In partnership with

Exploring the airplane, walking, and being proactive

Welcome to the Intentional Dollar weekly newsletter — great work taking this small step to move your money forward. I’m Logan, a Certified Financial Planner™, and I’m excited you’re here!

What’s inside?

• One tool to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

_{Check out today’s sponsor:} 

Learn how to become an “Intelligent Investor.”

Warren Buffett says great investors read 8 hours per day. What if you only have 5 minutes a day? Then, read Value Investor Daily.

Every week, it covers:

• Value stock ideas - today’s biggest value opportunities 📈

• Principles of investing - timeless lessons from top value investors 💰

• Investing resources - investor tools and hidden gems 🔎

You’ll save time and energy and become a smarter investor in just minutes daily–free! 👇

Subscribe now with one click.

_{One tool to experiment with:}

The Airplane:

Sam Walton bought an airplane to grow Walmart into a formidable retailer. Why did he do this? To gain perspective. A kind of perspective that was only achievable off the ground, from a different vantage point, one where his competitors weren’t going.

In the early expansion of his brick and mortar empire, Walton would use the plane to scout strategic cities, towns, and corners to construct his stores. He earned and enhanced his competitive advantage through the air.

This altitude advantage allowed him to put a store in ahead of trend because he could literally see the direction the towns were growing.

So a question for you today, one to mold into a tool and keep framed on a firm wall in your mind: what’s your airplane?

What kind of perspective shift can give you a strategic advantage with your money? You’ve probably heard someone say, “that puts things in perspective.” This standard sentence surfaces on somber occasions, death, disability, financial loss — something bad to compare a not-so-bad to.

Perspective is gained through relative comparison and sizing. The Earth looks small from space, your cold latte is less important than your cousin’s missing dog, and the age, make, model, and dents of your car fall second to the fact that you, indeed, have a reliable car compared to those that don’t. Life’s relative.

A lot of us are infantry soldiers with our dollars. Fighting in the day-to-day mucky trenches of bills, budgets, and bargains. Focused on the ground fight and reacting from eye-level intelligence, unfolding minute by minute. Exhausted and battered from another unrelenting, overdue balance; we’re lucky to make it to the next day.

The good news is that we all have mental airplanes we can board. By this, I mean the ability to climb into the chair, take off, and gain a higher level view of your battlefield.

In Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan waxes philosophical with Luke Skywalker: “Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”

And that’s true. The stress we face with money is a product of our own decisions. This reality is depressing if you let it be your story; empowering if you leverage it for the control it grants you.

Don’t worry, this airplane trip won’t take long. There’s no TSA, customs check lists, air traffic towers directing take-off; no de-icing the plane, oxygen and seat belt tutorials, screaming toddlers, or clouds in the sky.

It’s just you and a smooth ride seeing an old thing from a new place. A question is the common thing that gets you into the sky to do your seeing. When you’re up there, look down at your financial life. What do you see?

I’ll leave five ideas to launch from:

1. Someone else comes in and takes over your life, what changes are they making first?

2. You’ve reached the end of life, what do you regret not doing, or doing, with your dollars?

3. What anchors are you walking around with, tied to your feet and slowing you down?

4. What directional path are you clearing the trees to walk down? Are you headed for a cliff?

5. There are no experts, just smooth talking, smart-sounders — so what if they’re wrong?

_{Two quotes on walking:}

Walking reveals the solutions to the sticky problems. Things look a little better after a long walk.

_{Three questions on being proactive:}

1. How might I be proactive with money today, so I am not reactive tomorrow?

2. How much long-term pain can a little bit of proactivity solve?

3. What far-off fire am I letting grow bigger and bigger becuase it’s not currently close to home?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at [email protected]