Week 1 Summarization: MoneyMasterClass
Article Title: Reflecting on Core Values and Financial Goals in the MoneyMasterClass
The first week of Gail Vaz Oxlade's #MoneyMasterClass on Twitter has come to an end, providing participants with a much-needed break to reflect on their personal financial planning journey.
During the course, participants were encouraged to identify and clearly define their core values and financial goals separately. This reflective process was instrumental in revealing potential conflicts and tensions between the two, such as prioritizing wealth accumulation versus philanthropic giving, or short-term gratification versus long-term security.
One effective approach to resolve these conflicts is by creating a personal "wealth purpose statement" that explicitly connects one's values with their financial goals. This statement serves as a compass for decision-making, helping to clarify when goals may undermine or fail to align with one's values, allowing for deliberate adjustments to plans.
Moreover, engaging trusted advisers or mentors to ask strategic questions can help uncover hidden tensions and emotional factors affecting one's financial goals and values alignment. For instance, if a participant values family harmony highly but their goal involves aggressive estate planning strategies that may cause family disputes, this signals a conflict that needs resolution. Recognising these areas early fosters more conscious choices, such as balancing tax efficiency with equitable wealth distribution or blending philanthropic goals with investment strategies.
The MoneyMasterClass emphasises that lists of values and goals can grow and change as needed, encouraging a work-in-progress approach to goal lists. Day 1 of the course involved identifying one's core values, followed by listing goals for the next few years and prioritising them on Day 2. Day 3 focused on reconciling these core values with one's goals.
An example question posed during the course was "Why is my goal to build a retirement savings account?" with the answer being "Because I value financial independence." Tracing one's passion for living within means and budgeting to the value of financial independence is an example of identifying a core value.
Participants were also encouraged to write down conflicts between their core values and goals as questions to gain more insight. Gail Vaz Oxlade will return with more tasks and challenges on Monday.
Week 1 of the MoneyMasterClass focused on self-reflection and getting to know oneself better, setting the stage for a more conscious and intentional approach to personal financial planning. Readers are invited to share their thoughts on the MoneyMasterClass using the social media sharing options provided.
[1] [Article on managing complex conflicts over values and goals within families] [2] [Article on the role of shared purpose in resolving conflicts] [3] [Article on the benefits of structured conversation in conflict resolution] [4] [Article on the importance of clarity in conflict resolution]
- Creating a personal "wealth purpose statement" that links core values with financial goals can serve as a guiding compass, helping to clarify instances where goals may not align with values, allowing for adjustments to plans.
- Identifying and addressing conflicts between core values and financial goals, such as prioritizing wealth accumulation over philanthropic giving, can foster more conscious choices during personal financial planning, like balancing tax efficiency with equitable wealth distribution or blending philanthropic goals with investment strategies.
