True Wealth is a topic that’s been on my mind lately.

I think it’s because I have been challenged  over the last couple years by this and have been trying to sort through my own definition of true wealth and its implications for my life.

In 2007 things were going well.  Business was increasing, I was making more money and I had grand plans for taking it to the next level.

Then the 2008 Economic Tsunami hit!

And just like a lot of others, I had to deal with the aftermath.  I had to evaluate our spending, savings, and ultimately what was truly important.

I firmly believe God used the Great Recession to check my priorities.   In a weird sort of way, the recession was good for me!

And that’s when I realized that something needed to change.

I Can’t See, The Wipers Won’t Move Fast Enough!

Have you ever driven through a torrential down pour? 

You know the kind where the rain is coming down so fast and is beating against the windshield so hard that it’s nearly impossible to see?  

A few months back we were coming home from visiting some friends and we drove through a nasty storm on the highway.  It was freaky.  I wanted the wipers to move faster to keep up with the rain, but they couldn’t – I finally had to pull over because I couldn’t see a thing!

I’ll admit, during the worst part of the 2008 market meltdown, it was very tough for me to see beyond each hour of the day. 

As a financial planner, I was feeling the weight of clients’ dreams, goals and investments on my shoulders – there were some days I felt so horrible that I just wanted to pull off the side of the road and wait for the storm to pass.

Every day, I heard story after story from panicked clients looking for answers to things that were so beyond our control and yet affected each one of us.

It was painful. 

I don’t say that looking for sympathy, I simply want to give you an understanding of the journey I’ve been on to realize a huge life lesson that I hope others will learn too.

I Can See Clearly Now…

The rain is gone.  Thank you Jimmy Cliff for summing it up perfectly for me.

Once the markets began to simmer down a bit, I began to think critically about what I had witnessed. 

We weren’t out of the woods yet in terms of the economic crisis, but I started considering what was most important in life and in business.

I started working through a definition of True Wealth.

I started this blog as an extension of what I was thinking through and as a way to help others with personal finance and more importantly, understand the foundation of building your financial house. 

I also reworked the mission and vision statements, revised the goals and reordered the priorities for my business to incorporate my understanding of True Wealth.

And I’d like to share my learning with you.

True Wealth and the 3 P’s

So here’s what I came up with:

True Wealth is not defined by commas or net worth – it is characterized by the quality of relationships; pursuing your passions and living life with a purpose. 

In other words – it’s the pursuit  of People, Passion and Purpose!

Or the 3 P’s as I’m calling it. 

Understanding True Wealth encourages the pursuit of what’s most important, which improves happiness, enlivens the soul and blossoms contentment.

People

At the end of the day, life is about relationships.  Unfortunately, we seem to forget that truth so often just like Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart did as well. 

Sadly, he didn’t realize it until he was on his death bed.

How are you doing with investing into your important relationships?  I know I need to continue to work on this.

Passion

What are you passionate about?  If you could do anything, what would you do? 

Those are the things that enliven the soul. 

Whether it’s helping the poor; giving time to charity; using your personal finance learning to help others understand how to save money; using your passion of capturing memories on film to start a photography business (like my wife did); or using your creative talents for woodworking, cooking, writing or any number of other things.

Use your natural creative talents to live life with passion.

Purpose

Lastly, True Wealth is taking those passions you’ve identified and figuring out what sort of purpose you have with those.

Why are you here?  What were you created to do.  We all have a purpose.   

True Wealth is figuring out what that purpose is and using your passions to build into people!

So that’s my journey.  A long road, but a good one.  And a lesson that I hope I continue to learn and you do too!

What Are Your Thoughts?

What do you think True Wealth means?

How far would you go to get rid of your debt?

Would you sell your stuffed baboon?

Take a look at one couple’s desperation attempt to pay off their liabilities.

What saddened me after watching this video was imagining the sacrifices this couple may have made to acquire their possessions.

The fleeting happiness they received from these items have now brought them suffering, stress and sorrow.

Although this video is about the growing trend of lifestyle liquidation sales by the ultra rich where they sell anything and everything to pay off debt and reduce expenses, I couldn’t help but think about the early Christians mentioned in Acts 4 who sold their land and houses and brought the proceeds to the apostles to give to the needy.

Lifestyle liquidations, if you will, for the good of the kingdom.

What if Christians simplified their lifestyles and positioned themselves to give more to the poor and needy? What an amazing testimony we could have if we lived with a loose grip on our money and possessions.

Lifestyle Liquidation

The Chicago Tribune had a good article in this past weekend’s Business section discussing the topic of shareholders voting on executive compensation levels.  I think this raises an interesting debate and one that will be gaining in popularity as we continue seeing the fallout from this financial crisis. 

At the center of the debate is the idea that there should be a limit to the amount executives can make especially when the company’s bottom line is dwindling and shareholders are losing massive amounts of money.  On the other side of the debate are the boards of directors who make the claim that if their particular company doesn’t have highly competitive pay structures they won’t be able to attract and retain key decision makers and CEO’s.

Motorola joined the growing list of companies willing to give their shareholders a say about executive compensation at their May 4 annual meeting.  More than a third of shareholders voiced a loud and disapproving no. 

So, can a company survive and thrive if they pay their executives less or do they run the risk of seeing top talent head for the door for more generous offers?

As I read the article, I couldn’t help but think of Costco’s CEO, Jim Sinegal who voluntarily takes a lower salary ($350,000 – compared to multi-millions of many CEO’s) preferring to keep his consumers and employees in mind.  “Our attitude is that if you hire good people and pay them a fair wage, then good things will happen for the company,” says Sinegal.  Costco has fared better than most companies during this economic downturn and in fact,  has not laid off any workers during this recession.

What is the answer to the growing concern about executive compensation?  To be sure, we will see more government regulation and a trend towards shareholders having a say.  Perhaps more CEO’s should take the lead like Sinegal and voluntarily take or even give back some of their salaries.  I think many of us would’ve liked to see that course of action taken by the AIG executives after their highly publicized corporate retreat taken shortly after receiving government bailout money.  Of course, that’s easier said than done.

Does anyone else find this highly ironic?  Many of these GM dealerships are still proudly displaying their Total Confidence banners while the company itself heads down the proverbial road that ends with only one option.  

I understand and appreciate that the tagline relates to their protection plan to help those who lose their job during the recession, but unfortunately the only thing I have total confidence in is Chapter 11 for GM.

We have now been in this most recent recession for over 16 months.  For many of us, this has been a tough road to walk down.  Jobs have been lost, income reduced and lifestyles rearranged.  I have experienced this first hand, both personally and in many of my clients lives.  But could this recession be good for us?

Trials and difficulties have a way of revealing where our hope resides and what we put our trust in.  This has been the case for me.  One thing this difficult economy has revealed to me is how much I love security, comfort and self-sufficiency.

Looking back over the last year and seeing assets that I manage as well as my own personal income seemingly dwindle on a daily basis was a blow to my comfortable, middle-class Christianity

What I found, however, was something far better.  God had used this recession  to challenge my comforts, confront my idols and question where my hope lies.   Could this recession be exactly what I needed to bring me closer to Him and conform me to the image of Jesus Christ?

As much as I did not want that answer to be yes, and as much as I thought I had already worked through my idolization of money, the answer was a resounding one

And so, when by God’s grace he allowed me to see this, I fell on my knees in repentance and sorrow, recognizing once again just how far I have to go in this sanctifying journey and the reality of my wimpy faith

I decided to embrace this recession and allow God to continue to mold, shape and chasten me into the son He has called me to be.  And He does it with such a great love, kind grace and tender mercy.

I have no intention of downplaying the severity of this recession, for many of you have had difficulties far worse than some of us could imagine.  What I do intend to do is widen our viewpoint and get us thinking of the bigger picture.

How about you?  What have you learned during this economic downturn?  What are some things that God is chiseling away and graciously teaching you?

John Piper gives some of the reasons God has for this economic turmoil in his sermon What is the Recession For? He says:

1. He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
2. He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
3. He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
4. He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
5. He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

What I’ve learned in these past several months has been hard to swallow, but sanctifying and for that I am grateful.