Mottos can be powerful tools. Branding experts and corporations have been using them for years, and certain corporate slogans are so engrained in our social consciousness that they take on a life of their own. We can remember them, but we’re a little fuzzy on who said them in the first place.
Nike has been saying "Just Do It" for a generation, and who knows how long Lays has been using, "Betcha Can’t Eat Just One." For those who really want to know, KFC began saying "Finger Lickin' Good" in 1956.
But we don’t have to be a business or a company to have a motto. Anyone can have a values statement. They should be brief, easy-to-understand phrases that represent who we are and what we value. We want them to be anchors, and reminders that help us stay focused, centered, true to our goals and committed to what we believe in.
For an investor and retirement saver, a personal motto carried over a lifetime could be worth a fortune.
Your motto doesn’t need to be a tag line like McDonald’s, "I’m Lovin' It." You might want it to be a mission statement. You could use it to define the goals you have for your funds, and you can use it as a filter for considering large purchases or for analyzing an investment portfolio.
Daniel Crosby is a clinical psychologist and behavioral finance expert. He’s spent years teaching the financial world how a values statement can provide the guiding principles investors and retirement savers can use to navigate the uncertainty of financial markets.
In Crosby’s latest book, "The Soul of Wealth," he highlighted research that found "a goals-based investment strategy leads to more wealth accumulation, period." He mentions the importance of giving a "why" to your wealth by establishing the right goals based on your unique values.
The "why" or the value statement does not need to be complex. Better yet, make it so that it is explainable to a child. After all, your family is who you will be explaining it to. Because, if you don’t talk about it, it might not come to fruition, and if you’re not talking to your spouse about it, and not talking to your kids about it, how on earth can you expect the next generation to understand it or to be encouraged to use it?
Teaching values to our children and our grandchildren and showing them how to have a healthy relationship with wealth in this fast-moving world is essential to generational wealth transfer.
For me, I found a simple, yet challenging statement from English Theologian John Wesley, who used the phrase in his 18th century sermon titled, "The Use of Money." The words are written on a piece of paper that hangs above my desk, "Earn all you can, Give all you can, Save all you can."