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Welcome to You and Your Money. Empowering you to reach your goals with tips to help you Plan Well, Invest Well and Live Well. I'm Jim Zahansky, principal, managing partner and chief goal strategist at Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors. Now on to today's topic. Now today's topic, the most critical component to building wealth. Tell me, Jim, what's the secret to financial success? Come on. It is suspenseful. It is Halloween month, right? Well, you set the stage really well and let me just provide a little bit of contact context to the listeners. You're going to stretch it out. Okay. You're going to stretch it out. You might, you know, at the core, at the core of building wealth, it's not necessarily just about money or investing. It's really about people and their behavior. People and their behavior. How so? What do you mean? Well, I mean, no one's going to be building wealth and building up piles of money or a huge savings, you know, without having something to do with it. Some objective, some goal. Right. And you as your individual or your family, you are establishing these goals. And in the same way, you know, the idea of having a financial plan that goes with it. There's not one size that allows it. So, I mean, you know, while money helps you achieve the goals, one way or another, you're the person who has to take the action to start those goals. All right. I guess that makes sense. But how does this tie into the most critical component of building wealth? What do you mean? Ultimately, you have to take action. You have to be the one that says, I want to build, save money, build a financial plan, and apply that money towards the goal. It has to be you. Wow. I didn't realize I had so much power here. That's pretty good. Well, you do. But I specifically you, Gary although I would contend that you have quite a bit of power. All right. But I think the point here is that, you know, a truly strategic long term financial plan that works for you can't be developed without you. Okay. And so your active participation and partnership with an advisor that you trust. It's one of the most, you know, common stumbling blocks that we see when we works begin to work with people. Because especially if that advisor is not tuned into the person as an individual, there could be challenges in achieving a long term strategic financial plan, which is really building wealth. So we can't be dragging you along kicking and screaming. You've got to buy in. You got to be all in. I think that's what you're saying. Yeah. I mean, you sort of have to put it out there, be on the table, think about your goals and communicate them. If you don't have the open communication with your advisor, then you probably don't have the mindset to build wealth. So for some people, that is indeed a hurdle. So how do you get over that hurdle? What do you do. That's sort of personal, right? I mean, it can be uncomfortable because money conversations can be uncomfortable. It's sort of like, you know, you're a you're opening your wallet, but you have to share with how you've spent it with someone. That can be uncomfortable. But I think what I've sort of seen is that when you're coming to the table prepared, especially with our clients and across our advisory team, one of the things that tends to happen is, you know, we really try to focus on what you're trying to achieve and when you can focus on that in a conversation, then you can figure out how to build wealth and deploy it towards what you're trying to achieve. All right. So that seems like a really personal process. And I can understand that people don't often think of finances in that way, but I understand your point. So if the most critical component to building wealth is yourself, what is it that you should be prepared to bring to the table? Once you find in a found an advisory team that you can trust and partner with so you can plan for the long haul? Yeah, I mean, it's a great question because so so once you've sort of got that mindset there, I think you have to be willing to put it on the table and be a bit uncomfortable in conversations. And once you do that, you probably have built trust with your advisor or advisory team and that discomfort can be put aside. So it doesn't feel like every time you're going to see your advisor that you're, you know, it's like getting your teeth cleaned or something, you know. But, but that said, it's really not it's yeah, you know, I mean ideally what you'd want is a trusting relationship that was open and honest and really focused on what you're trying to achieve for you and your family, which can be uncomfortable. Yeah. However, you know, ultimately when it's done right, the result is something that where people achieve a goal and they can put money towards something, they feel a heck of a lot better. Okay. So you want to go? Yeah. I'm going to see my financial advisor. So you want to be into it? Well, I think most of my clients feel that way. Yeah. Absolutely. All right, so what are we talking about? Documents and things like that. You know, to get the whole picture together. Yeah, I mean, certainly the idea would be there are some tactical things you have to do, like tax statements, statements, you know, W-2s, all of those things. But really think about your mindset. You know that you have what are you and your family trying to achieve? What sort of legacy do you want to build? Some people are probably just saying, well, I've got to pay my bills. That might be true. But one of the things that we would really challenge you on there is could you save a little bit beyond your bills? Because ultimately at some point you're not going to work in the way you are now and you need to replace that income and those are the discussions where the magic happens when you're building a financial plan is to be challenge to the current way you're managing your finances to ensure that you're funding a goal when you need to replace income or want to do something when you're not working. And that that's the value of these conversations around building a long term strategic financial plan, which includes an investment strategy. So drill down some of the key things that we need to look at. So we'll have all the information so we can come up with a plan. Yeah, like so, you know, bank statements, if you have for a1k statement or any other investments, obviously retirement accounts, as an example, any of your insurance information, including life insurance, tax returns, what's what are your debts? You know, what sort of assets do you have? And then, you know, once you have those, we those are the items that our team can piece together or any advisor that's doing financial planning at a certified financial planning level, you know, can put together and apply those to help you think about a plan to achieve your goals later on. All right. So so that all results in the financial plan itself. It does. I mean so yeah, I mean, ultimately in some financial plan that we're building as our team is really a goals based approach. And, and so we're applying the tools that you're giving us that information. How much money you make, how much you have, what are your debts, what investments do you have? And we're ultimately going to build you, you know, a plan that includes future income and how to deploy resources against the goals you want. And goals sort of seem nebulous. They could be anything from like, Hey, I want to retire someday and replace income. Yeah. To you know, hey, I want a second home or I want this dream car, you know, somebody like I, I had a client say I want, I want. I've always wanted a Corvette. Yeah. You know, like a brand new Corvette. And so you put that in the plan and you say, How are we going to fund that Corvette? Those are examples of some real goals that people have coming in the door. All right. Pretty good insight here today for our listeners, as always, Jim. And it's clear how important the individual is to your own financial planning process, not to mention an ongoing collaboration with an advisor who takes a strategic and personalized approach. And we thank you for breaking that down for us today. Good to be here. Hopefully we get some people a roadmap to think about their financial plan. All right. A lot to think about and always good stuff here. That's it for today. Thanks for listening to You and Your Money. Find even more episodes, videos and other resources at our web site whzwealth.com. Be sure to come back next week for more tips to help you live fearlessy and pursue your financial and life goals. Until then, live well. Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors offer securities and advisory services through Commonwealth Financial Network member FINRA/SIPC, a registered investment advisor. Fixed insurance products and services offered through CES Insurance Agency. They practice at 697 Pomfret Street. Pomfret Center, Connecticut 06259 and can be reached at 860-928-2341. Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth advisors do not provide legal or tax advice. The tenured financial services team strive to support clients in achieving their financial life goals. For more information regarding wealth management and customize financial planning with Weiss, Hale and Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors, please visit. www.whzwealth.com.
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