120 | Flickering Questions

Most of us have questions about money and purpose deep within us that flicker like a candle.

Why does what I feel in my gut always feel so different from what we discuss in a finance conversation?

Why does it feel like we can't "catch up"?

There are so many things competing for our resources. How do we decide what should come first?

Why do I always get overwhelmed by money conversations?

Why does this career lack the purpose that I expected to experience?

Is this really all there is to being "good with money"?

Some of these questions are difficult to say out loud because, at best, it's hard to find the words or, at worst, it seems like a silly question with an obvious answer that you should know.

But these questions are the essence of our relationship with money - a flickering candle that only reveals itself if we allow it to shine.

The problem is that detailed plans and projections are the ultimate candle snuffer.

Instead of creating an environment for the candle to burn brighter with a vulnerable, but honest reflection, a detailed projection quickly snuffs out the real questions allowing "inflation", "market risk", "Social Security", and "life expectancy" to rush in and suck all the oxygen out of the room.

Too many numbers and assumptions inevitably confuse even the most financially-savvy Muggles to a point that it's hard to ask the first question.

Snuffing out the real questions and restricting the conversation to clarifying assumptions is no way to talk about money, but that’s what we’ve settled on as an industry.