The Purpose of Money is NOT Just to Make More of It

Imagine that you’re living in a tent on an open plain.

One day you plant a tree🌳. For the next 40 years, you water it. You protect it from harsh weather and animals. You never pick its fruit. You don’t climb it for fun. You don’t take a break and rest in its shade. You don’t even cut down some branches to build a house. You never go anywhere or do anything else because you’re focused solely on growing that tree bigger and bigger.

Finally, one day, just after your 60th birthday, the tree stops growing.

You look up at its big trunk and wide spread of branches and say to yourself …

🤔 “What was that for?”

Many of us treat our financial planning in a similar fashion. We become so caught up in the work that goes into “growing the tree” that we never think about harvesting the apples or timber to make a better life for ourselves. As long as our tree keeps getting bigger, we keep putting in the work of growing it, even if that work doesn’t engage our interests or put our unique talents to their highest purposes.

Then retirement happens.

Faced with the prospect of no longer working, some soon-to-be-retirees feel lost. Their sense of purpose was so connected to working hard to make more money that they never stopped to ask themselves what that next Ringgit was really for.

🧲 Some of them push off retirement as long as they physically can to keep chasing after more money that they don’t really need and will never actually spend. It is also possible that they delay their retirement because they don’t feel that they have got enough for the rest of their life, without trying to first understand “how much is enough?”

Others become so concerned about running out of money that they live too conservatively and never enjoy their retirement, or their life before retirement.

And others after retirement may be aimlessly working around the house and re-arranging the furniture 🛋 for the 10th time.

🔥 A better sense of purpose.

There is a purpose to having money and growing your wealth. But what money can’t do is create purpose in and of itself.

Because eventually, your tree is going to stop growing.

You’ll be able to live comfortably off the money you’ve saved and the income that your investments will continue to generate. After a lifetime of working hard and following your financial plan, your return on investment will be financial security in retirement.

That’s when it’s time to stop worrying about the tree and start harvesting, enjoy the fruit!

That’s when it’s time to stop focusing on your return on investment and start enjoying a better Return on Life 🌈 (ROL).

But here’s the thing—the earlier you’re able to make this shift into an ROL mindset, the sooner you’ll be able to live the best life possible with the money you have.

Actually, we don’t have to wait until we are 60 year-old to start harvesting that tree and enjoying life. We can trim that tree a bit each year, enjoy life today, while still growing it for the future.

Enjoying life along the way will make your eventual transition to retirement even easier. Instead of struggling to replace work with leisure, you’ll be ready to pour even more of your time and energy into the activities that really mean a lot to you.

🔎 Start by asking yourself, “What is my money really for?”

Is it for going on dream vacations with your partner? Is it for taking classes that enrich your mind and body? A second house for weekend getaways? As much golf ⛳️ or badminton 🏸 as you can squeeze into a day? The freedom to volunteer your time and professional expertise at an organization that’s making your community better? Finishing a major home renovation, you’ve been delaying? Seed money to grow your own business, or to support local start-up?

Your life will take on a brilliant turn when you start to use your means (your money) in a meaningful way. If you want to talk about how to find the meaning for your money and discover the answer to “What’s was that for?”, we can have a chat and talk about the interactive tools and exercises I use to help people find that meaning and put their lives at the center of the financial planning process.