The Power of Progress: A Simple Exercise To Maintain Financial Momentum In Uncertain Times
Especially in times of market uncertainty or volatility, our attention tends to be sucked into the bottomless vortex of pointless prognostication and aimless activity. Yet, if you have a good plan in place, educated apathy is generally the most profitable move. As the sage Warren Buffett reminds us, “The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient.”
But investing is just one part of wealth management—and it’s likely the element over which we have the least control. Therefore, regardless of the markets’ machinations, we can absolutely continue to make progress in our financial plan beyond our portfolio. Furthermore, this progress can feel especially empowering—and act as a healthy distraction—as everyone else is fixated on the ticker tape.
This week, I’ll suggest a very simple exercise that you can use to ensure you’re maintaining financial momentum, regardless of what the market is doing. And speaking of the market, please don’t fret—Tony’s here to ensure we’re up to speed on another crazy week!
Tim
Tim Maurer, CFP®, RLP®
Chief Advisory Officer
In this FLiP weekly you'll find:
Financial LIFE Planning:
A Simple Exercise To Maintain Financial Momentum
Quote O' The Week:
Winston Churchill
Weekly Market Update:
What Can Go Right?
Financial LIFE Planning
The Power Of Progress: A Simple Exercise
In a recent video short from productivity guru Daniel Pink, he encourages us to act in a way supported by the science suggesting that one of the best ways to maintain forward momentum is to acknowledge our progress periodically. Almost certainly riffing on Teresa Amabile’s work on the progress principle, Pink encourages us to maintain momentum in our daily work by writing down three bullet points at the end of every day that acknowledge our progress.
Amabile’s research and her co-author, Steven Kramer, suggest that neither money nor recognition are the most powerful motivators in the workplace—but instead, the sense of making progress in meaningful work. “Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday,” Amabile says, “the single most important is making progress in meaningful work.”
So, how could we apply this principle effectively in our financial planning? The temptation is to limit our purview to the numerical, and while this may be the most convenient, thanks to the countability factor, it’s often not the most accurate. Here’s why: The numbers don’t tell the whole story.
Most obviously, your investment portfolio changes value daily, regardless of your personal efforts. And oftentimes, we purposefully choose to reduce our net worth for great reasons. For example, once you’re in retirement, the chances are very good that your net worth will be purposefully and periodically reduced through the regeneration of your income and, quite possibly, a thoughtful gifting plan.
Similarly, when your kids are in college and you’re using your 529 plans to pay for their learning experience, your net worth is reduced—even as your children’s lives are enriched. In this case, you’ve gained personally even though you, by definition, have less financially.
What, therefore, CAN we count as progress toward our financial goals, if not our net worth? Think less about the number of dollars accumulated and more about elements of wealth that have been activated.
“True financial success isn’t just about accumulating wealth—it’s about activating it,” says Doug Liptak, the founder of the wealth management firm (for which I work), SignatureFD. “When we regularly reflect on our financial progress, we don’t just see numbers grow; we see the impact our money has on our lives, our families, and the world around us. That’s what gives financial planning real purpose.”
Doug proposes a four-fold mental model to help us reframe wealth management through a more purpose-oriented lens. Notably absent is any IRS code or financial jargon. He argues there are only four ways that we can deploy our wealth. You can:
GROW your investments and income potential.
PROTECT your family, lifestyle, and property.
GIVE to the people and causes most important to you.
LIVE confidently with financial freedom.
Here’s how we can utilize this mental model and satisfy the progress principle:
Every year, we can set the intention to activate our wealth by activating an element in each of the four above categories. Then, we can track—and acknowledge—our progress quarterly, thereby fueling our financial future. And while there’s not necessarily an optimal order in which each can be activated, you may consider the following paradigm to help you get started:
Quarterly GPGL Financial Wins Framework
Q1 – Grow: Start the year with a focus on growth—investments, savings, career, and personal development.
Did I increase my 401(k) contributions?
Did I learn a new skill that will boost my income?
Did I make progress toward a major financial goal?
Q2 – Protect: Spring is a great time for a financial security checkup—insurance, estate planning, and risk management.
Did I review or update my insurance policies?
Did I check my beneficiary designations?
Did I take steps to protect my identity or cybersecurity?
Q3 – Give: As summer winds down, shift the focus to generosity and impact—both financially and beyond.
Did I give to a cause that matters to me?
Did I help someone financially (or with my time or expertise)?
Did I plan for tax-efficient giving (e.g., donor-advised fund contributions)?
Q4 – Live: End the year reflecting on how money has enhanced life and well-being. This is about aligning finances with values.
Did I spend in ways that brought me joy and fulfillment?
Did I experience meaningful moments with my family or community?
Am I happy with my financial choices this year?
You’ll likely note that some of the examples offered aren’t even explicitly financial. That, too, is quite purposeful because our wealth is about far more than money—it includes our time, influence, energy (health and wellness), and relationships, four resources that many would argue are scarcer and more valuable than our financial assets.
However, if you are looking for additional elements that may well be effectively activated within your financial planning, here is a more comprehensive recategorization of implementation items that could help move you forward in your finances.
This quarterly approach helps ensure that you’re moving forward throughout the year, personally and financially, while also enlisting your recognition of recent progress to fuel your longer-term goals.
Financial success isn’t just about what’s in your accounts—it’s about what your wealth enables you to do. By tracking your progress through the Grow, Protect, Give, Live framework, you ensure that your money is actively working for you, your family, and your future. The power of progress is that it builds on itself—momentum fuels motivation.
Therefore, as you move through this year, don’t just check your net worth. Check in on the impact you’re making. Because true wealth isn’t just accumulated—it’s activated.
Quote O' The Week
From one of the great communicators of all time:
Winston Churchill
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
Weekly Market Update
Markets finished the week on an uptick, but it wasn’t enough to dig out of the hole for domestic stocks. Meanwhile, international stocks remain a helpful diversifier:
- 2.27% .SPX (500 U.S. large companies)
- 1.87% IWD (U.S. large value companies)
- 1.49% IWM (U.S. small companies)
- 1.77% IWN (U.S. small value companies)
- 0.50% EFV (International value companies)
+ 1.94% SCZ (International small companies)
+ 0.07% VGIT (U.S. intermediate-term Treasury bonds
What Can Go Right?
Contributed by Tony Welch, CFA®, CFP®, CMT, Chief Investment Officer, SignatureFD
Whenever there is a market correction, most of the questions we get revolve around all the things that are either going wrong or may potentially go wrong. Corrections do not occur because of no good reason. There is typically news flow that is driving investors toward skittishness. But a balanced perspective must also consider the alternative scenario; lately, that may be what could go right? That was precisely what our research partners at BCA Research asked on Friday. They came up with five positives that could power the stock market higher. In no order:
Stock market and public approval could force a relatively quick resolution on trade.
Bond yields remain stable while various tax cuts help to offset tariff policy.
Fiscal stimulus and reforms boost growth in Europe.
Increased oil production lowers energy prices.
Productivity gains from AI turn out to be larger than expected.
Those are five potential bullish scenarios, but almost certainly, there are more than that. Of course, we want to monitor the risks, and we will detail some of those in the next section. But a balanced analysis should also consider what can go right.
The Message from Our Indicators
Last week, domestic large cap stocks proxied by the S&P 500 Index entered correction territory, drawing down -10%. This is something of a normal development. The average year includes one -10% drop. The average drop in the first year of the presidential cycle has been -12.3%. A surge in economic policy uncertainty has been driving investor pessimism.
But Strategas reminds us that high levels of policy uncertainty tend to be followed by a strong rebound in stock prices over the subsequent 12 months. Additionally, investor sentiment has reached levels consistent with prior major market lows. From a technical perspective, indicators have certainly weakened, and we want to be cognizant of that, but the raw ingredients are now present to support a market rally.
The actual inflation data from last week was somewhat encouraging in that both the headline consumer price index and the core consumer price index (excluding food and energy); both surprised estimates to the downside. They were each up 0.2% in February, a manageable rate of inflation. Similarly, producer prices were unchanged despite estimates for a 0.3% gain.
The inflation data largely encompasses pre-tariff impact, so it remains to be seen how much will pass through to consumers rather than being absorbed by businesses. The latter is not necessarily a good condition for stocks as it could negatively impact profit margins. For now, consumers seem to believe that prices will be passed through as evidenced by the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey, which showed inflation expectations picking up to 4.9% for the year ahead. Encouragingly, jobless claims remain subdued, implying that the employment backdrop remains solid despite the policy uncertainty.
Circling back to corporate profit margins, any negative impact could result in difficulty obtaining analyst estimates for earnings growth in 2025. Currently, forward operating earnings expectations are for 13% growth by year end. With valuations stretched, profit growth is likely to drive market returns.
We do not expect stock prices to appreciate more than earnings growth this year. And it is not uncommon for some multiple contraction as a bull market ages, implying that stock prices could even underperform earnings this year. The balance of risk and reward has narrowed this year. That doesn’t mean that stock weakness will persist throughout the year; just that the bar is high for corporate fundamentals to match lofty expectations.
We know that these are uncertain times and that the uncertainty can add stress to your life—and we’re honored to be here to walk through it with you!
Tim
Eisenhower said, "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything."
And planning includes acknowledging and appreciating progress along the way.
Great article and perspective, Tim