Why Your Values are the Shortcut to Abundance, Freedom and Happiness
How many times have you been told that money can’t buy you happiness? I don’t believe this statement. Instead, I believe money CAN buy you happiness – as long as you’re intentional with your choices and conscious about your decisions.
But how do you make this a reality?
If you want to be happy and wealthy, understanding your values is key. That’s because your values are your north star. They guide you to understand what’s most important to you in your life. As a result, your values serve as a decision-making tool. They help you navigate conflicting opportunities and make sound choices based on what’s best for you.
In short, your values are a hugely overlooked tool that you can use every day to create more financial freedom, happiness, and abundance.
Keep reading and I’ll show you how…
We’ve got money all wrong
Fact! Money is an incredibly useful tool. As a universal form of exchange it gives us the freedom to focus on what we love [and what we do best] – then buy everything else!
Unfortunately, as a society, we’ve come to associate money with status. We’ve put financial success on a pedestal. We’ve also created disempowering associations with money, which means that money is now more than a form of exchange. It also wields immense influence over our choices.
For example, money has become part of our decision-making process.
We don’t do the things we want because of the money. We say “we can’t afford it” or “that’s too expensive”. We also feel guilty about spending our money and feel judged by others about the financial choices we make.
We also prioritise money over our happiness. For example, we say ‘yes’ to that promotion or different job because it pays better [and therefore seems like the most sensible and logical thing to do]. We work longer than we really want to because of the additional cash that sacrifice brings into our lives.
This mess around money causes big problems.
When you prioritise money over what you really care about, it’s harder to feel happy and free. This helps to explain why there are plenty of miserable millionaires!
It’s true; money in and of itself doesn’t create happiness. BUT IT DOES GIVE YOU CHOICES. The second you become more intentional with your money, your happiness can increase. If you use your money [instead of accumulating it for the sake of just having more], you can create happiness.
For example, if you love travel, but never take a holiday – you’ll always feel as though you’re falling short. Similarly, if health is important to you, but you never invest in wellness, again your life will be out of alignment.
The secret to creating happiness with money is in the allocation – and to do that, you have to know your values.
Let’s discover yours.
An exercise: How to find your values
First up, look through a list of values and make a shortlist of the ones that speak to you [this link has a great list – https://scottjeffrey.com/core-values-list/]. As you’re choosing your values, rely on your instinct here. Some words will resonate whereas others won’t.
Once you’ve created your shortlist of 105-15 words, whittle this down into your top 3-5 values. These are the values that are most important to you. These are the words that will guide you to live your most aligned and authentic life.
Finally, write out a values statement to clarify what each value means to you. This is key because freedom [for example] will mean different things to different people. It’s important to understand what the word means to you.
Below is a list of my four values along with my values statement.
TRUST: Know where I stand. Trust in myself, in the way, in love, in abundance and in the guidance of the universe.
ALIVENESS: Live life to its fullest, seek adventure. Embrace the energy of nature and expand with it. Try new things and always be playing. Happiness is a choice so I choose to be happy.
VULNERABLE COMMUNICATION: Be impeccable with my word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, always do my best. Be kind and curious.
SIMPLICITY: Add by subtracting. Focus on what makes my life better.
Align your finances with your values
Once you know your values, the next step is to review how you’re allocating your monthly income.
This is where your budgeting comes in. If adventure is really important to you, but you’re allocating a tiny amount of money, chances are you won’t be as happy as you could be – because you’re not making aligned choices. Similarly, if connection is a top priority, but you never invest money in meeting up with friends, again, your happiness will suffer.
Budgeting is about more than paying the bills and ensuring you don’t overspend.
Done through the lens of intention, budgeting can become a powerful happiness creator. When you allocate money in the direction that will bring you joy, you can avoid the guilt and create more happiness as a result.
So review your budget. Where does your money go? Could you spend it differently? What tweaks could you make so you’re free to fund more of the things you love? You could even use this process to create more time by investing in domestic help to free up more of your free time to use elsewhere.
The WE approach
Financial advice used to centre around acquiring assets and building your net worth. In recent years, forward-thinking advisors have focused on goal-based advice.
We’re leading the next wave with values-based advice.
As a WE member, your coach will work with you to ensure you’re intentional with your wealth-creation path. Your coach will help you allocate your money to ensure your life is abundant – not just your bank account. Working with your coach will keep your financial decisions aligned with your values. Because when you know what’s most important to you, it’s easier to make financial decisions that lead to happiness.
For example, if adventure is a top value, what are you allocating to your travel and adventure fund? If security is a top value, are you investing sufficiently in your Get Out of Jail account and your insurances?
When you know what’s most important to you, it’s easier for you to make well-informed financial decisions.
For example, Jessica was trying to decide whether to allocate more money to pay down debt or use that money to join her family to a health club. Her instinct was to pay off her debts faster – until her coach asked her what she’d be sacrificing with that decision. Debt-free is a future state that was taking Jessica out of the now. Through conversation with her coach, Jessica could see she already had a robust debt payment plan. She didn’t ‘need’ to pay off her debt any faster [that was her ego talking]. Instead, she could create more happiness in her life by allocating the spare cash towards creating more adventures with her family [Jessica’s top value].
How could you replicate this principle in your life?
Next steps
Money CAN bring you happiness. You simply need to ensure you’re allocating your income so it’s aligned with your values.