Improve Myself Like My Daughter’s Life Depends On It.

Ask any parent what they want for their child when they grow up and most of the time they say that they want their children to be happy. But are YOU really happy in your life right now? Are you doing the things that make YOU feel fulfilled?

Because your children are watching you.

It is kind of weird how my oldest daughter lingers around.  She tries to act like she’s playing while I’m on the phone, but I know she is listening in on my conversations.  I am constantly trying to improve myself like my daughter’s life depends on it because I know that she is watching me. Scary thought when think about it that way!

I am not the perfect man, but I want to be a great example for her so that she can live the happiest life she can possibly live. Therefore, you need to be good stewards of your money and make sure that you live below your means. This will open enough space for your family to not only improve themselves but also allows you to open your mind up to think through other things, instead of using that head space to worry about money.

It allows you to show up at home a happier and more carefree person. And it will actually be genuine happiness. Crazy!  Imagine your child watching you go to work happy. Imagine your eating right and exercising while being happy. They are watching you and copying your eating habits and your work habits. If you get these things right, then they have a better opportunity to do the same things.

How many things do you do as an adult that are a direct result of your parents? Are your spending habits similar to what your parent’s spending habits are?  Do you eat relatively the same type of food that you did growing up?

I wake up every morning trying to improve myself so that my children have a higher bar to reach.  I mean, why not be the Will Smith of Financial Planning?  I want my children to have to work hard to be me.  Now we all know that I am nowhere close to being Will Smith.   But my children don’t know that.

What I do want my children to know is this:

1. Dad is not Will Smith
2. I can do better than him in certain area’s
3. Dad did a lot of things right or at the very least he tried

If I am going to have my children copy me, I would like most of the things that they are copying to be good attributes.  I hope they also realize that I left it all on the court, so the things I did get wrong, they are OK with that too.  Let’s try to improve ourselves every day. I believe self-improvement starts with making sure your money is right.

*Investing involves risk. Depending on the types of investments, there may be varying degrees of risk. Investors should be prepared to bear loss, including total loss of principal.