We should transform the mindset of our clients so they realize there is enough for everyone , everywhere .

OW MUCH MONEY DO YOU NEED ? HOW MUCH MONEY do your clients need to retire ? Can you ever have “ enough ” money ?

“ Enough ” is a fascinating word because its definition is unique to each of us , and it is a moving target . Once we reach what we thought would be “ enough ,” we often realize that 15 % more would probably be better .

It ’ s also hard to admit when we have enough because it leaves us with a nagging feeling that perhaps we ’ re quitters . Perhaps we ’ re just lazy and we “ settle ” when we hit that “ amount ” where we say “ enough .”

Capitalism doesn ’ t help with our quest to find that mythical amount . Capitalism tells us that more is better , and we should pursue the “ er ” in life . It compels us to want to be richer , prettier , stronger , thinner and younger , and buy the stuff that ’ s bigger , fancier , costlier and flashier .

And of course , we have the Joneses . We can never have enough because , well , look at the Joneses .

But what if we shift our paradigm from “ there is never enough ” and “ more is better ” to one where we live in sufficiency ?

Buckminster Fuller

Sitting in an auditorium with 2,000 people in 1976 , Lynne Twist was mesmerized by the “ little bald man with thick glasses in his 80s ” at the front of the stage .

By that time , Buckminster Fuller was a highly regarded — and controversial — designer , author and inventor .

Twist , who later became an author and president of the Soul of Money Institute , and who works toward alleviating poverty and hunger , shared with me that Fuller spoke about how humanity had crossed a threshold where we were now doing so much more with so much less . And this meant that there is enough for everyone , everywhere to have a healthy and productive life .

Fuller explained that humanity was moving from a mindset of scarcity , that there ’ s not enough to go around and someone ’ s always going to be left out , to the other side of this threshold where there ’ s enough for everyone , everywhere to have a healthy and productive life .

And in this new world , the paradigm is not scarcity , it ’ s sufficiency .

It ’ s a world where you and I can both make it at no one ’ s expense . So we go from a “ you or me ” paradigm to a “ you and me paradigm .”

That day in 1976 , Fuller went on to say that he was not talking about an amount of anything . When he talked about sufficiency and what was “ enough ,” he was talking about a way of being . And then he capped it off by saying we will not realize this for 50 years . Why 50 years ? It would take that long because humanity ’ s institutions were rooted in the “ you or me ” scarcity paradigm and we ’ d need 50 years for them to become so dysfunctional that they would no longer be repairable . And from the demise of this old paradigm would spring a new one (“ You and me ”) where there is enough for everyone everywhere to have a healthy and productive life .

Fifty years afterward would put us in 2026 . And while Fuller liked to talk in long sweeps of time , he was prescient , as recent years have clearly shown a cracking of institutions and massive dysfunction in various realms of life .

Could we be on the cusp of realizing his vision for humanity ? continued on page 62

64 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | MARCH 2023 WWW . FA-MAG . COM