Why You Aren’t Achieving Your Financial Goals and How to Change That

We’ve all heard the phrases about “the haves and the have nots”. You either have wealth or you don’t. And it’s actually because wealth comes from accumulated and correct action with our finances. You either did the correct action or you didn’t. So many of us at times (including myself before) wonder why we aren’t experiencing financial success. It can seem so elusive, yet we can look around us and see someone who is succeeding with money (the haves) and we aren’t (the have nots).

How come they are doing it and we are not?

I’ve spent over a decade of my life looking for the answer to this question and studying the Top 1% of wealth. I found the answer and today I am going to share it with you.

The answer is confidence.

It’s as simple as that. But in its simplicity, it is actually very complex. I find that these simple, but complex answers are life’s richest learning experiences. Now what I don’t mean by this is “fake it till you make it”. Don’t fake it till you make it. Be and Do until you Have. My explanation is going to come from the root etymology of the word confidence.

The dictionary definition of confidence currently says, “full trust; belief in powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing”. There is a major problem with this definition. It lists the symptoms of confidence, but it does not list the root of confidence. Therefore, etymology is so important. It states the true intention of the word at its root. Con means “with” and “fide” comes from the word “fidelity” and means “trust”. So, confidence literally means “with trust”.

So, in order for one to have confidence he must be able to trust himself. What is the root of trust? Honesty and track record. Think about it, if I lie to you are you going to trust me? Nope! And if I have a poor track record that is littered with unfinished projects or bad decisions, are you going to trust my work? Nope! So, if I don’t keep my word with myself, make bad decisions and leave my own projects unfinished for myself with my finances do you think I’m going to trust myself? Will I have financial confidence? You got it!

I’m a goal-oriented guy and I always have been. So, my issue was that I used to set these awesome financial goals and somehow, I’d never end up achieving them. I’m smart, I’m capable, I’ve always been relatively successful at just about anything I’ve really shown interest in and so it would rack my brain as to why I would always seem to be struggling with money when I was way more “motivated” and a harder worker, while others around me would achieve the very financial goals I had set out for.

I finally realized that I would tell myself I was going to do something with my finances or that I wanted to, and then not do it. This single action with my finances, was a betrayal of my own self-trust. I was lying to myself, making a bad decision instead of a good decision and I was also leaving an unfinished cycle of action in my life. The result? Massive amounts of self-doubt. And rightly justified self-doubt too. I mean, how would I treat someone else who continually lied to my face and was unreliable? I’d doubt them at every corner, and I wouldn’t believe a word they said. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I was doing this with myself when it came to money.

So, let me ask you, do you save money when you say you’re going to? Do you earn enough income and control your expenses so that you avoid getting yourself into debt? Do you make good decisions with your finances? If not, this is why you’re struggling with financial success. As soon as you set a financial goal, your mind calls bullshit on YOU. If the last goals weren’t true, why would this one be any different? So, you must know that going into a financial goal that your own mind is not even on your side until it begins to see your level of follow through. You must literally coerce your mind into compliance and then force the actions through to completion in order to even get momentum as you start. Most people think just because they wrote their goal on paper or got an accountability partner that they will be successful. It doesn’t work that way.

So, the problem? You are loaded with self-doubt because you’ve broken trust with yourself so many times by making bad financial decisions, not following through, etc. The solution? Realize it. Confront these issues and force the doubt out by doing what you say and finishing what you start. And conversely, don’t say something if you don’t intend to do it and don’t start something if you don’t intend to finish it.

Now, the final question I had to ask myself was why I was not following through and why I was making bad decisions with my finances. Well, it was a lack of knowledge for the most part. When someone doesn’t know how to correctly do something, they can’t truly think logically about the subject and unless they are given very basic rules on the topic of finances that are enforced, they aren’t going to make good decisions. This is why the majority of the investing population uses a Financial Advisor. They know that they don’t know, and they don’t want to know because with knowledge comes responsibility and involvement. They’d rather just not know, give their hard-earned money to someone else, and hope that this person knows and will be responsible for them.

To break the cycle of not achieving your goals, you need to keep your word with yourself and make better financial decisions to earn your trust back, but beyond that you need to gain the understanding to be able to think for yourself when it comes to the topic of finances. And you can only do that by studying correct financial information from sources who have proven track records of achieving the very things you want financially.

In closing, my mission in life is to help good people build more wealth who make the world a better place.

So, if you’re a good person who wants to help make the world a better place and this article helped you, I want to encourage you to start planning your next quarterly trip and putting this into practice. And feel free to write to me and let me know how it went.

If you’re a client of mine and you’d like help leveling up, send an email to my team with “Level Up” in the subject line to [email protected].

If you’re a follower and have not read my book The Blueprint to Financial Freedom yet, that is the place to start. This book covers the specifics for each level in the various chapters and you can grab the book for free as my gift.

Click here to get a copy!

The Blueprint to Financial Freedom by Jerry Fetta

To Purpose, Wealth & Freedom,

Jerry Fetta

Jerry Fetta is the CEO and Founder of Wealth DynamX. He is a nationally recognized financial expert featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fox, Chicago Weekly News, New York Finance, interviewed on 100+ podcasts with world renowned experts, earning endorsements and affiliations throughout his career with names like Kevin O’Leary, Grant Cardone, Dave Ramsey, and Pamela Yellen.

Jerry’s mission in life is to help create millions of financially educated and solvent families achieving greater financial freedom and sharing the truth about money with those around them.

Learn more at www.WealthDynamX.com

(DISCLAIMER: The information in this content should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Wealth DynamX can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.)