Goal Setting Through Net Worth

Let’s talk about financial freedom, a discussion we don’t have enough, both within our families and our organizations. Today I’m going to talk to you as if you are a rainmaker running an organization full of people that you care about and you want to help create their own financial freedom.

I’ve developed a six-step process that will help you to have this conversation with your employees, called the Wealth Building Circle. The six steps outlined below help to create an ongoing process of wealth-building that will elevate the quality of life of your employees and build stronger teams that are free from the day-to-day stress of their financial present and futures. 

Net Worth

Net worth is simply taking what you own and subtracting what you owe. How aware are your team members of their current net worth and their debt?

Budget

This is your burn rate. How much money do you need each month to live? I encourage you to adopt a weekly cash-flow meeting to look at how much your employees have coming in versus how much they have going out. 

Cash Reserves

Some people advocate for having three months of liquidity on hand as a cash reserve, I believe in having 6 months. Look back at the budget from the previous step and multiply the amount of money they are spending on necessities by six. That’s the amount of cash that should be kept on hand. Remember that this shouldn’t account for lifestyle spending, but rather what is necessary to survive in case of a financial calamity.

Protection

Financial protection is really about four things: Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, and the existence of an Estate or Will. My recommendation is to work with an expert to get this portion covered. Contact local financial advisors or brokers to help you to work with your people directly. 

Enough #

There are two numbers you can choose to address here. First is the survival number. Look back at that burn rate from the budget step and see how much income is necessary to cover the basic necessities. What we want to do is create enough passive income so that those needs are being met through passive income without having to go out and grind for it. This is where the results of all of the previous steps begin to bear fruit. It moves your employees out of the world of “have to work” and into “get to work”, which is a powerful shift in mindset. The second number is the lifestyle number, which is the amount you need to enjoy the lifestyle you want to live. It’s about having the freedom to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, as much as you want. 

Vehicles

These are the fuel for your numbers. This could be real estate investments, business investments, profit-shares, index funds, or any number of other vehicles. This will be where your employees will have to really think about what their recipe for success is, considering their timeline and risk tolerance.

Those are the six conversations you can have with your team members that allow you to provide a whole new level of insight and significance around their financial goals.