How Your Personal and Professional Goals Can Fuel Investment Success

The world of investing is vast, offering seemingly endless choices where you can place your hard-earned savings. This makes it easy to get swept up in popular trends – from what is working for a neighbor or family member to reacting to media hype about the latest hot investment.

That kind of reactivity rarely delivers the results we want. Why? We don’t know the success rate of hyped investments or if they are right for you. Having smart goals, both short and long term, as well as taking a measured approach to your investment strategy is more productive than chasing the latest trend or return.

Playing The Long Game

There is arguably no denying that the economy is in a volatile moment in time. However, volatile phases are never permanent, and successful wealth management includes navigating challenging market conditions.

It is difficult to ignore when inflation hits a 40-year high. With prices skyrocketing in practically every aspect of our lives – and constant media updates about the struggling economy – there is cause for concern. Our spending money isn’t going as far as it used to. Inflation is touching almost everyone, regardless of their level of wealth.

For retirees living on a fixed income, diminished purchasing power is a significant concern as Social Security increases have not kept up with inflation. Protecting your principle becomes a much larger goal in inflationary times.

In some respects, inflation is like an economic thunderstorm: Take the lightning seriously (by staying indoors), but remain calm, get inside if you are not, and distract yourself until you have something useful and meaningful to do.

In other words, inflationary periods do not have to ruin your life or keep you in a state of fear. The more reasoned your approach to investing during economic volatility, the better. That’s one reason a Kansas City financial advisor near you can be instrumental in helping you navigate times like these.

The Value of Financial Planning: Guardrails

If everyone always found it easy to “keep calm and carry on” in their financial lives, Wall Street would behave more predictably, and there would be less demand for advising. The truth is that we all have good days, bad days, and many in between.

One of the primary reasons we started an independent wealth management firm was to help individuals, families, and business owners in all kinds of market conditions. Our financial advice, planning, and investment services are founded in behavioral finance, which means we help you understand how your day-to-day decisions can impact you tomorrow and beyond.

Our responsibility to you is to provide an objective perspective of both your financial situation and market conditions to help ensure that you are making the right money moves. This is what we mean by the term “Guardrails” at ViaWealth. We’re here to help guide you through all of life’s financial journeys by building a financial plan that helps you pursue financial freedom.

For example, if you come in seeking to sell a particular stock holding, we will discuss the pros and cons of making that decision as it may have deeper implications for your financial plan, tax status, etc. While it’s always your call, it’s our responsibility to ensure you fully understand all repercussions that may occur when you make changes to your portfolio.

As fiduciary financial advisors in Kansas City, we are legally required to put your interests ahead of our own. Our independent wealth solutions are based on this philosophy.

When you come in for a financial portfolio review, we start by verifying what is important to you in terms of your personal values and financial goals. If it is your first visit, we utilize our time-tested approach to uncovering your preferences and objectives so that we can connect your goals with the right financial services.

Because we focus on what you value most in life, we call our personal approach Values-based financial planning. We work transparently with you to devise long-term retirement, estate, or other strategies for achieving your monetary long- and short-term goals using the information you provide.

Start Your Journey With an Investment Portfolio Review

Having a carefully planned approach tied to goals that have powerful meaning in your life helps make it easier to stay on track in less volatile times, too. That is why we encourage you to make each financial goal specific enough to resonate with you each time you see it.

For instance, instead of merely noting your last day of work, add details by envisioning what you will do on that day: “I am going to retire, fly to France’s wine country, hand-pick the best seeds, come home, and then start a vineyard in my backyard.”

It is easier to follow a long-term financial course when you can visualize the end of the finish line this way. You are not just invested financially at that point; you have become invested emotionally, too. This is the edge that helps keep you on track month after month and year after year.

You are less likely to complete even the very best strategic long-term financial plans without motivation. This is probably because the human consciousness is rooted in the short-term.

Consistently thinking in long-range terms is an abstract skill that we all have to develop. Like walking or riding a bike, it gets easier the more you do it. That’s why we bring your long-term objectives from an abstract idea into a concrete vision. You can find out more about how we do it on our FinLife page.