My kids recently rediscovered a junior magic set, and last week we spent an inordinate amount of time practicing various magic tricks. In the midst of all the tricks, a discussion broke out on what magic was, or if it even existed. One of my favorite quotes comes from Raymond Joseph Teller, of the renowned magic duo Penn & Teller.
“Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.”
Raymond Joseph Teller
Magic with money, is just someone spending more time deciding how to best use their financial resources than anyone else might reasonably expect. Personal, professional, and financial success is not accidental, but the result of spending more time than others consider reasonable.
How you manage your money is one of the principal ways of expressing your values in the world, and the magic lies predominantly in reviewing how closely your money is supporting your priorities. Financial decisions are part of a larger process, where you take action on your priorities on a daily basis. The energy and the behavior is as much a part of your decision process as the mental and emotional consideration.
For example, if you desire to retire at age 65, you will need enough money coming in through various avenues, such as rental income, social security, and investments. Your actions today will directly affect your ability to stop working later in life. The decision isn’t just a matter of how much money you plan to set aside, but also how well those daily actions match your priorities today.
Our family initially started building a real estate portfolio, with the idea of building sufficient rental income to achieve financial independence in our 50s. We worked diligently; lived dramatically below our means, paid off debt, and focused on learning about real estate. During the peak of COVID-19, my husband experienced some significant health problems, and we dealt with some additional stressors. My husband decided he no longer wanted to manage real estate, and I supported that choice. It was a great time to sell, and in less than 24 hours we were completely divested of real estate other than our primary residence.
The magic of managing your money lies less in the quantity of money, and more in the process of deciding how to use money to support your life today and in the future. The magic in “spending more time than anyone might reasonably expect” is reviewing how your money is supporting you. In our case, we review money monthly and yearly, and we emphasize integrating tangible (saving money for a vehicle) with intangible (a sense of rest from work and activities).
The goal isn’t to achieve a perfect balance, but to maintain a process around decisions that fosters growth in response to the continued imbalance of the world around us. By spending an unreasonable amount of time on simplifying and focusing money, the decision-process brings magic to long-term personal, professional, and financial growth.
Photo by Alex Alvarez