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Better answers start with better questions.
Below are the 5 levels of Financial Zen and the most important questions you can ask yourself to accelerate towards the next mile marker. Level One: Get your financial house in order.
Question: What don’t I see?
Why it’s important: The unknown unknowns are what “get you” and many of them are hiding in plain sight and remain hidden only because we don’t look for them.
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Level Two: Less than 10 years to Financial Zen.
Question: What assumptions/stories are holding me back?
Why it’s important: After your house is in order, it’s time to hit the accelerator. But the “money stories” we repeatedly tell ourselves are like driving with the handbrake on. Rewriting the ones like “money is evil” or “keeping up with the Joneses” will reduce drag.
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Level Three: 5 years from Financial Zen
Question: What’s next?
Why it’s important: We’ve been institutionalized into a 5 day school/work week since kindergarten. As fantastical as “not HAVING to work” sounds, it can be very scary to be released from that routine. Time and space are your friends in figuring out what lies on the other side.
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Level Four: You’ve achieved Financial Zen!
Question: What is “enough”?
Why it’s important: You can continue to work knowing you don’t need to or retire part-time/full-time. For many it’s tempting to “keep going” just to get that vacation home or bucket list car or bigger trips. But more is better and never enough. So determining the balance of trading more time for more money for more purchases/experiences will ensure you don’t stay on the treadmill indefinitely.
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Level Five (optional): Money has lost its utility
Question: What’s my legacy?
Why it’s important: If you love what you do, you might work past achieving Financial Zen and find yourself with more savings than you could ever spend. You’ve entered into a stage very few achieve, but what’s it all mean? Is it for your kids? Is it for causes you care about? What do you want people to say about you at your funeral (many, many years from now)?
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No matter what stage we’re in, there’s always room for growth. And the fastest way to grow is… to ask better questions… to get better answers… to get better.
