The Power of Values‑Based Financial Planning

Values‑based financial planning brings your personal beliefs and the things you care most about into the forefront of your financial journey. It goes above and beyond traditional financial planning to help you live a better, more purposeful life, on your terms.

By interweaving your personal story- the qualitative data- with the numbers- the quantitative- we can create alignment between your finances and your daily life.

Begin Where You Belong: Identify Your Core Values

The first step is discovering what matters most: Start with exploratory questions like:

• What experiences have you had where your or your caretaker's financial decisions brought you long‑term satisfaction? What about long-term stress?

• What have been your biggest money lessons from these experiences?

• What values do you identify with? For example:

  • Security

  • Flexibility and freedom

  • Responsible stewardship of resources

  • Generosity

  • Impact

  • Familial and community well-being

  • Legacy

• How would you prioritize each of these?

• What does a life well-lived look like for you?

• If money were no object, what would you change about your current life or future plans? What wouldn’t you change?

These insights reveal your inner beliefs and motivations and will guide us in building a satisfying, sustainable financial plan for you.

Align Financial Goals with Your Values

Once values are clear, your goals get reimagined. For example:

• Security: Prioritize security nets, such as emergency funds and cash liquidity.

• Freedom: Prioritize flexibility and fluidity, perhaps by trimming expenses or investing more aggressively in order to enable future career pivots or sabbaticals.

• Generosity and Impact: Prioritize a balanced spending and wealth redistribution plan, integrating structured charitable, family or community giving with tools such as impact investing. It may also include planning for a career change to a more fulfilling line of work or dropping to part-time hours to accommodate increased volunteer work.

• Familial and community well-being: Prioritizing the needs of the world and those around you now. This can entail things such as monetary gifts, donating your skills, and creating new safe spaces for your community.

This alignment leads to far deeper satisfaction than traditional wealth accumulation goals.

Crafting a Tailored Financial Plan

Here’s where values-based planning becomes actionable:

• Dive into qualitative factors: life purpose, career, caregiving, risk tolerance, and the quantitative numbers: income, net worth, insurance, benefits, taxes.

• Budget and spend with intention. A values‑based budget is not about austerity, but clarity:

  • Reduce meaningless spending.

  • Highlight your top spend categories tied to your values, and enjoy spending on these.

  • Try labeling expenses as aligned or non‑aligned, not just needs or wants.

  • Coupled with tools like a “fun budget” or “pay‑yourself‑first” methods, this approach keeps you progressing towards your goals without deprivation. The goal with a balanced spending plan is to move towards enjoying your spending more, guilt-free and in a way that is most meaningful to you.

• Map other financial strategies to values: lifestyle decisions, ESG and SRI investing, charitable giving.

• Work collaboratively with your planner to start practicing new habits and living a life that gives you purpose.

Why This Approach Matters

• Increased motivation & satisfaction: Aligning values to your dollars lends more meaning to your plan, helping you both live a more satisfying life and be the good you want to see in the world.

• Greater resilience: Purpose‑driven financial decisions withstand market volatility and life challenges more than reactive habits and ignored stressors.

🌱 Ready to Begin?

Values‑based financial planning is more than a method, it’s a mindset. It transforms financial strategy into purposeful living. With clear values, intentional goals, and adaptable execution, you can build a financial life that reflects the person you truly want to be.

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Have questions? Drop a comment on this post.

Need help building or updating your financial plan? Book Your Introductory Call.

📌 Sage Financial Planning LLC is a California RIA providing values-based financial planning and financial advice in San Diego, CA and nationwide via virtual platforms. Sage Financial specializes in serving First Generation Wealth Builders who want to change their financial family trees for the better, as well as values-based clients who want to not only achieve financial security and freedom for themselves, but who want to support their communities in meaningful ways and leave the world better than they found it.

For more information on our holistic financial planning offerings, please visit our Service Options page.

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