Beginning this month, France will welcome nearly 15,000 of the world’s most accomplished athletes to Paris to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will be held from July through September.1 These athletes share certain traits, including passion, commitment, consistency, perseverance, and resilience that enable them to perform at peak levels in their chosen sports and events. When it comes to accomplishing financial goals, there is much that can be learned from the Olympic mindset, including the five principles below. 1. Discover your passion
Athletes train for years for a chance to compete in the Olympics. That drive to get up each day and train for hours is not only fueled by a passion for their chosen sport but a relentless commitment to achieving their full potential as athletes. Finding your “why” in life is just as critical for accomplishing what’s important to you. Begin by asking yourself what makes you happy? What are the things and experiences that bring the most joy and meaning to your life, and who do you want to spend your life with? The answers to these questions will help you establish specific goals and a path you can follow to pursue them. 2. Set clear goals
Athletes don’t get a shot at the Olympics by chance or by luck. They set challenging goals and take deliberate steps to achieve them. Goals help to drive change, improvement, and growth. However, to do so, they need to be clear and specific. For example, a goal to “save more” is vague and lacks any mechanism for holding yourself accountable. On the other hand, a goal to increase retirement savings by 2% each year until you’re contributing the maximum amount to your employer’s retirement plan is clear and definitive. As a result, you’re more likely to hold yourself accountable to this goal. 3. Measure your progress
Olympic athletes seek the fastest time, highest score, or best result that anyone has ever achieved in a particular sporting event. Athletes use this data to measure their progress and improve their personal best. You also need good data to measure your progress against your financial goals. Otherwise, how do you know if you’re still on the path toward your goals or veering off course? While a budget is often viewed as a tool for limiting spending, in reality, it can help create the financial freedom you seek. That’s because your budget is designed to help you use your money to support the things that make you feel secure, confident, and happy. When your budget revolves around what’s most meaningful in your life, you’re more motivated to keep spending in check and savings on track. 4. Envision your success
It’s not uncommon for athletes to train for a decade or more before qualifying for the Olympics. So how do they stay motivated for a goal that’s so far in the future? Like most things in life that are worth pursuing, a lot of smaller goals must be met before big or long-term goals are accomplished. For athletes, that may mean qualifying for dozens of local, national, and international events each year as they build toward a chance to compete at the Olympic level. Just like athletes develop their strength and skills over time, it takes time to build savings. That’s why it’s important to start saving as early and often as you can. That allows more time for account earnings to compound and generate additional earnings. The more you save or invest, the greater the potential that your money will grow over time. There are many tools that can help you envision how your savings can add up to support your goals from online savings and retirement plan calculators to custom reports and modeling capabilities associated with your comprehensive financial strategy. 6. Remain disciplined
Discipline and perseverance are critical qualities for high-performing athletes. Even when they’re having a bad day, or find themselves in a slump, Olympic athletes believe in themselves and their abilities, and keep pushing forward. A disciplined approach is equally important when it comes to your financial goals, especially when life throws you a curve ball, such as a large, unexpected expense, job loss, or changing market or economic conditions. Following a disciplined approach can also help you prioritize savings in your budget so you’re able to build up emergency reserves. Having three to six months of emergency savings in place can make the difference between feeling confident that you can handle a temporary setback, versus borrowing money or racking up high-interest credit card debt, which can be hard to pay down later. To learn more about strategies to help you remain on the path toward your goals, call the office to schedule a time to talk.
1)“Olympic Games Paris 2024,” Olympics.com, https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024, Accessed 28 JUN 2024. |
