Blog | Real Estate

Finding Your Personal Why for Investing

Understanding what really motivates you to be financially free helps you overcome your excuses

We often use excuses when we don’t want to do something. Of course, we often don’t call them excuses; we call them reasons.

To us, our “reasons” always sound perfectly rational and acceptable. But in reality, our “reasons” are often really a way of saying, “I’m not going to do that,” or “I don’t want to do that.”

The #1 reason women don’t invest

When it comes to investing, many women have excuses as to why they don’t invest. But the #1 reason I hear is, “I don’t have the time.”

I get why women would say this. When you’re juggling family, career, charities, sports, activities, and keeping up with friends and everyday life, how do you find the time to invest?

The real question is, “Why do I need to invest?”

We talked about six reasons why women must invest last week.

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There is another way to look at it as well. In addition to understanding the facts of why you should invest, you also need to find your personal reason why you want to invest.

How-to’s are important, but the most important thing you can learn is your personal reason why you want or need to invest. Why would you take on this challenge? What will truly motivate and drive you to spend the time and effort to become a good investor?

For some, the personal reason why is more free time with family. For others, it’s the ability to travel the world. For still others, it’s to invest more time in their health.

Whatever your reason, it must be compelling enough to keep you going. The following is a system to help you determine your personal why for investing.

How to discover your personal reason why

Find a quiet place with no distractions—a setting that allows you to get in touch with yourself. Take your time with this process. Don’t rush through it. Your personal reason why may come to you in an instant or you may find you want to think about it over time.

1. Ask yourself, “What is my true reason for wanting to be financially independent? Think about:

• What you would do if you never had to work again

• What you would do if you had all the time in the world to spend exactly as you wanted

• How your life would be different if money were not a worry

Write down everything that comes to mind.

2. Ask yourself again, “What is my deep-down core reason for wanting to be financially independent?” Look deeper. Write down everything that comes to mind

3. Ask yourself again, going deeper, “What is my innermost, heartfelt reason for wanting to be financially independent?” Write down everything that comes to mind.

It may seem simple and rudimentary, but if you continue to ask yourself the question again and again, going deep within yourself each time, until your personal reason why is crystal clear, you’ll find surprising answers that will keep you going, even in the face of great adversity.

As you define your Why, expand your financial knowledge with our FREE tools and ebooks.