I was talking to someone about the forward thinking concept last week (I wrote about that concept in my May 23 blog, Forward Thinking). Pam works with low income people helping them accumulate assets. Several studies have shown that accumulating assets does more to get people out of poverty than other strategies alone (education, improving income, access to credit, etc.). She mentioned that to get people thinking long term, you have to give them hope.
Think about the people in your life. Do they give you hope or do they hold you back?
I have heard a few financial advisors who believe their job is to tell clients what is realistic. They think they are helping clients stay grounded in reality. Instead, they are holding their clients back.
Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin did not build their firms by focusing on realistic goals. Young adults do not move out of poverty by having realistic goals. People do not write books, complete ironman triathlons or make it to the Olympics by having realistic goals. Yet a few people do each of these things. They have hope.
In Lighting the Torch, George Kinder and Susan Galvan suggest that your advisors should not help you to understand realistic goals. They believe that what is realistic for you might be holding me back, that my stretch goal might be your minimum standard. Kinder and Galvan recommend that you align yourself with advisors who will help you assess what will be needed to achieve your goal and then encourage you to take those steps that will get you there.
Do you surround yourself with people who help you understand that difficult goals will require effort and encourage you to make the effort? Does your entourage give you hope to achieve your wildest dreams?
John Comer, CFP®
Consultant
Comer Consulting, LLC
Plymouth, MN
I agree, we must give a hope, but I believe that, WE HAVE NOT TO SELL ILLUSIONS , as well
Very well stated!