90-Day Years and 3 Goals

I am going to keep this week’s article super short. I am hopped up on some medicine, which is messing with my sleep and is making me a bit foggy. I would say this is a two-minute read at most.

There are a couple of key tenets I operate under with my clients. Let me share them.

First, I operate under a 90-day year philosophy:

• This simply means I meet with clients once a quarter.
• The bulk of old-school advisors meet once, maybe twice a year with their clients.
• Heck, a “practice expert” in my world likes to preach that “no credible advisor meets with clients more than twice a year.”
• There are many reasons I meet more frequently. Don’t worry as I am not going through all of them.
• However, one is lots can change in 90-days. Imagine how much changes if you only meet one time a year.
• The next is this is the service level I would expect of my advisor. So it is what I deliver to my clients.

No more than 3 goals at a time:

• This is my version of something from Jim Collins, author of From Good to Great.
• I believe his quote is “If you have more than three priorities you have no priorities.”
• By focusing on three goals we are able to prioritize those that are most important.
• The bonus is by connecting it to a 90-day year the odds of it being paid attention to and completed increase dramatically.
• I think we all have had the experience of setting a goal for 365 days out and we start on them with 30 days left. How much progress really happens in that last month?
• This does not mean we forget any sort of big life goal, but by having three goals per quarter keeps us heading in the right direction and making progress on priorities.

That’s it. I told you it would be quick. Also, there is a book out there on 12-week years if you are looking for an easy read over the holiday weekend. In the meantime, I hope your financial advisor is not a credible one and you are meeting more than twice a year. To quote the great philosopher, Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.”