Values – New Year, Same You
Happy Sunday!
Values – New Year, Same You
This past month has been a blast!
Between Christmas, traveling for a wedding, and kiddo birthdays, it’s been jam-packed with activity.
But wait, there’s more.
The kiddos also enjoyed Winter Lights, bowling, mini golf, and tried their hand at tennis.
As you can tell by this photo of Alyssa golfing, we’re professionals and our youngest definitely wasn’t overdue for a nap that day.
Obviously, our family puts a premium on meaningful time together, which dovetails (obligatory MBA word of the day) into this week’s conversation.
Let’s dive in!
This month is about VALUES, the underpinning of your family’s financial plan and the reason you’re working so hard. We’re covering:
Statement of Financial Purpose
Big Blue Arrow
Small Tests
You Are Who You Are.
Who you are does not reset on January 1. Your values don’t suddenly change because the calendar flips. What actually happens over time is refinement.
You get clearer. Edges sharpen. Priorities come into focus. But the core of who you are is remarkably stable.
This is a core part of financial planning.
Financial plans fail when they assume future-you will want something fundamentally different than present-you. That you’ll care more/less about family. Or health. Or time. Or meaning. Or that money will somehow replace those things later.
In reality, meaningful shifts in values tend to come from a small number of life events, and even then, they’re refinements, not reversals.
Marriage. Becoming a parent. These don’t turn you into a new person. They reshape how your individual values integrate into a family unit.
And that’s an important distinction.
Families aren’t built on compromise so much as collaboration. People bring individual values to the table, and over time those values get expressed both individually and collectively. A good financial plan respects that tension instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
When your financial plan is aligned with those values, it supports you. It takes pressure off. It creates forward momentum.
When it isn’t aligned, it spins its wheels. You can work harder, earn more, optimize endlessly, and still feel like you’re stuck in a rat race you can’t quite articulate.
The important part of goal setting isn’t choosing better goals.
It’s getting clear enough to write down what actually matters to you and why you’re working this hard in the first place.
That clarity is what everything else builds on.
Statement of Financial Purpose.
This is where a Statement of Financial Purpose comes in.
You can think of it as your North Star.
Not in the aspirational, vision-board sense, but as a practical, grounding reference point.
A short, plain-English statement that explains why you’re working hard, what the sacrifice is for, and what kind of life you’re intentionally building toward.
This concept is heavily influenced by the work of Carl Richards, who has long emphasized that money decisions are behavioral first and mathematical second.
The Statement of Financial Purpose isn’t about optimization. It’s about alignment.
Here’s why it matters.
Most financial decisions don’t show up as obvious right or wrong answers. They show up as tradeoffs.
Do we go left or right?
Choice A or Choice B?
More income or more time?
More certainty or more flexibility?
When you have a clear Statement of Financial Purpose, those decisions get simpler. Not easier, but clearer.
You look at the choice in front of you and ask:
Does this decision support our Statement of Financial Purpose or does it pull us away from it?
Then you choose accordingly.
That matters because we don’t make most financial decisions from a place of perfect clarity.
We live in a constant cycle of fear, greed, and uncertainty. Markets move. Careers wobble. Headlines get loud. Groupthink creeps in.
Your Statement of Financial Purpose is written when you are grounded, present, and thinking clearly, so that when you are not, you have something objective to return to.
Something that reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing.
It doesn’t eliminate uncertainty. It gives you a compass when uncertainty invariably shows up.
Getting there takes work.
Values Questions.
This is the part people tend to rush, and the part that really matters.
But you’re not going to rush through this part.
A Statement of Financial Purpose blends the practical with the aspirational. It reflects both your ideal present state and your ideal future state. It captures what you want more of, what you’re protecting, and what you’re intentionally not optimizing for.
This is not something you crank out in a meeting or knock out between calls. It’s deeply personal work. It requires time, reflection, and revisiting.
If you’re married, this is an activity you do with your spouse.
The context matters. Get a babysitter. Go on a date night. Open a bottle of wine. Slow the conversation down. This isn’t about arriving at perfect language on night one, it’s about starting the right conversation, and it’s ok to take your time.
The questions below aren’t meant to be answered quickly. They’re meant to be thought about. You don’t have to answer all of them, and there are plenty of great questions you’ll come up with on your own as you work through these.
Identity & Meaning
What does money actually do for us beyond paying bills?
When do we feel most at ease about money, and why?
What would we regret sacrificing for money?
Family & Tradeoffs
What are we willing to trade income for?
What are we not willing to trade income for?
What do we want our kids to remember about how we spent our time?
What values are we instilling in our family?
Security & “Enough”
What does “enough” look like in real life?
What risks are we trying to protect against?
What would financial success look like if nobody else could see it?
Time & Energy
Where does money meaningfully reduce stress?
Where does more money stop improving our lives?
What are we currently over-investing energy into?
There are no universally right answers here. The only right answer is the one that’s right for you.
Your Statement of Financial Purpose should speak to YOU.
It must resonate. It should feel grounding and motivating at the same time.
Other family’s statements won’t inspire you the way your own will, and that’s the point. This isn’t meant to impress anyone else. It’s meant to pull you out of the fog when fear or greed starts creeping in.
Example Statements.
Before you read these, an important note: these examples are not templates. They are not meant to be copied. And they almost certainly won’t inspire you the way your own statement will.
That said, this is a client newsletter, so yes, you might recognize your own words in here, but don’t worry no one else can pick you out of a lineup based on them.
The value in examples is seeing what good looks like: short, clear, values-driven, and slightly constraining in a way that feels intentional.
Here are some examples:
“Live a fulfilling life, raise a healthy family, steward our wealth for the next generation”
“Buy a home in the country, hunt, and bike. Save what needs saving and spend the rest” (This is a single Infantry Marine if you couldn’t tell)
“Live in an amazing school district. Experience meaningful family vacations. Pursue sports and career growth”
“Retire comfortably. Help children through college. Travel more and say yes.”
“Live humbly but well, always below our means to create generational wealth while weathering any storm in style.”
Bringing It Back.
Goals change. Markets change. Laws change.
Values don’t, at least not quickly.
A clear Statement of Financial Purpose doesn’t tell you exactly what to do in every situation.
What it does is guide you when things feel uncertain. It gives you something steady to return to when emotions are loud and decisions feel heavy.
It reminds you why you’re working hard, what the sacrifice is for, and which direction you’re intentionally moving, even when the path isn’t obvious.
Once you’re clear on that, you can start pointing the arrow on where you’re going.
But that is in next week’s newsletter.
Hope you have a great week.
-Henry
The content shared here does not constitute financial, legal, or any other professional advice. Readers should consult with their respective professionals for specific advice tailored to their situation.