KEY TAKEAWAY: The purpose of our financial goals is to help us achieve our life goals. As a new year is upon us, it’s a good time to ponder what our life goals are and the financial goals that will help us achieve them. To help you in this, check out my video that shares some life questions that can help guide your financial and life direction. (Video direct link: https://youtu.be/6_nztIg-mVY)

We all have holiday traditions, and one of my family’s traditions is to watch certain beloved Christmas movies.

The list includes Home Alone, Die Hard, Love Actually, When Harry Met Sally (okay, I often watch this one on my own as I wrap gifts), The Holiday, along with the animated shows that have stayed with us through the generations (How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the 1966 version!), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and A Christmas Carol.

And, last but not least, It’s A Wonderful Life. 

This year was no exception. I sat down with When Harry Met Sally to wrap my gifts and then topped off gifts with bows and cards as I watched It’s A Wonderful Life. The film never fails to move me, but it hit me even harder this year.

As life has continued, as loved ones have passed on, as I’ve had one more year to live and ponder this gift called life (not always an easy gift), the words that Clarence speaks to George after he has given him the “gift” of never being born resonated even more:

“You see, George, you really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?…Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. And when he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole…”

The fact is that often, our lives are more wonderful than we may even see, but we are often too focused on what’s demanding our attention and what’s not enough or good enough that we don’t recognize all the good in what is.

And the fact is that we do touch so many other lives, not just our own.

You. Me. All of us. We touch the world and things and people in it in myriad ways. And we probably don’t realize just how much we do – or can – touch this world. Unlike George, we will likely not get to see how the world and everything in it has been touched by us. However, the fact is that we do and while our power to do so may seem quintessentially small and even at times (or often) immaterial to us, the truth is that our touch is more powerful than we might know or ever realize.

So, here’s the question I pose to you today:

What do you want your touch to be? To your life? To the world and everyone and everything in it? 

We don’t have to see how things would have been had we never been born. Instead, we can choose today, now, how we want to touch it now as we live. Today. Tomorrow. The rest of our days.

We can choose to live our “Wonderful Life.” To live in a way that makes us feel that we are living a wonderful life and that we are having the touch we want in our lives.

So, what is that for you?

As we enter a new year, an annual event that often prompts us to set resolutions for what we want to do in the year ahead, let’s go further and set a life resolution.

Specifically, think about what “A Wonderful Life” is for you.

What are the life goals that support that?

Also, what are the financial goals that support that?

The last question may seem materialistic, but the gift of money is what it allows us to do. Achieving financial goals is only meaningful because it supports life goals that are meaningful to us.

Yet, so often, we are so caught between making it through the month to month or focused on an undefined “accumulate more” target that we can forget that.

So, what are your meaningful life goals?

And what are the financial goals that support them?

To help you answer these questions, I want to share with you a video I made that will help you identify your goals, and I include in it some illuminating questions that are posed by George Kinder in the book Lighting the Torch: The Kinder Method of Life Planning. This video and questions will help you identify your financial goals by focusing on your life goals.

 Watch today’s video to set your financial goals for 2025. Direct Link: https://youtu.be/6_nztIg-mVY

IMPORTANT: The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified professional with any questions you may have regarding the topics discussed here as the topics discussed are based on general principles and may not be applicable to every individual. 

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