Is your money a benefit or a burden?

Money can be looked at in a lot of different ways.

Instead of accumulating money to strictly watch your account balances grow, another healthy perspective is to understand how it can support and complement the important things in our lives.

Developing a plan and prioritizing the important things in your life will illustrate how money may be used as a tool to help you live the life you want.

Accumulating as much wealth as possible no longer is the primary objective of your wealth plan.

The traditional path to saving and investing has been to focus on the future — retirement — and rely solely on numbers and investment return.

However, this approach often can be misleading as it doesn’t consider your individual circumstances.

“Beating the market” often is a misleading objective because it is not likely to have a relevant impact on your unique situation.

Understanding your goals and priorities and the return required to fulfill these is more critical than attempting to achieve the highest return possible.

Allocating your money so it complements and provides a return that allows you to fulfill your goals and objectives within your plan is the priority.

What is relevant is developing a wealth plan that considers the following:

By incorporating these factors into your planning, you can begin to understand what needs to change — or what not to change — to live the best life possible without overextending yourself.

You may realize you are in a position to pursue some of your goals sooner than initially expected or possibly new goals you would never thought of.

Money does not exist for its own sake. Money exists as a utility that we use to improve our lives.

How your returns compare to any index, fund, investment category or another person are less relevant than whether your plan reflects a successful path.

Measure your success against your objectives, not someone else’s.

To develop a successful plan you need to understand where all your money is coming from and where all your money is going — and why.

Understanding the “why” will allow you to create a plan that works for you and your individual circumstances. You may be living above your means and need to make changes to your lifestyle.

Or you already may have enough, and be able to take a trip or enjoy another experience you have been putting off.

Your answers to these questions will determine the inflow and outflow of money, as well as your financial progress or decline.

Knowing your age, and how long you expect to live isn’t enough to develop a wealth plan that works.

Your money is there to serve you, not vice versa. Instead of focusing on someone else’s definition of success, create your own definition of a successful plan and life with regards to money.

A comprehensive plan puts quality before quantity by managing your assets in a way that improves your life and provides peace of mind.

In traditional wealth planning, the primary components include asset, risk and debt management, as well as tax, estate and income planning.

All these areas are essential and necessary for a strong financial plan, but there is more to developing a strong wealth plan than numbers.

We all have different values and principles regarding money. Each of us has a history, present circumstances and future hopes that are unique.

By focusing only on numbers, we miss enjoying life now and in the future because we only concentrate on accumulating wealth.

A plan that is designed with your priorities and specific financial goals as its foundation will allow you to focus on the important things in your life while lessening the overall pressure that money can sometimes bring.

This article is provided by Pete Alepra, a financial adviser at RBC Wealth Management in Cedar Rapids; peter.alepra@rbc.com.

The opinions in this article are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. RBC Wealth Management is a division of RBC Capital Markets, a member NYSE, FINRA and SIPC.

RBC Wealth Management does not provide tax or legal advice. All decisions regarding the tax or legal implications of your investments should be made in consultation with your independent tax or legal adviser.