When you go through a significant life change, such as divorce, widowhood, or becoming an empty nester, it’s also the perfect time to consider values-based financial planning. This approach can help you to better align your money with who you truly want to be.
It also represents a time to ask, Who am I now?
And perhaps more importantly: Who do I want to be next?
As both a life planner and a financial planner, I often remind clients that their financial plan represents more than numbers. It’s a reflection of your values, your vision, and your evolving sense of self. After all, I believe financial planning isn’t just about money, it’s about designing a life aligned with your values.
The Power of Values-Based Financial Planning
Keep in mind that you have more resources than money. You have a TEAM of resources—Time, Energy, Attention, and Money—to align with your values. You can often trade your money for time. That choice can also help you conserve energy for what matters most. You can also use money to reclaim your attention, redirecting it toward the people, goals, and experiences that matter most.
But here’s a truth we don’t talk about enough…
It takes courage to build a life and a financial plan that truly reflects who you are. That’s where values-based financial planning comes in. It invites you to align your financial decisions with your evolving identity, not outdated norms.
Most of us simply follow “best practices,” whether in our careers, our families, or even our finances. We choose what’s expected, what feels safe, or what looks successful. But at some point, especially after a major transition, we realize that success that doesn’t fit you isn’t success at all.
Simplicity Takes Work
You might assume that creating a life or a financial plan that feels “simple” or “elegant” is easy. But simplicity often comes from hard work and deep thinking. It’s the simplicity that comes after complexity. You need to know what to strip away, and, more importantly, what to keep.
I’ve seen this play out in clients’ lives repeatedly.
- A widow simplifies her investment strategy not to take the “easy way out,” but because she no longer wants to manage risk in the same way.
- A recently divorced woman designs a spending plan that feels peaceful and empowering, rather than trying to replicate her previous lifestyle.
- An empty nester rethinks retirement not as the end, but as the beginning of a new chapter filled with meaning and intention.
Every Financial Plan Is a Lifestyle Plan, Because Money Is Never Neutral.
There’s no such thing as a neutral financial decision. Every choice you make supports a lifestyle, whether you realize it or not.
That’s why we start by asking not just how much do you need? But what kind of life do you want to live?
When you answer that honestly, without fear, guilt, or comparison, you open the door to real alignment between your money and your life.
The ROI of Doing It Your Way
It might feel risky to do things differently. But aligning your life and financial decisions with your deepest values isn’t just emotionally fulfilling. It’s practical.
You:
- Make decisions with clarity.
- Spend with confidence.
- Plan for what actually matters to you, not what “they” say should matter.
There’s a hidden ROI in doing it your way: peace of mind, better outcomes, and a stronger sense of self.
One Small Step
Here’s your challenge:
What’s one small financial decision—however minor—that could better reflect who you really are now?
It could be:
- Letting go of something you no longer value.
- Saying “yes” to something that brings you joy.
- Saying “no” to doing something that doesn’t align with your most fulfilled life.
- Changing a habit that no longer serves your future.
Start there, because, as Lao Tzu said, “Be who you really are, and go the whole way.”
Ready to design a values-based financial plan that reflects your most fulfilling life? Your values deserve a central place in your financial life. Let’s talk about what matters most, and how your resources can support the life you truly want. 👉 Schedule a free call today.
This Week’s Favorite Reads
This week’s favorite reads include articles discussing running tiny experiments when setting goals, the positive impact of expressing gratitude, what can happen to your online accounts after you die, how to maximize memories with your money, and tackling estate planning basics.
Here are the links to this week’s articles, as well as a brief description of each and why you should check it out:
1. The Art of Goal-Setting: How to Live Free Instead of Under Pressure.
The author proposes replacing the rigid “ladder of success” with adaptive growth loops, which represent cycles of experimentation and reflection that align with your deep values. Rather than pursuing fixed outcomes, she encourages acting like a scientist in your own life: run tiny experiments (“pacts”)—short, time-bound commitments like “I’ll write 30 minutes every day for 30 days”—to explore what genuinely resonates. The key is metacognition, which involves reflecting on your actions to learn and adapt. This approach turns uncertainty into a playground for creativity, resilience, and purpose, helping you rediscover curiosity, break free from societal scripts, and pursue a path that’s both meaningful and liberating. The idea aligns well with the concept of starting with possibilities when setting financial goals.
2. How expressing gratitude can transform your work and life.
Organizational consultant Alison C. Jones begins each day by naming three different things she’s grateful for—from simple comforts to emotional support. This daily practice shifts perspective, cultivates resilience, and helps her navigate stress, including the challenges of entrepreneurship and single parenthood. Gratitude in the workplace—expressing thanks in meetings, handwritten notes, recognition programs, or small gestures—boosts morale, engagement, and teamwork. I also find this process valuable. At the end of each workday, I write a response to each of the following prompts:
- What’s one reason to be grateful for your health and body?
- Who is one person you’re grateful for today, and why?
- What’s one reason to be grateful for your circumstances?
As the article suggests, expressing gratitude regularly helps you find the positive in everything. In this podcast, happiness “expert” Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and Atlantic columnist, also suggests a failure and disappointment journal. He believes it can help us start profiting more from the misfortunes in our lives, as a means to help us learn from our mistakes. I heard this just a couple of days ago. It sounds like it would be worth trying.
3. The afterlife of Apple Accounts (and others).
As we age or serve as executors, managing a digital legacy becomes vital. Simply sharing passwords poses a risk. Many services lock accounts or require court orders even if you have credentials. Fortunately, platforms like Apple, Google, or Facebook now offer built-in tools for legacy or inactive accounts. Apple’s Legacy Contact lets trusted individuals access your iCloud data after death, bypassing legal hassles. The Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, Revised, or RUFADAA for short, is a law adopted across nearly all U.S. states providing a legal framework for digital inheritance. Best practices include: updating your will, configuring legacy tools, documenting your online accounts, and sharing passwords securely. The article also shares an executor’s experience, which underscores the practical value of planning to ease posthumous digital access.
4. A Method For Maximizing Memories With Money.
This article, which encourages aligning discretionary spending with meaningful life experiences, rather than merely saving, fits well with our life planning approach. The author suggests identifying our optimal living standard first and acknowledging that spending beyond basic needs, on events such as experiences that build lasting memories, is worthwhile. You may recall that by age 18, the average parents have spent about 95% of the time they’ll ever have with their children. Knowing this should encourage us to cherish meaningful experiences. In our family, taking our children on regular vacations or day trips to cities like New York and Washington, DC, as we did when they were younger, helps build a tradition of traveling together. This tradition has persisted even now, when they are in their 20s. As suggested in the article, a balanced financial approach that values memory-rich moments as much as long-term savings can yield long-term dividends. It can also remind us that money, when thoughtfully used, can fuel both present joy and future fulfillment.
5. How to Tackle Estate-Planning Basics in 7 Steps.
Many find themselves intimidated by the idea of estate planning. Perhaps you already started without realizing it. How? Estate planning often begins with naming retirement account beneficiaries or choosing a guardian for your children. It can also help to think of estate planning as an ongoing process rather than a one-time task. Start by finding a qualified attorney, taking stock of your assets, and naming trusted individuals to carry out your wishes (executor, powers of attorney, guardian). Key documents include a will, living will, healthcare directive, and durable power of attorney. Once completed, store your documents safely and share copies with relevant individuals. Don’t overlook the “softer side,” such as values you’d like passed on or your preferences for long-term care. Finally, revisit your estate plan after significant life changes to keep it current. Estate planning isn’t just about death—it’s about protecting your loved ones and making your wishes known.
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