Investing in your family and dreams

My family and I recently returned from a trip to Mexico that was a life changing experience for all of us. We partnered with 3 other Hamilton-based families to form ‘Project Purpose’ and together we built two houses for needy Mexican families. Working in an impoverished community was incredibly rewarding as we helped to lift four generations of one family out of their crumbling, ramshackle residence into a brand spanking new, brightly coloured, two room home with windows, doors, a roof and electricity! Despite our lack of Spanish comprehension the emotion expressed by the new homeowners was sufficient to communicate their heartfelt gratitude. I don’t need any words to make me feel proud of what my family achieved – the memory of tears streaming down those warm, brown faces will always remind me of what we gave them.

You might imagine it’s a costly exercise to achieve this and you’d be right. But Kathy and I prefer to view these projects as an investment in our family, which makes the commitment to our decisions more about long-term family benefits than cost justification.

My point in sharing this personal story is to encourage you to purposely seek opportunities to invest in your family and your dreams.

I meet a lot of people who are hungry for financial advice and support that will make them more financially stable and even wealthy. This is an admirable goal unless it leads down a path that leaves no room for investing in family. If you have no family, consider investing in other people or social causes that bring practical, life changing improvement to other peoples’ problems.

To keep us focused as a family we have a Dream Board in our kitchen that hosts a number of photos and images that represent dreams and goals we have. Some are small and many are large and every member of our family is welcome to add their goals to the Dream Board. What’s been an interesting development over the years is the shift in our efforts from attaining things to sharing experiences. Another emerging theme is our passion to serve others. As a family we are becoming very clear on what motivates us financially. It’s the motivation we have that becomes a driving force to energise and empower us to achieve our lofty ambitions.

Partnering with other families via Project Purpose added a new dimension to the achievement of our goals. Working together as a team in a foreign country with cultural, environmental and physical pressures added to the challenge. But the community aspect of this project added to the enjoyment we were able to experience through shared success and strong friendships forged in the Mexican heat.

This week as we returned home we were excited to remove four photos from the Dream Board as they were successfully completed through this recent trip. It’s time to dream together again as a family and set our sights on new horizons we can explore together.