The Healthy Management of Reality - Stanford University

Financial planning can be seen as a type of reality management practice.The reality one wants to mold is building up enough funds to be able to achieve arelatively comfortable retirement. To do this by saving only moderate amounts ofmoney, it is useful to begin relatively early. Doing so allows the money saved orinvested to earn returns that will gradually add up to a comfortable nest egg. Atsome point, the interest or dividends earned by the amount saved can actuallymatch or exceed the amount one is saving regularly. Each year that one delays thestart of saving for retirement, one faces having to save larger and larger amounts ofmoney to achieve the same retirement goal. The alternatives are having to keepworking much longer that one desires (or is able), or facing an economically tightretirement.Learning to manage one’s reality can have a similar progression. As oneinvests time and energy creating a healthy moment, hour, or day, benefits startaccruing. One increases the probability that one’s emotional and physical healthwill remain good, that one’s relationship with others remain cordial, and that one’sliving and work situations will be shaped in a manner that leads to stability andsatisfaction. Having a reputation for being honest, dependable, caring, andenjoyable to be with gives one many options. The more options one has, the morefreedom one has. One has increased the chances of creating a personal reality thatsupports health and happiness.HMOR.July2005.Muñoz.doc 71