Part 1 | Life by design | what would you do if $3million fell in your lap?

It might seem like a frivolous question, or one to be confined to daydreams.

However, it is one to truly consider from a lifestyle perspective.

What would you do if money was truly not an object?

It is easy to end up living someone else’s life.?Go to school, get a job, get a better job, earn more, keep making more, buy a house, buy a bigger house, go on nice holidays, go on nicer holidays.?

If the thought of all these progressions flows easily for you, then there is nothing to worry about, other than to keep on going.

However, if you feel friction or anxiety reading the path I’ve described, it might be because you don’t want all of this.?

Quite possibly, you want something different for you and your family.?A path to which you attach greater meaning in your eyes.

When the definition of success has become the attainment of material possessions, it makes it very difficult to break from this societal norm.?Even greater complications arise when your daily social media and news feeds further glorify this endless pursuit.?

The path of least resistance is for our minds to be clouded with these superficial objectives and to distract us from our essence, or True North.

Below are some simple prompts you can put to yourself, to help you uncover your own answer to the headline question above.

Would you work less??

Would you exercise more??

Would you eat better?

Would you work on skills you have put off because you are too busy??

Would you spend more time reading, writing, traveling, and giving back?

Would you look for different work?

Would you reconnect with loved ones?

Would you leave your partner?

Would you no longer find yourself in a rush to get anywhere?

Would you stress less or stress more?

Would you live between two countries??

Would you upgrade your home?

Would you take a year off?

Would you change anything at all??

Would you work on that nagging illness or injury?

Would you start a business?

Would you spend more time with your children??

Would you sell your business?

Would you quit your job or look for another Job?

Would you keep building the empire?

Would you invest in yourself more? If so, how would that look?

We will all have different answers; some people want wholesale changes to their lives, whilst others want more incremental and subtle changes. Either way, the outcomes could be exponential, regardless of the size of the changes.

You’re probably wondering why a financial adviser is talking about all of this.

As financial advisers, we are privileged enough to sit down with individuals and families and learn about what’s driving their decisions, what matters dearly to them, and how they respond to positive and negative life situations.

Life tends to ebb and flow, and while most of us can look at our lives and be grateful, we tend to be our own worst enemies and find a way to be stuck in certain aspects of our lives.

Most individuals and families are concerned about the impact their decisions will have on their current and future life.

This concern ultimately can stop you from making the decisions and forging ahead with a “life by design.”?Our role as financial advisers is to help you feel comfortable in manipulating, manoeuvring, and adjusting finances to suit your needs.?There is always a balance at play that we need to work with to help optimise any decision.

In Part Two of this article, we will work through how to get started.

In the meantime, I recommend considering and answering the questions I’ve posed above in as much detail as possible.

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Neelan Sornalingam