Strategies to Think Positively About Your Wealth
/It’s hard to believe that there are less than four months remaining in 2022 (gasp). I want you to prepare yourself and your wealth for these last days of the year. In the spirit of Positive Thinking day, which occurred this week, I want you to wake up every day with a touch of optimism that things are going to end the year better than they started when it comes to your wealth. Here are several actions to consider:
Conduct a 401k review. You’re probably amongst the millions of Americans who got whipsawed by the financial markets this year, which sent your 401k into a spasm. For me, I remembered the elation of looking at my 401k balance in January, only to be disillusioned by May, and now a bit numb from it all. These feelings are natural. But, the important thing to do is still review your 401k portfolio, and talk with your financial advisor about it. These strategies can also be helpful if you have a 529 plan, or money sitting in a brokerage account, as well.
Make sure you have the appropriate asset allocation, which will vary based on your desire for risk, how close you are to retirement, and your overall goals. Diversity, diversify, and diversify your assets because this is how you spread out the risk of certain funds or asset classes performing below expectations. When you diversify, you essentially don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Rebalance your portfolio as necessary. If you are not in a 401k that automatically rebalances, like many of the target date 401ks, you must actively rebalance the portfolio so that the asset allocation you intended stays that way. I tend to rebalance my portfolio once per year, but some financial advisors encourage clients to do so once per quarter.
Keep socking money away. It can be very tempting to pause your automatic payments into a 401k or 529 plan when the stock market is crashing. But, investing when the market is at a low point is the perfect entry point because you’re banking on stocks going back up at some point. Your cost of entry sometimes referred to as ‘dollar-cost-averaging’ may continue to decrease, which will pay off over the long run if you believe that stocks will return money to investors at their historical average, which is approximately 7%.
Be intentional about your performance at work. Whether work takes the form of an entrepreneurial venture or a corporate gig, the last several months of the year are often critical to hitting your professional or business goals. One can easily get distracted by the holidays or feel a sense of burnout after working so hard for the entire year. But, I want you to finish strongly and if you’re intentional about it, you will. We spend so much time focusing on the things we cannot control, but we can take that energy to focus on the things that we can control. If you need to write your goals down every day, week, or month for the rest of 2022, go ahead and do that. If you need to tell someone else your goals so that they can hold you accountable, go ahead and do that too. If you need to get a career coach to give you clarity, get on the hunt now.
Have fun! All work and no play can lead to an unfulfilling life. So, I want you to also take those last few trips in the year, utilize those vacation days. Please, don’t be amongst the 55% of Americans who don’t utilize all of their paid time off. My family and I are headed to Myrtle Beach in November because we want to use our timeshare points before we lose them at the end of the year. For me, I am motivated by the mere thought of losing points that I’ve already paid for. While I still believe that timeshares are not a worthy investment on a financial basis alone, the benefits to your peace of mind can outweigh the cash costs. Or, maybe you simply want to have fun over the holidays with family and friends - that sounds great. Whatever style you prefer to have fun is the right style for you - just make sure you have it!
A Wealthy Girl Corner
Continuing with the spirit of positive thinking, did you create a vision board at the beginning of this year? If not, do you know someone who did? My cousin organized a virtual vision board party at the start of 2022. We all gathered to spend time creating and sharing our dreams that took shape from magazine cut-outs, drawings, and words. Here’s the picture of mine:
Visualizing your dreams is powerful. They may not all occur that year, but I bet at least one of them will if you are intentional about revisiting that vision board every so often. Here are 3 manifestations of my vision board.
Four generations trip, wherein you see the 4 Black women toward the top of the page. My grandmother, mother, daughter, and I spent 2 days in NYC enjoying time with each other. It was simply unforgettable.
A new home, denoted by the home in the top right. My family and I moved to Charlotte and bought a new home.
Embrace simplicity, denoted by the flower in the center. I have been living simply this year, inspired by my theme of simplicity.
