“Time is free, but it is priceless. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” Harvey MacKay
Life and finances—they intersect in pretty significant ways for most of us. For the busy executives out there, the two can become almost inseparable. It makes total sense that many high-level, busy executives want to handle the bulk of their finances. They’ve probably worked years and thousands of hours to get where they are in life and controlling their finances can be like a badge of honor to them. Unfortunately, attempting to handle your finances along with everything else on your plate not only isn’t good for your finances, but it’s also not good for you.
Time, interest, and expertise
When it comes to managing finances, people usually have a limit of one of three things that prevent them from doing the endeavor justice: they have a limit of time, interest, or expertise. In this day and age with access to courses, the internet, and unlimited books, almost anyone can develop at least a level of expertise about their finances as long as they have the interest to do so. However, the big limit is usually time. No matter how interested you are in financial matters, you need to sink a lot of time into developing expertise and then putting that expertise into practice. Where are you going to take that time from? Your family? Your career? Your involvement in the community? What’s more important?
Knowing your priorities
If you’re working 60, 80, or even 100 hours a week, you simply don’t have the luxury of taking extra time to learn about and manage your finances. Not only would that mean taking time away from your family, friends, and community, but it would also mean more stress. Stress—which you’re likely already experiencing plenty of—is a major cause of health problems. What are your priorities? Staying healthy and living your best life with those you love? Or trying to handle everything on your own and letting everything else suffer? When you look at this way, the decision is usually pretty easy.
Let the experts handle it
Even if you have the time and interest to devote to expanding your financial expertise, you simply can’t beat the amount of expertise a true professional has. And if you don’t put in the time, you’ll likely continue holding off on putting a plan together because you’re waiting for that mythical point when you can devote the time necessary to put together the perfect plan. Let me tell you from experience: that mythical point never actually arrives.
You’d never actually try to put a new roof on your house, right? Or perform surgery on yourself? Then why would you try to manage your finances? Just like roofing and medical procedures are best left to the professionals, your financial management is best left to a fee-only fiduciary-based wealth manager who has put in the time and effort to learn best practices and who can professionally guide you toward financial freedom.
Ready to get started on the journey? Please reach out. I have more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry and would love to free up your time so you can enjoy everything you love.