Rich is a State of Mind

I previously mentioned “Rich is a State of Mind: Building Wealth and Happiness,” a Canadian Bestseller book by Robert M. Gignac and Michael J. Townshend. As you may recall, Robert Gignac provided a couple of articles for me to post under ‘Resources’ on my website.

It has been some time since I read “The Wealthy Barber,” but “Rich is a State of Mind” is a new story type approach to introducing the basics of planning for you financial future. If you visit the website (link above), you can see the Table of Contents and a review a sample chapter. The ‘Order the Book’ tab will take you to where you can link directly to the Chapters.Indigo.ca page for the book. This is definitely a book that I will be recommending to my clients, and I hope I can bring many of you together with Robert Gignac in the future.

If you would like to discuss any of the concepts identified, even from the Table of Contents, just let me know!

Articles on Goals from Robert M. Gignac

Two articles have been added to the website, RatcliffeWealth.com, under Resources/Articles. I had the pleasure of hearing Robert Gignac speak at a local education day in April 2008. Robert is the author of Rich Is a State of Mind, a book I will comment on in the near future. Robert has been in contact with me, and he recently visited my website and blog. He has kindly offered two articles for me to post that he wrote and published in Enterprise Magazine in 2006. Both relate to goals and nicely follow my post, Identify Goals. With permission of the author and publisher, they are posted for your reading. Here are the links to go directly:

Turning Resolutions Into Goals

How Bad Do You Want It?

Identify Goals

Have you actually sat down and written out your goals for your financial future? If you have a significant other, have you done this separately and then discussed them to develop goals as a couple? I encourage you to do so. It is an interesting exercise, and you may learn something about yourself or each other.

Goals are not just long-term. Consider the short-term to be within the next year or two. What purchases are you planning? What activities are happening within your family that may call on your savings? How about the mid-term of three to five years, or even longer? Is there a need for a new vehicle, a return to school, a new residence, or a major trip? Beyond this, looking at the long-term, you still want to map out potential major purchases that you have in mind, and you start looking forward to the retirement years. What does retirement look like to you? A common question I like to ask is… at what age you wish to be able to decide if you want to go to work or not? Finally, for your estate planning, do you want your assets to go to your beneficiaries or to the government?

It is only once you have identified goals that you can truly look at your true investment and insurance needs. Your financial advisor should be prepared to spend time addressing this with you in order that a comprehensive plan for your future may be developed.

“Identify Goals” is my third tip in my 10 Tips for Women about Money.