Net worth is easy to measure. But what makes it worthwhile?
What justifies the effort, investment, or sacrifice required to pursue financial success?
And how is that—financial success—even defined in the first place?
And then, once you’ve reached whatever definition of financial success you’ve determined, what gives your wealth meaning?
Redefining Financial Success
We’ve long been taught to measure financial success with numbers: net worth, portfolio returns, retirement dates, income generated, gifts granted, taxes paid and avoided, inheritance left behind.
Yet one could check every box—and still feel unfulfilled.
In fact, many people go to great lengths to achieve supposed financial success—but at the expense of their time, influence, health, and relationships. This all-too-common phenomenon begs the question: What’s it really worth?
This nagging question is one that has plagued my firm since its inception, nearly 30 years ago. And it’s why we coined our own term—Net Worthwhile®—designed to remind us and our clients that our pursuit is not solely numerical…that a mountain of wealth can be worthless without purpose while bringing meaning to money can empower families, both personally and financially.
Behavioral Science Meets Financial Planning
Here, we’re taking concepts rooted in behavioral science, like Self-Determination Theory (SDT)—which suggests that identifying with a purpose enhances intrinsic motivation, boosting persistence, engagement, and performance when tasks align with personal values—and extrapolating it to wealth management.
Others have done the same in other fields. For example, building on Jim Collins’ BHAG concept (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), Peter Diamandis and Salim Ismail introduced us to the concept of the Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP) in their ode to entrepreneurs in their book, Exponential Organizations.
What’s A Massively Transformative Purpose?
Hyperbolic by design, a Massively Transformative Purpose for a business is a clear, aspirational statement that articulates an organization’s deeply held purpose to create meaningful, large-scale impact. “It establishes a long-term goal for the company so sweeping and profound that it is always within reach yet always unreachable,” Ismail suggests. “It inspires employees and customers. And it galvanizes employee morale and retention.”
For example, at my company, we review our version of an MTP with the entire firm every quarter: “We are going to impact the lives of 10,000 families by 2030 because financially healthy families and individuals change the world.”
This infuses our collective efforts with a purpose well beyond profit, while providing a standard against which all of our individual initiatives and decisions can be gauged.
What’s Your Net Worthwhile®?
The concept of Net Worthwhile®, therefore, can be used to help those families we impact with a similar plumbline for their financial planning. Net Worthwhile® helps bring money to life (and life to money) in three key ways:
- It transforms money into meaning. Most financial plans focus on What and How, but Net Worthwhile starts with Why. That Why turns money from a neutral resource into a reflection of deeply held values and aspirations.
- It aligns decisions with purpose. When families are clear on what matters most, their cash flow, investment, and giving strategies don’t just perform—they align. Purpose becomes the connective tissue between goals and action.
- It bridges emotion and logic. As Daniel Kahneman’s research shows, we make financial decisions using both fast, intuitive (System 1) and slow, rational (System 2) thinking. A clear purpose satisfies both: it feels right and makes sense—fueling motivation and follow-through.
At its simplest, your Net Worthwhile® is the completion of this sentence:
“The purpose of my wealth is …__________________________.”
For the relationally oriented, Net Worthwhile® serves as a family financial mission statement. For the practically minded, it becomes a clear set of marching orders from client to advisor. For the analytical, it provides the standard by which goals and next actions in the plan are evaluated. And for the experimental, it may serve as a catalyst to expand what’s typically considered possible in financial planning.
For some, Net Worthwhile® serves as a phrase or sentence. For others, a paragraph or bullet points or even pictures. Its effectiveness is judged not by its articulation but by its power to activate and motivate.
So, what’s yours? What’s the Massively Transformative Purpose that gets you up in the morning, that inspires you to push through when you face resistance, that gives you clarity in the midst of confusion, that brings meaning to money?
What’s your Net Worthwhile®?
Read the full article here