“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Abraham Lincoln
When I first started investing (I was just speculating). I had no direction in where I was going. I just knew I wanted to be rich and stocks seemed to get most people there. The problem was, I had no knowledge on how to achieve this. I jumped into the stock market head first and ended up unconscious at the bottom of the pool. I loss a lot of money and ended up with less wealth than I started with. And you would think that I learned my lesson after the first loss, I didn’t. It took me blowing up my account two, maybe three times before I realized my plan was a failure. At the end of 2022, I uninstalled all the brokerage and finance apps and begin to think of how I wanted my money to work for me.
What is Your Why?
I meditated on the question “What is your why?” for the next few months. I had to look at my values and align them with my assets. My values revolve around faith, family, and community. During this time of reflection, I listed all my income producing assets and assigned meaning to them.
| Asset | Matching Value |
| Brokerage #1 | Family |
| Brokerage #2 | Legacy |
| Job (Salary) | Family, Faith, and Community |
| Gig (Salary) | Community, Faith, and Family |
| Rental | Legacy |
| Rental Income | Family |
The question of “What is your why?’ now aligned with my personal values. Many of my accounts revolve around family because we are in an accumulation phase. We are saving for retirement and our son’s future. I don’t want to be a burden to my son or other family members, so I invest heavily in my husband and I’s older selves. I have a child with special needs and the rental is set aside to purchase his home in case he needs assistance in the future. The profits from my salary go to helping different causes and organizations. It puts a different lens on why I make money and where it goes. I am less likely to take on risky investments. If I blow up my account, I cannot buy paper towels, toilet paper and snacks for the Ronald McDonald House, a non-profit which I am grateful for.
Assign Your Money a Purpose
I’ve learned to assign my money a purpose. A deeply personal plan that benefits my family and the greater community. Previously, I only speculated so I can get rich. It must be bigger than you. It must have a purpose.
May I ask you, why are you investing? What are you investing for? Does it align with your values? These are questions that transformed the way I invest and the type of investments that I make. Take some time and look at your portfolio and see if it represents who you are and what you want to accomplish.
The principles of money 
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