By Matthew Laker with Experior Financial Group Canada

The reality of COVID caused my wife and me to ask what we want out of life.

Not only was there COVID and its impact on our world, but I was also struggling with who I was and my mental and physical health. 

The result was I tapped out of my 20-year career, not having a complete plan, income, or pathway forward.   

A year later and some reflection and walking a path of healing. We look back and can see now a season of change was coming. Perhaps it was sped up, due to my mental health.  

This tapping out, if you will, led to a strange year. It has allowed me to wrestle with who I am, what I am about, and what I want for my family and myself. One trusted advisor recognized a real loss of knowing my mission and identity. When that is gone, it is hard to define success.

I had to wrestle with not only what I wanted, but also with who I am. I had to wrestle with the lies I believed about myself and let go of them. 

In one seminar I teach called Financial Guardrails, one of the guardrails is to define financial success. When I sit with people in my financial service business, I figuratively give a paintbrush and paint to them. I then ask them to paint me a picture of what they want their retirement to look like, what their values are, and where they want to go. What happens in this process is they are defining goals, identity, values, mission, hopes, and dreams. From that, we put a plan together based on what success looks like for them. 

To answer the question of what is success? We need to know who we are, our values and mission, and what brings real meaning that lasts. To do that, we need to know what we want out of life – what are our skills and passions and what we are willing to learn and work for.

Defining success is so important because it drives us, helps us articulate our purpose, and adds meaning to our lives. Something deep within us needs those things; we are lost when we do not have them.

We need to define success in two areas. 

1. What does success look like in this moment, project, or relationship?
2. What does success look like in my life? When I get to the end of my life, what do I want to be proud about?

One lesson from the tapping out for me is to do something. Take some action. You may be struggling with defining success in your life at the moment. The action you take may not be where you end up, but the activity will help clarify what success looks like. 

As I write this, 2022 is coming to an end, and as I walk into 2023, I am working at realigning my life and affirming, defining, and updating what success looks like for me.

The post December 2022 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Matthew Laker with Experior Financial Group Canada

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I remember thinking they are going to be mad.  I had been asked to review some Universal life policies someone else years ago set up for them and check the retirement plan.

There is nothing like going into a meeting and being the bearer of bad news.  We had to go through the storm first.  I felt their pain as they discovered they did not have what they thought.  Have you ever been there? 

They were only a few months from retiring and needed to find ways to lower the costs, not increase them.  They did not have it.  At the same time, they wanted to make sure final expenses were covered so their adult kids did not have to worry. 

I remember the peace that started coming over them as I shared a plan to meet their goals. We secured life insurance solutions (saving them $250 a month) bringing it in line with an overall plan to help with estate planning. We reviewed the retirement plan and made some adjustment that they felt better served their goals. Options were discovered.    

Realizing we have options seems to help usher in a peace of mind for many of us.

For me, that experience was a shaping moment.  I confirmed I want to run a business that helps people understand what they have or what options exist to empower them to manage their finances successfully.  I was also reminded many people just need a timeout moment to regroup and discover options.

Francis Bacon said, “Money is a good servant but a bad master.”  This is why we need to hit the pause button in our life to make sure we are mastering it.  I encourage you to give yourself permission to hit the pause button in managing your finances to regroup and discover options.

If I can help in anyway, let’s connect.  What is one thing you need to do over the next five days that will put your financial house into a better position?  Send me an email.

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Connect with Matthew Laker at mlaker@experiorfinancial.ca or 1 705-430-4643

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