Investing Beyond Money: Your Human & Creative Assets
Your most valuable asset is not a traditional financial asset, such as a stock, bond, real estate, etc. Your most valuable asset is YOU—that is, who you are and the impact you have on society and culture.
The problem in today’s world is that we do not treat who you are and your impact as assets. We do not consider them as tools to help you accomplish your life goals or as something that can live beyond your life through your heirs or otherwise. Instead, the wealth management and estate planning industries focus solely on financial assets. Wealth managers are tasked with identifying your life goals and developing investment strategies utilizing your financial assets (cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.) to achieve those goals. Estate planners only provide for what happens to your assets (i.e., your estate) when you die.
We understand that you are more than your money and other assets. You are a human life, a human story and legacy in the making capable of serving a unique and important purpose.
At Spotlight, we take a very different approach. We understand that you are more than your money and other assets. You are a human life, a human story and legacy in the making capable of serving a unique and important purpose. In addition to your financial assets, you have “human assets,” consisting of your (i) knowledge and learned skills (“Intellectual Capital”), (ii) passions, natural talents and other attributes that “make you tick” as an individual (“Individual Capital”), (iii) relationships, in terms of family, friends, business relationships, etc. (“Social Capital”) and (iv) core values and/or spiritual beliefs (“Spiritual Capital”). As a creative, you also have “creative assets,” which include your (i) likeness, image and persona, (ii) body of work and/or accomplishments, and (iii) influence/audience. Each of these seven subcategories of assets are critical when it comes to planning how to create opportunity and achieve your life goals. If you want to be your most successful, if you want to achieve your highest potential and live a fulfilling life, then you must invest everything you have towards accomplishing your goals.
Our proprietary legacy planning method integrates the management of your financial assets with the management of your human and creative assets, ensuring that you are taking advantage of all of your resources in planning your life and achieving your goals. As part of that asset management process, you are not only investing with each of your assets, but you are also investing in and growing these assets. With financial assets, this is obvious as the value of your financial asset portfolio increases over time. However, it is equally (and we would argue more) important to enhance your human and creative assets. In order to live a fulfilling life and achieve your maximum potential, you must be constantly increasing and defining your knowledge, passions, relationships and core values/beliefs (i.e., your “Human Capital). The same is true (if not more so) of your creative assets, as you should be constantly creating, engaging with and growing your audience.
The key to happiness and human fulfillment is not increasing the size of your bank account or growing your material wealth. It is continuing to grow who you are as a human and share your creative message/vision with the world.
