Abraham Maslow, 1908-1970, is one of the 20th century’s most important psychologists. His Hierarchy of Needs lists the requirements for living a fulfilling life. By focusing on peoples’ positive qualities, and their strengths for living well, he is today considered the founder of Positive Psychology: the science of human flourishing.
The bottom two levels of the hierarchy are all about securing physiological needs. Financial planning and investing are integral to securing these needs and undergird the steps to the higher levels of the hierarchy. At Bluestone we think about this a lot.
Here are five things we can all do to secure a solid financial foundation, setting ourselves up to climb “The Hierarchy” to self-actualization.
- YOUR BALANCE SHEET Your assets (what you own), minus your liabilities (what you owe) equals your net worth. This is your wealth. Focusing on your wealth is the first step to securing your wealth.
- YOUR ASSET ALLOCATION Stocks, bonds, money market, GICs, real estate; which asset class do you allocate your investment dollars to? This is one of the most important financial decisions you will ever make.
- YOUR MONEY MANAGER Once you have determined your asset allocation will you invest by way of Mutual Funds (the best choice in our opinion)? Who are the money managers managing your selected Mutual Funds? Are they top rate? It matters.
- INCOME TAX The list of options for reducing your tax keeps getting longer and more complicated: RRSP, TFSA, RESP, RRIF, LRIF, non-registered, etc. Which are best, in what proportion, and how do you draw from them?
- NEVER FORGET…IT’S INTEGRATED The entire hierarchy must be pursued simultaneously because the upper is required to accomplish the lower, and if the lower doesn’t lead to the upper it’s a shallow and undermining experience. Only by pursuing the entire “Hierarchy of Needs” can we scale to the top, self-actualization.
The third level of the hierarchy is BELONGING. It’s very difficult, perhaps impossible, to do this alone. But we can do it together. Our Bluestone community of clients is a group of successful people who practice and role-model the steps up the hierarchy. How wonderful.
This memo was prepared solely by Terry and Patty Rempel who are registered representatives of FundEX (a member of the Mutual Funds Dealers Association of Canada and the MFDA Investor Protection Corporation). The views and opinions, including any recommendations, expressed in this memo are those of Terry and Patty Rempel. Bluestone Financial is a personal trade name of Terry and Patty Rempel.
