The Mindful Investor: How a Calm Mind Can Bring You Inner Peace and Financial Security

Chapter 5. The Starting Point

Now that you've been introduced to the basics of Mindfulness meditation, we'll move on to look at the basics of financial planning and how the two complement one another. When you combine your heightened awareness, ability to focus on your true goals, and new sense of equanimity and acceptance of "what is" with sound financial planning basics, you'll find that you're better able to plan for a successful future and cope with any pitfalls along the way.

Most often, preparing a financial plan involves a trip to your banker, financial advisor, or planner, and the completion of a lot of forms. You'll be asked questions about your income, spending, current assets, and financial goals. These appear to be key questions, and yet often they are asked, answered, and entered into a computer program in the span of a short hour-long meeting. Then the printer spits out a financial plan mapping out your future.

During a standard financial planning meeting, you'll be asked to rank the following items as very important, important, somewhat important, or unimportant: capital growth, tax minimization, safety of capital, liquidity, income generation, leaving an estate, education, and income protection. Your answers are then used to create your plan. Well, who wouldn't want all of these things? We submit that these aren't really goals at all; rather, they're things that you would like to have happen to your money. But money is only a tool. We think that rather than focusing ...