Part 1 Holistic Financial Planning Generating Lasting Wealth This book does not begin with land planning, stock density, paddocks, and grazing periods. It begins with financial planning, because money is the ruler. For better or worse it is the ruler even though your holistic context goes far beyond profit. In fact, both the materialist who finds the breath of life in crisp new bills and the poet who would rather live without them might find more peace of mind and freedom of spirit by accepting the notion that money is nothing but a tool. It is certainly not fulfillment and not necessarily even wealth, broadly speaking. Holistic thinking would be infinitely harder without the benefit of a tool like money by which to measure progress, though of course money is certainly not the only measurement. By definition holism deals with “wholes” in which many elements affect each other simultaneously, but the human brain can’t handle everything at once. Since your wallet probably can’t either, Holistic Financial Planning is the process through which you will reduce the grand notion of holism to the practical matter of what you do first and how much of it you do, so the whole will come out right. That said, Holistic Financial Planning does not result in a business plan, but ideally should operate within one that includes multiple-year goals and strategies, performance milestones, and so on. Holistic Financial Planning will result in an annual statement of your income and expenses, which includes a budget and cash flow that you plan forward with an understanding of holistic decision making and key environmental insights. It will be accompanied by a statement of your beginning and ending net worth (similar to, or the same as, a balance sheet). It is not linked to an accounting system, nor monitored and controlled by your accountant. You are in charge of managing and monitoring the plan you create. However, the more you can match the account names used in your accounting system to the income and expense categories in your financial plan, the easier it will be to operate and manage the financial plan.
3