{"id":35,"date":"2022-03-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/achieving-sustainability-amp-balance-in-your-long-term-financial-plan\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:48:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T16:48:48","slug":"achieving-sustainability-amp-balance-in-your-long-term-financial-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/achieving-sustainability-amp-balance-in-your-long-term-financial-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Achieving the Right Balance in Your Long-Term Financial Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Throw on your lulu Align leggings, ladies, because today, we\u2019re talking about #balance.<\/p>\n

As much as I\u2019m an advocate for balance in the woo-woo sense (start each day meditating to the sounds of birds chirping and journal about your innermost thoughts about whether Euphoria\u2019s episode 6 spoilers were accurate; you know the drill), I think a more practical area to focus your efforts toward balance is in the realm of the different areas of investment<\/strong> you have in your life.<\/p>\n

Namely, your money, your time, your relationships, and your work.<\/p>\n

These different areas of investment are clearly interrelated, but it\u2019s wild how out-of-balance they can become when we\u2019re not being intentional about where<\/em> we\u2019re investing our finite energy resources.<\/p>\n

And because this is a brand about money (and not about time, relationships, or work, directly)<\/em>, it\u2019s easy for me to focus really intently <\/em>on the financial investments you\u2019re making (and believe me, they\u2019re important!).<\/p>\n

But ultimately, it\u2019s a brand about money because of what I believe to be true about money<\/strong>: That when you have your financial house in order, it can change the trajectory of your life, open new doors, and result in more life satisfaction and happiness for you.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing, though: The money itself <\/em>is not the end goal. As Ray Dalio says in his new book, Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order, \u201cmoney\u201d has no inherent value. Wealth<\/em>, on the other hand, is what we use to get the things we want. It\u2019s purchasing power. Can you afford to take a year off? To travel the world?<\/p>\n

In 2022, it feels like the more realistic questions to which \u2018wealth\u2019 determines the answers are: Can you afford to buy a place to live? To put food on the table? To have a kid<\/em>?<\/p>\n

The money isn\u2019t the end goal, but it\u2019s a necessary means for building wealth broadly and achieving the things we want.<\/p>\n

Where \u201ctime, relationships, and work\u201d come into play<\/h2>\n

We all assign different values to these things, usually for reasons that are weirdly interdependent. For example, the more I worked my little fingers to the bone clicking and clacking away on three different laptops every day, the more I valued my free time.<\/p>\n

Because the dial on one area of investment got turned up, it meant the other dial became even more valuable to me<\/em>. And because we don\u2019t have an infinite amount of energy (despite what the #girlbosses online will assure you about having the same hours in the day as Beyonc\u00e9 or some shit), energy that\u2019s invested in one area (work) is energy that can\u2019t be invested somewhere else (e.g., relationships).<\/p>\n

This is where some DIY financial planning can actually sync really nicely with allocating your precious resources accordingly: If you know how much money<\/em> you need to live the life you want to, you can effectively cut off the spigot of energy for that resource and focus elsewhere once you know you\u2019re set up correctly.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for me, for about 18 months, my \u201cmoney dial\u201d got turned way<\/em> up \u2013 and stuck there. I was preoccupied with work and earning at the expense of free time and my relationships, and they suffered (not irrevocably so, but it wasn\u2019t exactly a balanced time \u2013 and my mental health took a minute to bounce back from the burnout of obsessing over work and money).<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s not to suggest that you need to allocate equal resources toward all four of these things. For some people, work is where they derive fulfillment. If that\u2019s the case, you may be perfectly happy with dumping a few extra energy units into that area of investment. But if you hate your job and your favorite thing in the world is to spend time with your friends? As long as your financial future is on track, there\u2019s really no reason<\/em> to invest extra energy in that area (and also, you may want to explore getting a new job).<\/p>\n

Determining how much these four investment areas matter to you<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m trying to physically restrain myself from typing this sentence, but at the risk of sounding like a Tim Ferriss mouthpiece\u2026 it\u2019s a little bit like lifestyle design.<\/p>\n

A balanced schedule that allows you to get the most bang for your energy-bucks doesn\u2019t happen on accident. It\u2019s something you have to think about and design<\/em> for yourself, and \u2013 here\u2019s the good news for that homework assignment \u2013 if you focus on structuring your energy inputs correctly, the outputs will almost definitely net the result you want.<\/p>\n

(You know what they say: Trash inputs = trash outcomes. Does anyone say that? We\u2019re saying it now.)<\/p>\n

The interconnectedness of your investment buckets \u2013 time, relationships, work, money \u2013 makes dialing things up and down a little bit like playing 3D chess with Elon Musk, because each move you make has downstream consequences.<\/p>\n

Spend too much time on boho chic vacations in Tulum with your friends and your \u201crelationships\u201d cup will runneth over, but your \u201cmoney\u201d bucket will spring a leak.<\/p>\n

Spend too much time on HBOMax and your \u201ctime\u201d cup (the one that, in my mind, signifies free\/me time) will be plentiful, but your \u201cwork\u201d dial might start to slip.<\/p>\n

And to make matters even more fun and complex, the importance of these areas may change over time for you. Just because one thing is a focus this year doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019ll continue to be a focus. They\u2019re adjustable, like those breakaway pants from the early 2000s that I made my dad buy for me off some boys\u2019 basketball coach on eBay so I could change for gym class with a little extra flair.<\/p>\n

The good news? We can start with the area that does<\/em> have some mathematical basis and work backward from there: Money.<\/p>\n

Using a DIY financial plan to guide your other \u2018investment\u2019 decisions<\/h2>\n

There are a few basic tools in our toolkit that can help us figure out where we\u2019re headed, financially. I love the Financial Independence Planner (shameless plug) because it takes a few key inputs (your current invested assets, current income, expected raises, and current spending) and maps out a hypothetical, conservative future.<\/p>\n

It says, \u201cHey, if you continue on this path that you\u2019re currently on, this<\/em> is where you\u2019re probably<\/em> going to end up \u2013 and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Sure, it\u2019s built in such a way to handle the sophisticated elements of projecting outcomes for you, but it\u2019s not super challenging to piece those things together for yourself.)<\/p>\n

For example, I remember plugging in my numbers about a year ago and realizing \u2013 to my utter shock \u2013 that based on my current path<\/em> at the time, I was projected to be financially independent around age 30.<\/p>\n

Once I was done popping bottles and screaming, I realized something: \u201cWait, if my current path<\/em> is going to produce this outcome, then\u2026 can\u2019t I just stay the course and let it happen?\u201d At the time, I was scheming ways to trade even more of my money for time when I realized: I don\u2019t have to do that.<\/p>\n

In fact, it ended up inducing the opposite reaction: \u201cHey, I don\u2019t really need to retire when I\u2019m 30. I\u2019m cool with reaching financial independence at 35. Let me figure out how I can work a little less and spend a little more\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless, using your financial independence timeline as the framework (i.e., are you comfortable with the path you\u2019re on? What path are <\/em>you on?) can help contextualize which areas of your life you\u2019re ignoring.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re even slightly self-reflective, you likely already know what it\u2019s going to tell you: You\u2019re either way too focused on money (at the expense of all else) or desperately need to focus on it more.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re sitting here like, \u201cYeah, I think I\u2019m the latter\u2026\u201d Remember: Focusing on it more doesn\u2019t mean you need to become a daytrader and set up a six-monitor mini stock exchange in your walk-in closet. Fortunately for you, we live in 2022: A year in which investing has literally never been easier<\/em> with a lower barrier to entry. <\/p>\n

Roboadvisors make it painless to invest\u2014to the point that you can answer a few questions about yourself, deposit cash, and let their algorithm take it away. Your responsibility for \u201cfocusing on money\u201d goes from \u201clearning everything there is to know about investing\u201d to \u201csave enough money to dump it into these accounts every month.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that knowledge\u2014that it needs to be more of a focus\u2014serves as a starting point.<\/p>\n

Now that you know how your \u201cmoney\u201d investment bucket needs to change\u2026<\/h2>\n

You can start to plug the other pieces into place.<\/p>\n

The one that comes next, logically, is work.<\/p>\n

Whether you concluded that you either need to earn more or cool down a little, you may shift your attitude toward work accordingly. Work, then, impacts free time: And your \u201ctime\u201d bucket will shift to accommodate the changes (by either giving you more<\/em> free time or less).<\/p>\n

What you do<\/em> with that remaining free time is up to you, but it stands to reason that if your relationships are important to you at all, you likely want to spend some energy on pouring into them.<\/p>\n

The \u201cmoney\u201d bucket \u2013 the one that answers the very important question, \u201cWhat path am I on right now?\u201d \u2013 allows us to see our priorities more clearly.<\/p>\n

After all, we may think<\/em> we know what we care about: But show me your schedule and your credit card statement, and I\u2019ll tell you what you really<\/em> care about. After that, it comes down to accountability.<\/p>\n

Maybe that accountability takes the form of finding ways to earn more. Maybe it\u2019s finding ways to spend more<\/em> time with friends and less<\/em> time working. Maybe it\u2019s something else entirely.<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/h2>\n

To quote myself from 10 minutes ago, a schedule full of inputs that net the outcomes you want doesn\u2019t happen on accident \u2013 and while it might be hard to believe that someone who writes a blog about money would insist that maybe money isn\u2019t<\/em> the most important thing in your life, knowing when to throttle the supply of power you\u2019re feeding each investment \u201cbucket\u201d with can help make sure things don\u2019t get too out of balance.<\/p>\n

And hey, maybe<\/em> you\u2019ll find that you\u2019re super off-track and you\u2019re spending way too much energy on relationships and \u2018me\u2019 time right now \u2013 that\u2019s a path that ultimately leads to destruction, too, as it means you won\u2019t have the financial prospects (either in the form of literal money in the bank or work opportunities) to sustain yourself long-term. Money might<\/em> be the thing you need to focus more on.<\/p>\n

Asking these questions and performing an honest assessment of how you\u2019re expending your precious energetic resources can prevent burnout and ruin before they happen \u2013 and create a lot more balance and joy in the process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throw on your lulu Align leggings, ladies, because today, we\u2019re talking about #balance. 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