How Do You Know If You’re Living In Financial Integrity?

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You are living in financial integrity when your daily actions are congruent with your financial plans and the principles that lead to wealth.

Okay, that’s a mouthful! So what do I mean by that and why should you care?

Financial integrity is an important subject because it can literally make-or-break your happiness and financial success. It is that important.

To explain what I mean let’s look at a couple examples where people are commonly out of financial integrity…

• You know wealth is built by spending less than you earn, but your savings don’t grow each month.
• You know lackluster investment performance is holding you back, but you don’t prioritize time each day to learn how to improve the return on your investments.
• You know tracking your numbers and accountability is essential to long-term success, but you have no personal financial accounting and no formal way to manage your investment portfolio.
• You know achieving financial freedom is like eating an elephant – it’s a big beast to consume – but you allow yourself to be intimidated thus getting nothing done rather than attacking it one bite at a time so that you make consistent, incremental progress every day.

Do you recognize yourself in any of these examples?

I could go on and on with many more ways my readers live out of financial integrity, but I think you get the point. Building wealth and achieving financial security is not rocket science. Anyone can do it. You need to spend less than you earn and invest the difference wisely. Pretty straightforward.

The problem isn’t knowing what to do: the problem is actually getting it done…

Very few people prioritize their resources (time and money) so that they walk the talk every day, and that is why so few people succeed financially. You live in financial integrity when you actually do what you know you should do to honor your value for financial security. You’re out of financial integrity when you don’t (most people). One path results in wealth – the other doesn’t.

Again, pretty straightforward stuff.

Because you read this blog we already know you value financial security and personal freedom. After all, we are not here to learn about guns and ammo or how to make a chocolate mousse. You opted in because you’re interested in financial security.

This is an important point with important implications because it means you either spend a portion of each day taking actions to honor that value or you are living out of integrity. Stated another way, if I want to know how long it will take someone to attain financial security all I need to do is look at how much of their time and money each day is dedicated to the goal. It is as simple as that.

Now here’s the rub…

You can never be happy as long as you live out of integrity with your values. The incongruence works at a deep level to undermine your well being. This is not “woo-woo” stuff: it’s just how humans work. You know when you are two-faced believing one truth about life yet succumbing to resistance and lack of discipline so that you don’t walk-the-talk. The result is less satisfaction with your life. It’s simple cause and effect. There is no way around it: you are hardwired that way at birth.

In short, my readers (you) can only be fully happy when you structure your life so that you live according to principles that result in financial security… because those are your values. Anything else will lead to frustration and problems.

You either walk the talk or you lose happiness over the loss of integrity. You either build wealth or live in frustration.

Again, pretty simple stuff – easy to understand but hard to live – and therein lies the rub.

If you found these two topics interesting (succumbing to resistance causing you to not walk-the-talk, and the unhappiness resulting from living out of integrity) the following two books are both valuable resources. The War of Art is one of the best explanations for the concept of resistance – not doing what we know we should. Leadership and Self-Deception is a simple read that conveys better than any other book I’ve found the huge price we pay for living out of integrity.

If these ideas connect with you then please extend the conversation, provide feedback, and tell me what you think in the comments below. I’d love to hear…

You Might Also Like…

• The Secret To Happiness and Why It Has Nothing To Do With Money: Learn how a simple daily habit can create more happiness than financial freedom.
• How To Find Your Sweet Spot For Building Wealth: How much money do you really need to be happy, wealthy and free?
• The Ten Commandments Of Wealth Building: Learn the ten key principles to building wealth (Surprise! It’s about much more than just making money.)
• “The Way To Wealth” by Benjamin Franklin: Packed with timeless wisdom proving little has changed in 250 years. What worked back then still works today.