Artist's note: This is Cass's interpretation of the scrappiest part of the ranch. The beautiful ranch house was not painted! Chickens added for character.

Hello Megan,

Do you want to be 42% more successful in achieving your goals? Write them down! It is that simple. What takes place in our brains when we write down our goals is called encoding. This process affects the choices we make and how we act in extremely profound ways, even if we are not conscious of it.

To illustrate this, here is the story of our clients, Melissa and Matt. Ten years ago, they were sitting in a bar trying to decide where to live in Austin: North or South? Matt asked Melissa, "Where do you want to be in ten years?" She said, "I want to be in the Texas hill country." He suggested she write it down on the bar napkin or they would forget the details. When they got home, they put the list on the fridge where they could see it.

As they were looking for a place in Austin, they kept thinking of Hye, Texas, where they had stopped at a winery months before. Melissa searched and up popped some raw land, 7.5 acres next door to a winery. They looked at it and then called Megan Poore, their financial advisor. Can we do this? Megan, or "Money Megan" as they call her, looked at their assets and cash flow and said it was possible. They purchased the land, bought an RV to park on it and spent weekends making improvements.

Matt reminds us that ten years is a long time! Markets went up and down, they changed jobs and talked to Megan every six months "to keep the ship on course." "We made our luck," says Melissa. The lesson that Melissa and Matt say they learned is that it helped to have a common financial goal as a couple. They recognize they could not have done it separately. It took sacrifices. They did not go on vacations for years because they were paying three mortgages. Matt added, "Pool your resources and meet with your planner. Listen to the people you pay for advice."

Ten years after their napkin-sized plan, Melissa and Matt moved into the home they had built on their land and now live there full-time. Just as they planned!

The secret to accomplishing what matters to you is committing your goals to writing. Here are some benefits of this practice:

1. Writing goals helps clarify what you want.

2. Having that visual cue helps you maintain focus.

3. Written goals enable you to see and celebrate your progress.

We look forward to helping you achieve what is most important to you.

Sincerely,

Cass, Bleckley and Megan

Melissa and Matt on the day ten years ago that they signed the mortgage for the land. Above is the napkin plan that has been on their fridge for ten years . Most of the goals have been met. They are long time clients of Watercolor Financial and were not compensated for this story.

Celebrating a 39 year partnership in marriage, Bleckley pictured here with his wife, Sharon Dobbs. They have two adult daughters and live in Northwest Austin.

Watercolor Wins! Congratulations Bleckley Dobbs for celebrating 20 years as a financial advisor.

In 2004 Bleckley made a career change from Chemical Engineer to financial advisor and entrepreneur. He attended and completed the University of Texas Certified Financial Planning five course certification in 2003 and joined Megan and Cass in a group practice in Austin. We are so happy you changed careers, Bleckley!

Q4 2024: Quarterly Market Guide

Please review this quarter's market guide by clicking here. We encourage all of our clients to review the straight-forward, easy-to understand guide written by Rafael Villagran, CIO of Genesia Investments and part of our investment team at Watercolor Financial.

Access your reports - Visit our web page for links to Fidelity (for access to statements and tax documents) and to the Orion portal (for access to performance reports and billing statements): Watercolor Financial website.

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