Resolve Bad Money Habits With Goal-Based Investing

If you reach the end of your pay period and are unsure where all your money went, you are not alone. Even people who make substantial incomes can find themselves with little to show for their efforts.

Granted, external economic circumstances can be challenging at times, but bad money habits are independent of the market cycle.

The good news is you can change your money habits, and you may even be surprised at how easy it is to do.

Trendy Spending vs. Wealth Management Goals

Temptations to overspend are seemingly everywhere today. From one-click ordering on Amazon to sign-free-pay-later credit cards, bad money habits are commonplace.

In fact, eight in ten Americans carry some form of consumer debt. Unlike cigarettes,

high-interest-rate credit cards do not come with warning labels. So, credit card debt is common.

Shopping when bored or as a pastime rather than for anything needed (or particularly wanted) is another financial misstep. It can be hard to resist something shiny and new, particularly because the sales displays and advertisements are designed to charm.

A third common bad money habit is neglecting to save and invest for the future. It’s easy to fall into the mental trap that says, “if only I made a little more money, I could save.” However, there are so many ways to spend money that people at every income level neglect their savings.

If you are frustrated with your financial situation and wish you were gaining more traction, goal-based investing may be the ideal solution for you.

As fiduciary financial advisors in Chicago, we have discovered that when we first sit down with many clients, they lack a clear picture of their goals. The process is not as simple as asking, “What do you want?”

Many people have not considered what is truly possible—or even taken the time to define the life they want. This is why we use Financial Life Management (FinLife) tools to help make finding an answer easier.

The Value of Financial Planning: Advantaged Insights

Our extensively-tested system helps us to get to the root of your (and your partner’s) relationship with money, what you value, and what you would really like to experience financially.

The three main tools we use are MoneyMind^®, HonestConversations^®, and InvestmentViewfinder^®. Each serves a different purpose, but together they help us find what matters most in coordinating your financial plan.

MoneyMind^®walks you through a series of easy-to-answer questions in order to assess your preferences on various financial aspects around commitment, security, and happiness.

The insights it captures can make financial discussions with your loved ones easier. MoneyMind® is simply about gauging your responses in order to chart an overall picture of your money habits and inclinations.

HonestConversations^®analyzes where you focus at the intersection between what is most important to you and what you can control. As a result, we can better understand your motivations, intentions, and goals.

We can use its findings to intelligently discuss any trade-offs around decisions and priorities. Your scoring also helps us to track your progress and update it over time.

Similarly, InvestmentViewfinder^®helps you identify your monetary habits and preferences in regard to investing. This is a great advantage when it comes time to custom-build your portfolio.

We want your assets in line with your financial plan, so this makes facilitating open dialogue about investing beneficial. It also streamlines tracking your investment expectations in regard to performance, cost, taxes, and protection.

If you already have assets, InvestmentViewfinder^®can help us identify gaps there, too. InvestmentViewfinder® can also help us identify gaps in your existing savings and investments. It helps you easily visualize potential areas of financial growth.

Regardless of your needs, our tools’ results help us better shape your financial plan to reflect your goals, inclinations, and intentions.

Independent Wealth Solutions: Painless Planning

The next step after we inventory your money preferences is preparing a comprehensive financial plan to reach your goals.

Taking the information from your assessments, we draft a preliminary strategy for what matters most to you and your family. Afterward, we present this strategy and begin working with you, developing a more personal, customized version together.

We take pride in financial advice that treats what matters to you most; your values as its most vital component. So, we refer to our advising style as “values-based.”

This is not a guarantee, but generally speaking, the worst budgeting or spending habits can often be overwritten with better ones. We intend to help you set—and keep—wiser monetary objectives.

In your shoes, that is how we would want you to handle independent wealth management for us. We try to treat you the same way that we would like to be treated, and we are committed to your success. ViaWealth advisors are fiduciaries, which legally obligates us to act in your best interest at all times, regardless of personal gain or loss.

Our time-tested plans and processes, combined with our transparent and efficient investment techniques, help us ensure that we are always doing our best to look out for you.

If you are between advisors or want a second opinion, we are happy to conduct a portfolio review. Contact us today.