Winning the Lottery of Life: Redefining Wealth and Happiness With Financial Planning

We all dream of winning the lottery, but what happens if you really do? A retired trauma nurse living in Colorado won close to $4 million and did …. practically nothing. He was content with his life.

Most of us will not win an actual lottery, but many more of us do win the lottery of life — meaning that we have the funds necessary to cover the necessities with some left over. All too often, we continue to focus on building wealth without thinking hard about the purpose of the money and what brings us satisfaction. A high net worth is wonderful, but what is its purpose if it doesn’t add value to your life and help you achieve deeply held aspirations?

READ: Mastering Work-Life Balance — Practical Steps for Entrepreneurs to Thrive

Having more money than you “need” puts you in a position to make something valuable happen, to bring a dream to life. That dream could be something you do for yourself, such as spending a year living in a cabin creating art, living in a foreign country or whatever moves you. Or it could be something altruistic — giving time or money to a cause that is important to you. Both types of pursuits can bring value to life.

Whatever you identify — whether self-focused or altruistic — requires money. A financial advisor’s role should be to help you maximize the chance that you will have the financial resources necessary to pursue the things you value, increasing your “return on life.” The measurement may be a steadily increasing net worth, but the goal should be to fund your life aspirations. 

READ: Financial Independence for Single Women — Trends and Strategies for Long-term Wealth

According to a recent Morgan Stanley survey, 57% of high-net-worth investors in the U.S. work with a financial professional. Interestingly, that same survey shows that the primary reasons investors hired a professional was for tactical help such as generating retirement income, deciding upon appropriate asset allocation, planning for long-term care and the like. This type of guidance is important but skips over the deeper purpose of the money. 

Why are you building wealth? Some people have thought deeply about what brings them joy or would give their lives meaning and know the answer immediately, but most of us don’t. Determining the purpose of money can feel more like therapy than financial guidance but is an essential first step to a financial plan. Otherwise, you will never know when you have accumulated enough money and your goalposts will constantly be moving. 

Imagine you have ten marbles and nine of them are blue. The blue marbles represent the things you “should” do, but the red one represents what you’ve always wanted to do but may not talk about because it doesn’t seem reasonable, necessary or “responsible.” Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn to fly an airplane or attend Le Cordon Bleu’s cooking school. Perhaps you want to figure out a way to help fight climate change or promote literacy. That’s your red marble. Too many people who have worked to achieve financial success die with that red marble still in their pocket.

The mission of financial advisers should be to help clients identify that red marble and maximize the chances that the red marble comes out of their pocket. Rates of return are important, but the ultimate yardstick is whether aspirations are achieved. A well-lived life is truly winning the lottery.

Matthew Kelley is president and founder of Gold Medal Waters, a Colorado-based, fee-only financial planning firm. Gold Medal Waters focuses on creating a Purposeful Path^TM to maximize the chance that clients will have the financial resources to achieve their deepest aspirations.