense securities exams and have enormous technical knowledge about finance, investing, taxes, and more.

However, beyond creating a financial plan, managing investments, and navigating the technicalities of finance, you should expect a financial advisor to do a whole heckuva lot more.

What people often need beyond a financial plan is coaching and support to transform their money mindset to be more accountable to their own money. A financial advisor who is invested in your success will ask:

  • Are you saving enough?
  • Are you getting into too much debt?
  • Are you overspending?
  • Are you risking disaster by not having the right insurance?
  • Are you trying to retire too early?
  • Are you overlooking what could go wrong? (Fraud, business failure, divorce, disability, natural disaster, or economic meltdown are just a few unexpected situations to plan for.)

There are many psychological elements that go way beyond what you might think an advisor normally does. We sometimes even act as a therapist.

Are you experienced?

You haven’t lived through everything. Some things you can’t understand until it happens to you. A holistic advisor will have experience with all types of financial situations that can be applied to your benefit.

For example, If I ask someone if they have thought about long-term care planning, and they have no experience. they’ll say something like, “Oh, when I get to the point where I can’t wipe my butt, put me on a raft and ship me out to sea.”

When I ask that same question to someone who has labored over a loved one, the agony washes over their face, and they say something like, “I will never put someone through what I went through. I will never have my kids have to do what I did for my mother.”

Quite a difference between those two answers, and it comes from lived experiences. No amount of studying it or reading about it will do.

A coaching-oriented advisor, working with you on an ongoing basis, will help you absorb this to where it changes your behavior.

Which of these money behaviors describe you?

  • Money Silence: Let’s just not talk about it.
     
  • Money Shame: I’m ashamed of my debt, I haven’t saved enough, I am behind my peers and family members, I can’t provide enough for my loved ones, I can’t seem to control my spending, etc.
     
  • Everyone Does It: Student loans, keeping up with the Joneses, gotta have crypto or the hottest meme stock.
     
  • Avoiding Unpleasant Topics: Fear of facing extremely unlikely but absolutely ruinous things, such as disability or premature death.
     
  • Sunk Cost: Continue throwing good money after bad, compounding mistakes.
     
  • Rescue Fantasies: Fooling yourself that things will be different in the future.
     
  • Needs vs. Wants: Can you spot the conflict between what you want and what is best for you?
     
  • In The Moment: Paying too much attention to NOW and not your FUTURE, underestimating your longevity.
     
  • Making Bad Decisions ... or avoiding making a decision.

Do you need to transform your money mindset?

Identify with any of the above behaviors? We’re here to help.

Schedule a quick consult with Team Treece.


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Read Next:

How to Stop Subconsciously Sabotaging Your Financial Goals

Cultivate a Positive Money Mindset to Get What You Want

Don’t Let The 4 D’s Derail Your Retirement