Happy Labor Day!
Whether you are resting or laboring on Labor Day, take a moment to pause and consider the following: Why are you at your job? Why do you work?
If the answers are to pay bills and to buy more stuff, that will not satisfy; you must have purpose. Money is wonderful—our job is to manage it! But it’s a tool not a permanent treasure.
Contentment comes from meaning, not from paying the bills or outdoing your neighbor. Consumerism promises to fulfill with another product, but it doesn't.
"More" seduces. It is alluring and ultimately leaves one empty.
In our line of work, wealth advisors craft an investment portfolio that must go beyond performance to the goal and purpose of the account. A performance goal alone can become a risk management disaster. Behind portfolio construction should be portfolio purpose.
"I'm retired," you might say. "I stopped working a long time ago."
Good for you. It is our pleasure to serve many retired clients. But the happiest clients aren't those who simply stop working. Watching the news all day on the couch might make you informed, but it also can make you grumpy.
The best kind of retirement is not one that ceases work but finds purpose in a new kind of vocation. It could be serving in the community, charity, or church. It might be time in the garden beautifying the world, practicing hospitality in the home for friends and neighbors, working on building meaningful relationships, or taking up a mission that goes further than a fat investment portfolio.
Think about it.
Why do you work?
And if you are no longer "employed", what kind of specific "work" might you take up to live and leave a legacy?
The people who rest well are also people who understand the purpose of work.