As you wind your way through Elizabeth Husserl’s new book, “The Power of Enough: Finding Joy in Your Relationship with Money,” it’s hard to not hear Sheryl Crow’s song “Soak Up The Sun” in your mind: “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got.”
Husserl, a wealth adviser, prides herself on providing manageable ways to take the stress out of money by developing a deeper understanding and awareness of the role it plays in your life. The key to financial freedom, in her opinion, isn’t found in striving for more but in redefining what “enough” truly means.
In many ways, her coaching advice is a form of mindful meditation. So find a comfortable seated position.
We asked Husserl for some advice. Below are excerpts of her talk with Yahoo Finance, edited for length and clarity.
Kerry Hannon: Elizabeth, why do we need a radical transformation of how we see wealth?
Elizabeth Husserl: Wealth encompasses so many things. If we actually tie it to what the root of the word is, it's well-being. When we keep wealth limited within the scope of financial health and financial well-being, it keeps us wanting more. People continue to accumulate, and they don't necessarily feel happier and more fulfilled. Once we start to widen the perspective of wealth, we start to recognize it in different areas of our life.
What are the two biggest questions about money your clients ask you to solve?
They want enough money that they don't have to think about it, so they ask me to figure that out. And then, what's the latest strategy to make me rich?
What does wealth mean?
It’s not about having more money. Wealth is an experience connected to well-being. When you’re connected to the experience of well-being, you have the resources to design your life.
I encourage people to notice the ways that they feel wealthy in their life. We talk about compound interest on financial investments. You can start to compound those moments of meaning and notice the impact on how you experience life. You start to expand your portfolio. Talk about diversification. And so wealth becomes less abstract and it becomes something you can start to gravitate toward and build a foundation.
How can we build wealth?
In my practice, I help people get clear on what they need less of. Less can lead to more. For example, we revisit categories in their cash flow that may expose unconscious spending (which we gently refer to as money leaks). Or we access jobs and commitments that no longer feel useful or investments that feel out of alignment with their values. In most cases, we intuitively know something needs to shift, but we need some guidance and support in designing the best way to accomplish this goal.
Next, I write down three things that satiated me every day. So for example, having breakfast with my daughter this morning made my list, having a meaningful interaction with my hairdresser because she was going through a really tough time, and I got to show up and support her. At the end of 30 days, go back through your list. What are the patterns?
It's different for every person, but the more you get to understand what are the strategies that satisfy you, you begin to practice embodied wealth with the simple moments. And you become more skilled around that practice. It is a wealth mindfulness practice.
You write about what you call “the infinite game.” How can this concept relate to retirement?
Retirement is a modern concept. You really don't retire from life. You may decide to quit your W2 job, or you might quit some obligations to explore new areas of your life.
Retirement is a shift of attention to where your work is now. You get to free up your 40 hours a week from a conventional standpoint and have more choice. For example, a lot of the conversations I have with clients in retirement is about how they’re going through an identity crisis. Nine out of 10 clients will tell me ‘I'm restless.’
That's awesome because that means that their creativity and vitality is still front and center.
"Get clear on what you need less of," says Wealth adviser and author Elizabeth Husserl. "(Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Husserl)
What is the power of enough?
It is the experience of feeling the connection between wealth and well-being, regardless of external circumstances and how much money you have in the bank. That is the power of enough.
I have clients who've reached financial independence or “retirement,” meaning they don't have to work for money. Their creativity can be channeled in different ways. But every single year the question at some point pops up, “Elizabeth, I could go make more money? Elizabeth, we could change our investments in this and we could get more?
My job is to say, OK, let's come back to the wealth modular. Let's come back to that cushion and ask, are you feeling low in purpose or another part of your life, relationships perhaps? That’s where your real poverty lies. That feeling that something is potentially missing, needs to be channeled to its right place, which is not usually about making more money.
How does your message resonate with your female clients?
With most of my female clients, I have to encourage them to take more investment risk.
We are very intuitive humans as women, and we can navigate opportunity and possibility in ways that some of my male clients can't do. When you view it as if you’re in a relationship, and you’re clear on what you want to do, you start to give it layers and flavors and relationships. That’s when women come alive.
