Good financial choices come from your values and goals. But how do you know what those are? And how can you harness your brain to help you out?

1. Plan your way.
Values, Goals, and Money

2. Welcome to Values, Goals, and Money!
Today’s Agenda
• 11:30AM - Settle in and get lunch
• Noon - We start
• 1:30PM - We end*
*If you need to leave early, let us know so
you can say goodbye when you need to!

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But first…
Logistics and checking in

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Today, we’re going to start talking about financial
satisfaction—what it is, what it isn’t—and how our
brains come into the equation.
We’ll move into values and goals. We’ll round out the
Circle with a few exercises and discussion.
Values, goals, and money: How do they all work together?

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Financial Satisfaction
• Financial satisfaction is relative and often dependent on one’s
definition of success.
• In our financial lives, “satisfaction” is as much (if not more) an
emotional issue as a practical one.
• A sense of satisfaction is highly subjective, and greatly
influenced by an individual’s attitudes and beliefs.

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Financial Dissatisfaction
• Dissatisfaction may not be a constant feeling; it can come and go.
• The source of the feeling can be unclear.
• Individuals can know intellectually that they are financially independent, but
not feel financially secure on an emotional level.
• Others can strive for and achieve wealth and yet not feel any gratification
from this accomplishment.
Dissatisfaction can lead to feelings of “inadequacy” when it
comes to financial matters and putting off making financial
decisions for fear of revealing a “lack” of financial savvy.

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Are you Satisfied or Dissatisfied?
• Two people can feel very different about the same circumstance.
• Income: One person can feel gratified and “wealthy” with an annual income of $100,000 while another
person will feel disillusioned and deprived at the same level of income.
• Credit: One person can be very comfortable carrying an ongoing credit card balance of $5,000, while
another person will be “totally stressed out” and “not satisfied” until their credit card balance is zero.
• Priorities can change over time and affect one’s feeling of satisfaction.
• An individual could live with disorganized financial records for years with little concern, and then one
day become discontent with the disorder and lack of control.
• For many individuals, their desire to increase their charitable giving grows in importance over time, as
does the sense of satisfaction they receive from sharing their wealth.
 What are some ways to take advantage of our brain
chemistry to increase satisfaction?

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Our Brains Naturally Sort Out What’s Important…
…Based on What We Care About

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So What Do We Care About?
Values = What Matters Most To Us
Values can be:
o Principles or standards we consider important such as “honesty,” “loyalty,” or
“altruism.”
o Intangibles that keep us motivated. Motivators vary from person to person, but
examples include wealth, recognition, achievement, intelligence, creativity,
challenge, adventure, harmony, and so on.
o What we hold most dear, such as “my family,” “my faith,” or “my health.”
Values provide both the purpose for our activities and the criteria for how we
allocate our personal resources of time, energy, skills, and money.
• When there is incongruence between our values and the way we “spend” those
resources, inner conflict or dissatisfaction will result.

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Why Goal Setting Works…Even If We Don’t Set Goals
• Our conscious brains are built like a series of processors in a computer, only
capable of one conscious action or thought at a time.
• Even if you are not setting conscious goals,
your brain is setting goals subconsciously.
• When subconscious and conscious goals disagree, subconscious goals tend to
win out.
• Reward and punishment hormones motivate our subconscious.
• Our brains will filter information from the environment that relates to subconscious goals.
Remember: Our brains will deliver pleasure or pain to reward and/or encourage
progress on an unconscious goal—even if this results in decisions we’ll later regret!

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Setting Conscious Goals is Key
Make a conscious effort to systematically reprogram our subconscious
minds, rather than leave goals to chance.
• Our conscious minds naturally gravitate to abstract thoughts and values.
• The subconscious responds most strongly to things like clear, directive
words; self-reflection; visualizations; and emotions.
Set conscious goals to make use of your brain’s ‘reticular activating’ power.
• Lets your subconscious brain capture the goal and go to work scouring data
to find opportunities for us to be successful based on our conscious thinking.

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What Are Goals Again?
• A goal is the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired
result.
• Synonyms: objective, aim, end, target,
design, intention, intent, plan, purpose.
• Goals are things we want but have difficulty achieving.
• Setting a goal has an immediate, intense effect on brain chemistry;
goal-setting naturally creates tension.
• A goal is a detour from the path of least resistance.
• It’s more comfortable for the brain to prefer inertia.
• A “let’s just do our best” approach insulates us from of the potential pain of
failing to meet a goal, but also prevents us from experiencing the satisfaction
(and growth) that comes with making progress toward a goal.

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Values + Goals = The Will + The Way
• The brain is protective and resistant to change.
Goals that require substantial behavioral change or changes to an established
thinking pattern will automatically be resisted.
• Values provide both the purpose for our activities and the criteria for how we
allocate our personal resources of time, energy, skills, and money.
• Creating goals in line with your values allows goals to come more
naturally, and connecting with your higher purpose will leave you happier because
you will have your “why” in mind.
Values are a powerful “why.”
Why + How = The Will + The Way

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Increase your Financial Satisfaction with Visioning
Visioning: What you believe in (your core values) + what you want in the
future (what you want to be).
1. Instead of having a picture in your mind of what you want to see manifest in
your life, you get internally still and quiet so that you are able to see the vision
that comes to you.
2. Visioning is an internal intuitive process where instead of externally
manufacturing a vision (AKA “should-ing on yourself”), you allow the
vision to be created from your inner voice of what matters most.
Visioning is a powerful way to get subconscious and
conscious goals in sync.

15. “Setting goals is the first
step in turning the
invisible into the visible.”
~Tony Robbins

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And now for a few engaging exercises… and Q&A
Thank you for coming today!
For more information,
sign up for our mailing list at
https://www.mosaicfp.com/circles

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About Mary & Liz
Mary Ballin, CFP®, CDFA®
Client Advisor
Mary L. Ballin, recipient of the Women's Choice Award, has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry.
She joined Mosaic Financial Partners, Inc. in 2003 and was an essential part of the team who founded the East Bay office.
Prior to joining Mosaic, Mary spent several years with Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. as a trader in Denver, CO and then as
a Investment Consultant in Castro Valley. Mary’s extensive experience also includes corporate retail management, where
as a store executive she helped lead the company’s regional store growth.
Mary specializes in working with women who have experienced a life transition, such as divorce, widowhood, marriage, or
an unexpected loss. The vast majority of women are, at some point in life, going to be put in a position where they have to
take care of themselves financially. As a result, Mary has a passion for providing education to women about a wide variety
of personal financial topics.
Liz Revenko, MA, MBA, CFP®, CPCC, ACC
Senior Financial Planner
As a financial planning professional, Liz is passionate about helping her clients live for today and build and protect resources
for a thriving future. She uses her analytical skills and communication talents to explore complex situations so that her clients
can have ease and clarity as they decide among the options available to them.
She is a thinking partner for life’s twists and turns. She specializes in helping clients strategically build their wealth during
earning years—and then simplify the complexities of using retirement assets such as Social Security, retirement account
distributions, pensions, deferred comp, stock options, and Roth conversions. She has developed a firm-wide recommended
portfolio withdrawal rate program after extensive research and analysis on retirement planning services.
LIz believes in empowering women to get connected with their financial decisions.

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IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES
Mosaic Financial Partners Inc., provides financial planning advice to our clients, which includes estate planning and
tax planning. We will also work with our clients’ tax and legal professionals upon request and as needed to help
coordinate our advice, as we do not provide specific tax or legal advice.
The information presented here is not specific to any individual's personal circumstances. To the extent that this
material concerns tax or legal matters, it is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by a taxpayer for
the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed by law.
Individuals who are considering the use of the strategies or content presented here should seek independent advice
from a tax or legal professional as appropriate, and based on his or her individual circumstances.
These materials are provided for general information and educational purposes based upon publicly available
information from sources believed to be reliable—we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials.
The information in these materials may change at any time and without notice.
For more information and disclosures please refer to our website www.MosaicFP.com
and/or the following link: https://www.mosaicfp.com/disclosures