In this video, we’ll discuss the endless pursuit of money and why addressing the question of ‘how much is enough?’ can help you pursue peace of mind.

The Endless Pursuit of Money

Full transcript:

SPEAKERS

Alex Okugawa & Anthony Saffer

Alex Okugawa 0:00
How much money is enough for Americans to spend their working lives working very hard for the privilege of having a leisurely retirement? But the process of getting there can be stressful. And building up too much can often lead to shame and resentment. We’ll discuss why addressing this question of how much is enough can help you bring peace of mind and two solutions to get you there. Hey, there, it’s Alex and Anthony, from One Degree Advisors, and we help you gain confidence in your retirement. So Anthony, you know, the top goal most people come to us regarding their finances is around retirement, right, preparing for retirement, making sure you can have a successful retirement, most people have no idea how much money is enough for them. And this usually leads to two problems, either one, they’re not saving enough. And that is a problem in and of itself. But the second is saving way too much and working way too hard at the expense of their health and other priorities in life.

Anthony Saffer 0:55
Yeah. So when we look at that, how much is enough question? Problem number one that comes up is just the stress that needs more that the endless pursuit of money. There’s that famous parable of the Mexican fishermen and the American businessman, American businessman stressed out goes down to you know, a coastal city in Mexico and sees a fisherman come in with a good catch. And he says, Well, what are you going to do with all those fish? And he says, Well, I have enough to feed my family and some to sell at the market. And then what? Well, then I have time to do whatever I want to do. Well, how about if you took that and you buy more boats, and you build a big you expand this empire? Build this empire? Exactly. And he says, Well, how long will that take for me to do? Oh, about 20 to 25 years? And then what? Yeah, well, then you can retire to a coastal village and do whatever you want. And the Mexican fishermen, of course, is kind of laughing, saying, Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. Exactly.

Alex Okugawa 1:49
I already have it. Yeah. And then we do see that as a problem. And the second problem here is the guilt and shame that sometimes people feel for having the money.

Anthony Saffer 1:58
Yeah. And that can be the other side is that you know, we’re at the highest standard of living in history as a people. There’s a verse in the Bible, that’s actually misquoted quite a bit to say that money is the root of all evil. But that’s not actually what it says, says, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10

Alex Okugawa 2:21
Yeah, and the way we like to talk about this with clients is money is a tool to get you where you want to go. It is not the end goal, right? Money is not the end goal, but money is the tool to get you where you want to go. So problem number three is there’s too much attention to the accumulation of money at the expense of other priorities.

Anthony Saffer 2:40
And we’re always asking the clients that we’re working with, like what’s important in life, rarely does someone say if ever, you know, money’s the most important thing, they talk about their family, their friends, their health, making an impact in their community. And, but the problem is, is that money we see it in practice is it often overwhelms those priorities in life at the expense of someone’s health or their family relationship. And

Alex Okugawa 3:06
the thing is, too, it’s a tangible goal, you have a number that you can attain. And the problem we often see with folks is the goalposts do move right you want you to hit your goal, and then the goalposts move even further. But let’s talk about two solutions here. And the first solution is planning. And the nice thing about planning is that planning assigns a purpose to your money, it’s the allocation of your money towards the priorities of life, that are really most important to you.

Anthony Saffer 3:32
And when we have those conversations about what’s really important in life, then that guides the investment planning, the tax planning, the estate planning, it becomes that, that that lighthouse to which to grow towards. But planning also helps give context to your situation. So when we don’t know, we know where that finish line is, we can take those good estimates. And people can argue and say, well, planning is just a guess, like you really don’t know. And of course, there are estimates that go into that. But it gives us some context, it gives us something to

Alex Okugawa 4:04
shoot. And to give people some, you know, a real example of this. We recently posted a video on how retirees can benefit from Dynamic financial planning. So we’ll post that above. Alright, the second solution here is to incorporate getting

Anthony Saffer 4:17
in 2008, the great financial crisis, which was really the worst that we’ve experienced here since the Great Depression, at least in this country. And you really saw that people were visibly worried during that time. I mean, there were people standing outside banks wondering if they were going to get their life savings. And I really noticed two elements that resulted in people feeling more at peace number one was if they had lower manageable debt, and then the second thing is is giving I mean, when people were giving towards others, whether it was charities or their church or just their neighbors in general. The concern was not on themselves. It was on others.

Alex Okugawa 4:57
Yeah, exactly. They’re not focused on themselves. They’re focused on others, their impact is looking outwards. And that’s ultimately where we’ve seen the most contentment with a lot of our clients. So yes, they know that they need to grow and accumulate their money and make sure that they have a successful retirement and can accomplish the things that they want to. But at the end of the day, answering that question, how much is enough? How much do I need for my family, for me and my family to accomplish my goals and then everything else if I can give it away to make an impact with my wealth, ultimately, that’s what brings a lot of contentment? Once again, this is Alex Ogawa with One Degree Advisors. And if you’d like to learn how we can help you with your retirement, visit our website at onedegreeadvisors.com/getstarted

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The One Degree Blog

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This does not constitute an investment recommendation. Investing involves risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Consult your financial advisor for what is appropriate for you. Disclosures: https://onedegreeadvisors.com/solutions/#disclosures