The Soul of the Matter:
Aligning Meaning with Means vs Aligning Means with Meaning
Perceived Lack is the present:
More is the future
And now is never Enough©
Stipulating
- Yes, when there is no means survival is meaning, the meaning is where do I get lunch and dinner
- Maslow’s hierarchy indicates one first has to meet their material survival needs
- The fear of outliving one’s money (means) supersedes meaning for most if not all
- Mitch Anthony coined the phrase in financial planning ‘aligning means with meaning.’
- ENOUGH(sm) Jewish Personal Financial Planning in contrast is: aligning meaning with means to and toward Shaddai (in Hebrew ‘God, God Almighty, God All Sufficient, Enough) via healing personal financial anxiety, putting money in its place to transcend, elevate, connect and align to one’s assignment and significance - what one was meant to do, meant to be - enough to live for, enough to live on - the soul of the matter to spiritualize the material and materialize the spiritual.(c)
Given the aforementioned, per the late comedian Sam Levinson, ‘I finally got the means to the end - and they moved the ends apart.’
As a consequence of perceived lack, its primary derivative acquisition and secondary by product is the relentless seeking of more, more, more, and thus it is not unusual to hear to hear the ‘then I’ll’s’ after ‘when I get mine.’ The “then I’ll’s” -have a habit of the ends (the goal posts) keep moving apart in the ‘aligning means with meaning’ construct - though well intended.
Aligning means with meaning inherently is susceptible to solve perceived lack number 1 and perceived lack #2 is promoted. Furthermore, without meaning as the priority, there seems to always be a new risk that is promoted - especially the high high serious potential problem that is low low low risk
Stipulating the following is an extreme example - a very wealthy individual (having more than enough as defined, diversified etc) created a place in Australia that would be self sufficient with crops, water etc etc. After 20 years the place was finished - self sufficient - with its own crop - only for parrots to wipe out the crops. To paraphrase a Talmudic saying, ‘man plans, God laughs’ and parrots are peckers.
Aligning means with meaning - where means has priority and the inclination of becoming the end itself - rationalized by I’ll get mine and ‘then I’ll’ - a Sisyphusian continued never ending quest of if only, if only, if only…
There is always something - and yet we give ourselves - no credit for our adaptability and resourcefulness that from God given capacities we developed into capabilities that yield the assets in our care. Thus, we give our trust to money more than ourselves let alone God who gave us the capacities to yield the currency. (Note & proof: while goodwill is given asset value on a corporate balance sheet - human capital in terms of adaptability and resourcefulness is not credited whatsoever!)
When one knows the why (meaning IN one’s life INside out) the how becomes less stifling and overwhelming perceived I can’ts. Aligning meaning with means climbs the mountain; aligning means with meaning mining the mountain
In the ENOUGH(sm) Jewish Personal Financial Planning process of aligning meaning with means - meaning is established first then ‘means testing’: determining the viability & feasibility of means to support meaning assuming the required personal financial goals are on track or met.
Thus,
in the ENOUGH(sm) Jewish Personal
Financial Planning process of aligning
meaning with means is means testing for meaning - rather than means for meaning
supporting ‘then I’lls’ only after ‘I get mine.’ Note: isn’t it interesting
the spelling of the ‘I’lls’ in “then I’IIs” corresponds to ill.
this land is mind, you are but wayfarers/sojourners
Leviticus
ENOUGH(sm) Jewish Personal Financial Planning
Besides assumes wanting what we have in our possession not that we don’ t own
but rather we are just at best caretakers to OWN UP To that which is in our
possession during our short stay in this life
Man has a will to meaning
Viktor Frankl
The label “Personal Financial
Planning” is not only a misnomer but presented as a title out of sequence with
reality of the practice. The sequence of the description should be Financial
Planning applied to Personally Held Assets.
“Surprise, Surprise!”
as Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle would say to Sergeant Carter
(per the ‘70’s tv series)
With the demographic shift instead of 35 people working for 1 retiree to now 3 working for 1, and the natural progression of commoditization of financial product and services, there has been and will continue to be compression of ‘personal’ financial compensation.’ The ‘personal financial compensation’ model and method impacted the most is AUM - charging a percentage of ‘assets under management.’
“Personal” Financial Planners in
response to the fear of percentage
reduction (compression), all of a sudden, ‘surprise, surprise -Stg Carter’ are
discovering goals based planning, holistic planning - focusing on what is
required to achieve each goal rather than external comparisons to the Dow Jones
or S&P averages. (Quite frankly, personal financial planning is about
managing goals not assets - which one, what kind - or how one did relative to
the Dow. This goals based planning ‘conversion’ - ‘born again so to speak’ putting the person back in personal
financial planning is reminiscent of the politicians that change his or her
position - in light of deteriorating polls in also known as ‘an election year
conversion.’
Aligning means with meaning (or variation thereof) is but - rebranding especially out of fear of reduced asset under management percentage compensation. Lacking specific outputs and action plans for meaning INside out with the client, this so called life planning is but, for want of a better description, ‘yakked yak - I’m your best friend’ planning to give the perception of ‘value added.’
Without clear & accountable step
by step process approach for aligning meaning with means - connecting means
with meaning is disguised reversion &
revision to the means - moving the goal posts in a Sam Levinson with a
Sisyphusian chaser manner.
CHEWish On This©
The Soul of the Matter
Refined for and per the Judaism On
Purpose™ process model meaning guidepath is the Personal Prospectus from the ENOUGH(sm) process now titled Remember
Me: The Soul Resume. (see the book Judaism On Purpose). And to give
context below is the process of Judaism On Purpose™. Note aligning meaning with
means is the last module - having quarried for meaning thru the modules of Jews
of Meaning, Remember Me, The Ethical Will, Why I Am A Jew, The 1st
to be 2nd Bar/Bat Mitzvah (having found oneself in Torah).(see www.rabbisjudaismonpurpose.com full discussion.
Note: the Judaism On Purpose™ process can be applied to other religions.
Bottom line (‘the soul of the matter”): aligning meaning with means - to count - the soul of the matter.
