63 | Less is More
This post is Part 3 of 3 of the "Trusting Simplicity Instead of Increasing Complexity" series.
You already know everything that you need to know to achieve financial well being - the hard part isn't the knowing, but the ignoring and the doing.
The list of things that are out of our control serve as great places to hide and excuse ourselves from real progress - interest rates, the debt ceiling, politics, taxes, market commentaries, daily return figures, and credit card rewards to name a few.
These things like to paralyze us. They like to consume all of our time. They like to invite second-guessing. They like to create confusion. They like to spread fear and FOMO.
Every single one of those things is responsible for increasing complexity and none of them actually matter when it comes to making real progress.
Yes, I realize that other advisors and news executives are scoffing right now, but from a numbers perspective, all financial well being (or stress!) rolls up to three simple concepts.
Ensuring you always have enough cash in the bank to live your life. Stress management.
Spending less than you make on average for your lifetime. Flexibility management.
Keeping tabs on the relationship between what you have and what you need. Expectations management.
Like it or not, if you can address these three things, there is nothing else to accommodate from a numbers perspective.
If we buy the complexity that we’re peddled on a weekly basis, then the numbers never mean anything and we struggle to reach a place of real financial well being.
If we trust simplicity, then we can focus on a couple of numbers, ignore the circus, and continually move closer to a place of real financial well being.
Trusting simplicity allows us to quiet the noise of the world and rest our minds.
Trusting simplicity allows us to see and tell our story more clearly.
Trusting simplicity allows us to move from fearing the future to constructing it.
Trusting simplicity allows us to find contentment in a world of discontentment.
Trusting simplicity allows us to move through the chaos of complexity without falling prey to its false hope.