Better financial decisions start with a broader perspective
By Baruch Labinsky
During my recent travels, we arrived in a beautiful, serene valley surrounded by hills and mountains. From where we stood, the view was breathtaking. We could see quite a way up into the hills and had the feeling that we were taking in the landscape around us.
The next day, we took a cable car up the mountain. As we rose higher, more and more of the surrounding landscape came into view. We realized that what we had thought were the mountains around us were actually only the smaller hills surrounding the valley. Beyond them were much larger mountains, farther away and higher than anything we had been able to see from below.
Nothing about the landscape had changed. Only our perspective had.
It struck me how easily we can live within a particular reality and assume that what we see is the full picture. From where we are standing, it feels like the full picture. But often we are seeing only what is immediately around us.
This is true in many areas of life, and it is certainly true of our finances. When we are dealing with immediate pressures – this month’s expenses, an unexpected bill, helping a child, paying tuition, buying an apartment – it can be very difficult to see beyond them. Our attention naturally focuses on the problem directly in front of us.
But good financial decision-making requires us, at least occasionally, to go above the valley. We need to see not only what is demanding our attention today, but what may be waiting over the next hill: a wedding, retirement, a change in income, the needs of our spouse or children, or simply the financial consequences of choices repeated over many years.
Finding a Higher View
The challenge, of course, is that we cannot actually take a cable car into the future. So how do we gain a broader perspective while still dealing with the very real financial decisions in front of us today?
Here are a few ways to try:
Learn from Experience
Speak to people who have already been up the mountain. Someone who took the cable car the day before can tell you what lies beyond the hills you can see. In financial life, this might mean speaking with someone who has already gone through the stage of life you are entering. It might also mean speaking with a professional who has helped many people navigate similar decisions. Their experience can help you see possibilities, risks and trade-offs that may not be visible from where you are standing.
Read the maps
You do not necessarily have to climb the mountain yourself to learn what is there. You can study the map. The same is true financially. Reading and learning can help us understand the larger journey we are on. A young family focused on current expenses can learn what long-term retirement saving actually requires. Parents can begin thinking years in advance about weddings, education or helping children purchase an apartment. Information does not make future expenses disappear, but it can make them less surprising and give us more time to prepare.
Lean on Your Community
Consult with others going through the journey with you. Friends and family may notice things that we have missed or have experience that applies to our own circumstances. Of course, finances always need to be personalized; what works for one family may not work for another. But there are also many shared experiences, and Israelis tend to be relatively open about money. Talking to others can give us useful insights into both the challenges ahead and the different ways people can choose to address them.
Broaden your time horizon.
We tend to look at our present circumstances with intense focus, trying to solve problems as they appear today. But what happens if we widen the time horizon? What would my 60-year-old self, want me to choose today? Projecting decades into the future may feel too abstract, but even looking one year or five years ahead can change the way we evaluate a decision. Sometimes a choice that seems obvious when viewed over the next month, looks very different when viewed over the next several years.
Go back to your core values
We are now in the month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish year, a time when we are given the opportunity to reflect, reconnect and evaluate our lives. Finance plays an important role in our lives, but money is not our only asset. Our health, relationships, families, communities and spiritual growth matter as well. Take the time to reevaluate your priorities and plan the upcoming year. As the saying goes, “twice measured, once cut”.
At Labinsky Financial, we help clients step back from immediate financial pressures and see the broader picture. By reviewing income, investments, retirement planning, family priorities, and long-term goals together, we help clients make informed decisions that support the life they want to build.
Rising Above the Valley
When we take the time to consider those values alongside our financial decisions, money can become a tool for supporting the life we actually want to build. The question is no longer simply, “Can I afford this?” or “How do I solve this month’s problem?” It becomes, “Where am I trying to go, and does this choice help take me there?”