Greatness always comes from people working hard to fulfill their dreams. Whether it was in school, athletics, weight loss, or in work, goals and dreams of personnel achievement are the catalyst for all success.

However, in their financial lives, my experience is that people are lost at how to discuss or establish the same dreams. They may say they want a lot of money, or they need a $1,000,000 to retire, or they want to pay-off their home, and they also want their portfolio to out perform the market. These are objectives not goals and often they are what we have been told we should want.

What is the purpose? It’s really no-wonder that the most important aspect of a secure financial future is usually where people fail.

It is how they start.

How can we blame them? As I indicated earlier in this blog series, average investors are getting the wrong message from Wall Street and the media. Their objectives often are to sell their solutions to the problem that we need to convince you that you have.

Think of how the industry communicates to us:

♣ No load funds out perform load funds
♣ Buy term invest the difference
♣ Always invest pre tax the maximum
♣ Insurance is a great investment
♣ Compound interest is your friend
♣ The Stock Market averages 10 %
♣ Stocks out perform bonds
♣ Paying Cash is the secret to wealth
♣ Fee’s and expenses are the most important factor in determining return
♣ Payoff your home
♣ Interest only loans will ruin the economy
♣ Technology stocks is the New Era
♣ Trade deficits will ruin the economy
♣ Social Security will not be their when we retire
♣ Your Asset Allocation should be based on 100 – your age will determine the percentage of bonds verses stocks
♣ Index investing is better than active management
♣ The economy is bad

Perception vs. Reality

No-wonder why we are confused. The reality is that all of these issues, despite banner headlines and sense of absolute certainty surrounding them, have no real bearing on you and your families’ personal financial wealth and well being.

Just think for a second about our perception versus reality. Do you think today the economy is good or the economy is bad? To most people the answer to this question will enable them to feel confident or fearful of their future. That is our perception. Did you ever think in reality the economy really does not exist? What is the economy? What is the phone number to the economy? How do we measure a good economy versus a bad economy or society?

It is all about people’s perception of how things are, the media speeds up the perception, which in turn affects people’s attitudes, which then creates corporate individual reactions. This is then followed by politics and governments actions to manipulate the outcome.

The reality is that wealth is not about the economy; in society there is no measurement gauge to determine what someone’s true wealth. The reality is wealth is personal; it is your attitude about your own personal and professional goals, dreams, and desires, your personal perceptive, coordinated or integrated back to your personal and professional goals.