To learn more about how Bachrach and Associates Inc. can help you be in the Top 1% of Financial Advisors, call (858)558-3200 or email info@baivbfp.com.

Dan Thurmon has a unique approach to achieving life balance: forget about it! Instead he proposes that you live your life “off balance on purpose.” Every day, we are inundated with messages about the importance of finding “balance” in our lives. How does this make us feel? Overwhelmed, out of touch, and unfulfilled. The problem isn’t us—it’s the message. Perfect balance is unachievable and, upon closer inspection, undesirable. The perpetual quest for balance ends up limiting growth, progress, and the quality of life.

In Off Balance On Purpose, Dan Thurmon frees you from the “balance” dilemma and empowers you to adopt a new approach to creating a happy, fulfilling life: embrace reality, get aligned with your purpose, lean forward, and initiate positive changes. These steps will give you the knowledge, strength, and motivation to:
- Accept and take advantage of the contradictions in your daily life.
- Integrate the five vital areas of life—work, relationships, health, spiritual growth, and personal interests—into a workable, fluid, sustaining pattern.
- Adopt a practical, concrete process for orchestrating changes and staying aligned with your purpose.
Learn more at www.danthurmon.com.

These are just a few of the many great people with great ideas I could have written about this month. I hope these insights that made a difference for me will also make a difference for you.

The bottom line is that no matter happens with the volatile markets, the broken governments, the weak economy, or the chaotic world events your success is right where it has always been and always will be: in your hands.

The conclusion of Ken’s work is pretty simple: people are living longer, in many cases longer or much longer than they ever thought they would. Ken describes this as the “longevity bonus.” And he asks you and your clients this very important question, “when do you want to spend your longevity bonus?” According to Dr. Dychtwald, people want to spread their longevity bonus over their remaining lifetime, not save it for the end.

Your clients are redefining what it means to “retire.” Their thinking about what they do with their life, their time, and their money is changing. This means you have to be more adaptable in your planning as your clients adjust when they choose to retire, how they choose to spend their non-work time, and how much it will cost.

What about you? How will you spend your longevity bonus? You are in an amazing business that allows you to earn all the money you need to pay for your present lifestyle, have time freedom, and help people. It’s a perfect business to spend your longevity bonus by adjusting your work schedule and take more time off every week, month, quarter, or year.

Some of the conversations and experiences I had there inspired me to share a few ideas in my column this month that may help you be a more successful Financial Advisor and a happier human being.

One of my favorite people in NSA is Peter Vidmar. Peter is a gymnast who won 2 Gold Medals and a Silver Medal at the 1984 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of USA Gymnastics and this year he turned 50 years old. That’s important to note because he’s still very fit. And being fit is vital for a man who makes his living giving speeches and demonstrating key principals about success in tights on a stage using a pommel horse as a prop. What’s a pommel horse, you ask? See photo. The contraption below Peter is “the horse.”

When I first met Peter he was 35. And I thought it was impressive that at age 35 he could still perform on the pommel horse the same routine that had scored a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games, thus wining the Gold Medal and making him the first US male gymnast to win an Olympic medal. At age 50 he’s still doing that routine! By now I thought he would be telling the stories while showing video of what he used to be able to do on the pommel horse. We chatted for a couple of hours at this year’s NSA convention and I asked him how he’s still able to do that pommel horse routine on stages in front of hundred or thousands of people at a time at age 50. His response was simple, “The reason I can still do it is because I never stopped doing it.”

How many ways does that apply to you as a Financial Advisor?

For some things, personal and professional, you can probably pat yourself on the back because you never stopped doing them and you’re glad you didn’t because you are strong today as a result. Maybe there are some other areas you may have let some important success muscles atrophy and you need to get them activated again so you can achieve your goals. Consider those things that you must never stop doing in order to be successful and remain successful in the financial services business.

Peter has another great saying that I have been quoting for 15 years, “To be a champion you only have to do two things: 1. Work out when you feel like it. 2. Work out when you don’t feel like it.” And the same is true to be a champion Financial Advisor. To be successful you have to do things that produce results on the days when you do feel like it and on the days when you don’t feel like it. The financial markets have been volatile. The economy is fragile. Governments are broken. The world is chaotic. Let yourself be distracted by these external events and you will struggle to be a successful FA. Do the work of acquiring and serving ideal clients regardless of all the external events you can’t control and you will have the career of a champion.

Watch video of Peter in action at www.petervidmar.com.