Do You Really Have a Financial Strategy? Or, Are You Simply Being Vigilant?
I was recently interviewed for a forthcoming article about investors who check the stock market daily.
Funny fact: I’m one of those people! 😀 And, I admitted so during our conversation.
But here’s the thing: I do so out of curiosity, and with an awareness that it’s natural for the market to fluctuate — it’s supposed to go up and down. Plus, I have guardrails designed to prevent me from allowing my daily check-ins to trigger an unplanned action.
When the article is live, I’ll be sure to share the link.
In the meantime, let’s you and I chat about the difference between a habit (daily checking) and acting on a financial strategy.
Because I believe some folks view checking as being vigilant — and further still, conflate vigilance with safety. They are not the same!
Strategy — Do You Have One?
At the risk of stating the obvious, a strategy is how you reverse-engineer the process of achieving your goals or getting what you want.
It’s the game-plan that outlines what to do, why you’re doing it, and how to do it in order to achieve your goals (or get what you’ve asked for).
The “what” and “why” rarely change.
But the “how” — also known as your tactics — represent the day-to-day actions you take or decisions you need to make to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be. And these may shift “in the moment” based on a variety of factors.
Think about it:
Sports teams have a strategy for winning games and championships, but may switch up their tactics depending upon the opposing team.
Surgeons have a strategy for a successful surgery, but may need to make adjustments depending upon changes to the patient’s vitals.
Salespeople have a strategy for hitting their revenue targets, but may need to tweak their tactics due to market forces.
One of the key advantages of having a strategy is this: it focuses your attention and your actions on both what to do and what not to do. It helps to minimize the distractions — in the form of people or things — that may throw you off course.
When it comes to your money (personal or business), a financial strategy is how you manage your resources in service to your long-term goals and desires.
Personally, I like to think of strategy as the big-picture vision of what winning looks like for you.
Checking on your progress is necessary and is part of your strategy, but it is not the strategy!
Why Checking ≠ Strategy
Now let’s bring this back to the checking habit — because this is where things get interesting.
In addition to checking the stock market daily, I also check my banking accounts. Checking both helps me to feel informed; it helps me track my progress, so I can measure the distance between where I am vs. where I want to be.
Regarding my banking accounts, knowing my current balance tends to put a fire under my bum when it comes to my marketing and sales activities. If I’m at or below my target minimum, that’s useful information that helps me decide whether and when to put my foot on the gas.
Checking gives me a pulse check; it helps me to manage any anxiety I may be experiencing. Daily market-checkers are often doing the same thing, whether they’d describe it that way or not.
But when you check and you see something you don’t like, that's not a reason to take an unplanned action.
However, somewhere along the way, some of us have come to presume that checking means we are being vigilant and that vigilance equals safety.
And if any of what I’ve just written has struck a chord, what I want you to sit with is this:
Where did you learn that vigilance equals safety — in general, and then as it applies to money?
This Is Just the Beginning
I’m a firm believer that the habits we practice in one area of our life shows up in other areas, as well. And the better we get at identifying them, the better you and I can be at discerning whether those habits are serving us — or holding us back.
That question above isn’t rhetorical. It’s an invitation to start paying attention differently.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to dig into exactly that — exploring what it actually looks like to move from watching your money to managing it with intention. From reacting to what you see, to responding from a place of strategy. The distinction, I think you’ll find, changes everything.
Stay with me.
About Jacquette
I love to ask questions and spark aha moments. I love to talk about why success with money is about more than just the numbers, and how the cultural impact on the intersection of money, business, and life matters–A LOT! And, I really hope I help people feel seen, heard, and not judged—especially since money is emotional and personal.
