Been there, done that. You’ve visited the tropics, the mountains, the lake. You’ve sailed on a cruise and made the pilgrimage to Disney, perhaps each twice or more. Most were fun, restful—maybe even restorative or memorable.

But something was lacking. Something was missing. As you dream up your next vacation, it’s hard to find something sufficiently tempting, beyond more of the same. Yes, it’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.

Faced personally with this conundrum, I found insight in an unlikely place: corporate consulting from Bain and Co. and the investment concept of risk and reward.

Getting Out of the Bubble

“Please just be careful!” Most of our friends and family invoked some iteration of that sentiment as we departed for our recent family vacation. To Nicaragua.

It was not intended to be a vacation in the traditional sense. Our primary purpose was not rest and relaxation, however valid those objectives are. Those elements were indeed present, but the foremost aim of our trip was to expand our mental, physical, and spiritual horizons through the pursuit of adventure and acts of service.

Such a trip has felt increasingly necessary over the past few years, as our healthy, well-adjusted boys, now 15 and 13, have been privileged to grow up in one of many amazing towns and neighborhoods across the U.S. not so affectionately termed a bubble.

We inhabit these bubbles with the good intention of achieving a high quality of life—good schools, nice houses in safe neighborhoods, cultural proximity, and all the personal and professional perks that tend to accompany these benefits.

These are places where genuine hardship does occur, but an Instagram-worthy veneer shrouds much of its pain. External suffering appears irregularly enough here that the greatest challenge many kids endure on an average day is the quest to acquire an iPhone charging cord long enough to allow them to rise from a comfortable couch without suspending a game.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the bubble. The bubble isn’t inherently bad, but living in one—and especially growing up in one—can create a sense of entitlement. It can also generate an unhealthy distance from more troubling realities of life that often are hidden inside of the bubble but all too visible in the rest of the U.S., and especially in the Majority World.

We had to get out of the bubble.

Surf and Serve

The two avenues through which I hoped to find a more fulfilling vacation were surfing and service, and this trip, organized by the Charleston-based nonprofit OneWorld Health, delivered on both.

Every morning, a core group of surfers would meet for strong Nicaraguan coffee at 5:15 a.m. before departing our paradisiacal home base, Surf Sanctuary. A couple pros from Christian Surfers would split up the group based on ability, arm us with the appropriate vessel, and nudge us toward a surfing spot that sufficiently stretched but didn’t entirely overwhelm our capabilities. Meanwhile, two local Nicaraguan surfing legends, Jimmy and “Goose,” gave us the in-water guidance—and timely pushes—to ensure that we came away from every session feeling like we could walk on water (if only for a few precious seconds).

Following a quick rinse, our entire team would pull together for a locally inspired breakfast prepared and served with loving hands by the Florida ex-pat owners of the Sanctuary, Tony and Nancy, before reviewing the day’s service plan.

The plan typically included hopping on a souped-up school bus and meeting the OneWorld Health mobile medical unit at a nearby church or school, where we set up a daylong medical clinic staffed by Nicaraguan and American medical professionals. Unskilled but willing aides, like my family and me, helped in a non-medical capacity.

After serving between 110 and 145 Nicaraguans each day, many of whom struggle to gain access to quality medical care, our drives home were marked by satisfied exhaustion and endeavors to process the day’s activities. The passing landscape was so starkly distinct from our vantage point inside of the bubble.

Each night’s communal dinner was preceded by a second surf session, a purge in the pool, or a nap in a perfectly placed hammock. The meal was followed by a round of “shout outs,” intentional affirmations offered by team members who observed something exemplary in one of their teammates, and “life stories,” where fast friendships already accelerated by the trip’s unifying purpose were further cultivated.

Toward the end of the week, our family could agree on two things. First, this really wasn’t a “vacation.” But second, it just felt better. Surprisingly, the explanation for this deeper sense of satisfaction and fulfillment comes from an unlikely source—corporate consulting research.

The Elements of Value 

In a Harvard Business Review article on research into what they call “The Elements of Value,” Bain and Co. offered insights that apply both to consumer-to-business and business-to-business relationships and the degrees to which the value exchanged by these partners can be enhanced.

The insight has been compressed in the form of a Maslow-inspired, four-tiered pyramid infographic that barely requires translation to see its application in building a truly fulfilling personal experience or vacation. Each tier acknowledges the elements of value that address four ascending kinds of needs:

• Functional – At the base are requirements necessary for any positive experience. These are “table stakes,” like quality, variety, sensory appeal, and hassle avoidance.
• Emotional– One level up addresses the emotional elements that motivate any vacation and represent the standards most of us would use to determine if the experience was a positive one. These include measures like fun, therapeutic value, anxiety reduction, and the generation of nostalgia.

But please pay special attention to the top to tiers of the Elements of Value pyramid, because this is where the magic comes in:

• Life changing– Wait, is life-changing too much to ask of a vacation? I think not, and it becomes clear why as we address each of the respective requirements in the pyramid’s penultimate tier:
  • Affiliation and belonging– Like being invited into a group or team.
  • Heirloom– Something beyond nostalgia, an experience one feels inspired to pass down to the next generation.
  • Motivation– “Spurring people to achieve their goals,” like learning how to say, “Please follow me,” in Spanish, perhaps. (“Por favor sígame,” as it turns out.)
  • Self-actualization– “Providing a sense of personal accomplishment or improvement,” like high-fiving your Nicaraguan surf instructor who, despite somewhat of a language barrier, just taught you to surf “down the line” for the first time.
  • Provides hope – When you’re filled with a sense of optimism.
• Social impact– A single, elusive requirement lies at the top of the pyramid—”self-transcendence,” defined simply as “helping other people.”

Should we really be surprised? As Daniel Pink shares in his book, Drive, while we certainly are motivated by self-interest, a sense of others-interested purpose increases our level of personal motivation and satisfaction. When it comes to our professional lives, Adam Grant has proven that giving is a greater predictor of success than taking, and that it leads to more fulfilling work. Why not a more fulfilling vacation?

But What About the Risk?

OK, back to the “Please be careful!” admonitions. Is there more risk inherent in going to a developing country and directly interacting with its people, food, and landscape for vacation than in the typical alternative?

Yes, it is true that it’s riskier to drive from the Managua airport to the southwest coast of Nicaragua than it is to drive from the Jacksonville, Florida, airport to the Amelia Island Ritz. But in Nicaragua we met a skilled driver and a welcoming, bilingual host at the airport who were able to introduce us to each of the cities and towns on our three-hour journey to the resort.

Yes, I suppose it’s possible there is inherent danger in vacationing in any place where poverty is so systemic that it creates a sense of desperation among a populace earning an average $2 per day and who could view presumably wealthy tourists opportunistically. But we were well trained to explore the area in pairs and to avoid trumpeting our relative affluence with conspicuous watches or jewelry. Our overwhelming experience was that the people of Nicaragua are welcoming, hospitable and grateful for visitors, whose presence helps fuel a burgeoning eco-tourism industry that spurs economic growth.

The greatest risk affecting anyone on our trip was that of intestinal discomfort, a seemingly unavoidable travel companion common among trips to every country in the Western Hemisphere other than Canada and the U.S.

Yes, of course I’m making the case that the rewards of a more adventurous trip with elements of service built in are worth the risks.

But more importantly, I believe the less-visible risks of life in the bubble—insularity, entitlement, indulgence—are simply too high not to venture out.

Build Your Own

So, what could this concept look like for you? Most of the people I’ve talked to before and after our trip, despite their hesitation, ultimately have said, “Gosh, that sounds amazing,” or, “I’ve been wanting to do something like that.” If you fall into that category, you have a couple options:

1)  Go all-in. As our host and surf instructor, Tony, said, “My advice on dropping into waves is to drop into every wave.” Build your own Surf and Serve trip and replace the “surf” element with whatever source of adventure appeals to you, and with whatever recreation-to-service ratio you prefer. Build up anticipation in the months ahead by learning about the culture beforehand, talking to various nonprofits in the region who serve needs closest to your heart, and practicing enough of the language to make your way around.

For the service part of your trip, I’d like to offer one caveat that I detail further in this post. Not all forms of help are actually helpful, and we Americans, in particular, historically have been guilty of paternalism and the creation of cycles of dependency in efforts to help that, while well-intended, are really more about the helpers than those in need. Therefore, in addition to educating yourself about these nuanced challenges, I encourage partnering only with nonprofits geared toward the creation of long-lasting, sustainable change.

2)  Take a transitional step. If you’re not ready for the all-in proposition, consider taking a single step or two, adding features from the upper two tiers of the Elements of Value pyramid and considering their impact. Facilitate belonging by vacationing with another family. Create a benchmark trip that becomes a rite of passage for your children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews. Add a goal to your trip that’s enough of a stretch that it feels like an accomplishment. Or, better yet, make that goal to touch base with a local nonprofit you could serve, even for a day or half-day. (Or better yet, stick with Option 1.)

The Power of Moments (Thank you Chip and Dan Heath)

At the close of our week, everyone had a completely free day. No service, just surfing—or horseback riding, ziplining, or lazing. After partaking in some of those activities in the morning, my wife and I took the afternoon to walk down the beach to another resort I’d visited before, Rancho Santana.

We wandered through the postcard setting, hardly able to get 50 feet before pausing to jaw drop or taking a picture. We took a seat in the outdoor restaurant perched over the Pacific Ocean, watching a few surfers squeeze in a last sets of the day. We ordered food and drinks in broken Spanish while our bilingual waiter visibly appreciated the attempt.

“I get it,” my wife said.

While this was my third trip to Nicaragua, it was the first for her and the boys, and naturally, she had been anxious about it. She confessed that it took a few days for her to settle in, but as we recalled the series of meaningful memories we had made throughout the week, in that single moment they accumulated into a deeper sense of fulfillment than we could recall feeling on any trip we’d taken previously.

Fortunately, I didn’t ruin the moment by talking about Maslow or the Elements of Value or any other hierarchical pyramid. But I do think insights gained from these sources can help us build better experiences—vacations, trips, adventures, and even life-long pursuits that transcend rest and relaxation and point us to a greater sense of significance.

This commentary originally appeared July 14 on Forbes.com

 By clicking on any of the links above, you acknowledge that they are solely for your convenience, and do not necessarily imply any affiliations, sponsorships, endorsements or representations whatsoever by us regarding third-party Web sites. We are not responsible for the content, availability or privacy policies of these sites, and shall not be responsible or liable for any information, opinions, advice, products or services available on or through them.

The opinions expressed by featured authors are their own and may not accurately reflect those of the BAM ALLIANCE^®. This article is for general information only and is not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting or tax advice.

© 2019, The BAM ALLIANCE^®

Young professionals beginning to accumulate wealth have grown up alongside some stunning advances in personal technology. Many such emerging investors were among the first generation for which computers in the classroom became a fixture, and they remember dialup internet. They came of age as cellphones evolved to boast more computing power than the equipment on the spaceship that allowed humans to land on the moon.

Clearly, younger investors are well-acclimated to using technology as a convenience. You can have dinner dropped off in 30 minutes or less, all without talking to another person. With the click of a button or a few words spoken into your smart speaker, you can order almost anything and have it at your door within two days. Technological innovations have made consumers’ buying experience even easier and, on the surface, painless.

Frankly, I love this. If my wife and I are working late, I can go online before leaving the office and set up food delivery to our house. This can save the entire night, as our hungry, impatient children don’t have to wait while watching me riffle through the refrigerator in search of something to spend 30 agonizingly long minutes cooking for dinner. We live in a world of now.

Modern conveniences like online ordering and automatic subscription deliveries for household goods can make life more manageable. But while these advances certainly are great time-savers, they can also lead to inadvertent and unnoticed spending creep. You don’t actually see the money leaving your wallet if your credit card information is saved online at checkout or you’re just tapping your phone on the terminal at your favorite restaurant. The transaction is simply a click or swipe, and you’re on your way.

When you do not feel the pain of spending without intentionality and purposefulness, you are not forced to consider whether the benefit you get from the item or experience outweighs its cost. Disney World offers a great example of how mindfulness can become separated from spending at the point of a transaction. Guests have a magic band that acts as an all-in-one way to get into your room, enter the park, or buy food and other things. This obvious convenience can make purchases effortless and feel nearly painless in the moment, but it may also create quite a surprise later when you see the bill at checkout.

The buying experience and environment is often designed to encourage spending without a second thought. The consumer saving side has yet to find behavioral guardrails to offset the ways spending money is made so easy. So, how can you protect yourself against poor financial decisions and better align your spending with your larger financial goals?

Build a budget. By understanding your after-tax income, you can create a plan around your saving and spending. Instead of wondering at the end of each month where your hard-earned money went, you can track each dollar. A budget also gives you a second chance to review your spending habits and priorities to determine if your purchases align with your values and goals. When they do not, creating a plan and writing down why a given purchase does not fit into it will help you improve.

Save your shopping cart before check out. If you still really want an item a few hours or days after putting it into your electronic shopping cart, then it may be worth purchasing. Taking a few days before buying something gives you time to discern its value to you. Impulse buys add up over time and may result in not having money to spend on experiences you actually prioritize, which can lead to serious regret. Reviewing your purchases and thinking through the value proposition helps align your spending with your goals.

Change up your morning or weekend routine. Is there a spending opportunity in your daily routine you wish you could avoid? On my way to work, I drive by three coffee shops. The drive-through line at one of them often spills into the street as busy people look to score their morning caffeine. Taking a different route to the office or adjusting your routine to ensure your coffee is ready to brew at home can help you avoid the daily $5 coffee and breakfast sandwich (because if you’re already there why not, right?).

Create buckets. Have your paycheck split into virtual buckets. Align each bucket you create with a goal. Creating a bucket for each goal allows you to track your progress toward success. If an unbudgeted event arises, you will have to pull money from one bucket or another to meet it, and you will see your goal getting farther away. Is the opportunity now worth delaying your goal? It may well be, or it may not.

To help illustrate this last point, my wife and I have four buckets: an emergency fund, a trip/home improvement fund, retirement, and spending. We use them as follows.

• Emergency fund: We save for emergencies in a high-yield savings account. These accounts often allow multiple transactions a month without a fee and should provide an interest rate close to inflation. If an emergency arises, it provides quick access to the funds inside. Unlike an investment account, the value of the account only changes due to interest payments or because you move money in or out.
• Financial independence/retirement: After necessities and some basic emergency savings, this is generally our most important bucket to fill. This bucket reflects funds earmarked for debt reduction (student loans, credit card, mortgage) and savings (401(k), IRA, taxable investment accounts). Consider building your strategy by comparing the expected return of your investments versus the interest rate on your debt. If your loans have higher rates than your investment portfolio’s expected return, pay down your debt. One important exception to this rule of thumb is if your employer will match your paycheck deferrals into the company retirement plan. In that case, put away at least the amount of the match (it’s free money). Once your strategy for financial independence is in place you can focus on shorter-term goals.
• Trip/home improvement fund: We use this bucket to save for items on our wish list. For us, these goals include a five-year anniversary trip and building out an entertainment space in the basement. We put money into a high-yield savings account each month and track our progress. To calculate the amount you need to save each month, take the estimated cost of your goal and divide it by the number of months until you wish to accomplish it. When you are able to begin saving the money, start an automatic monthly transfer to a different account associated with the bucket. Our goal with this money is to not have it change value drastically. We want to watch it grow slowly and avoid having to delay our goal because of a drop in the stock market.
• Spending: This is our checking account. It receives the money we give ourselves to spend as we see fit, and expenses here include groceries, dining out, clothes, etc. Having our spending account on its own allows us to spend money on things we see as important but still keeps us within a budget.

To be clear, convenience is not bad or something to avoid; we just need to use it correctly to improve our lives. Setting up automatic withdrawals from your paycheck into your retirement savings account or automating payments to reduce debt allows you to set up a plan and then focus on the important things and people in your life. Budgeting tools with convenient features allow us to easily monitor our spending, check progress toward our goals, and determine if our spending aligns with those goals. So embrace intentionality in your spending and leverage today’s technological conveniences in a way that improves your life.

By clicking on any of the links above, you acknowledge that they are solely for your convenience, and do not necessarily imply any affiliations, sponsorships, endorsements or representations whatsoever by us regarding third-party Web sites. We are not responsible for the content, availability or privacy policies of these sites, and shall not be responsible or liable for any information, opinions, advice, products or services available on or through them.

The opinions expressed by featured authors are their own and may not accurately reflect those of the BAM ALLIANCE^®. This article is for general information only and is not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting or tax advice.

© 2019, The BAM ALLIANCE^®

JDH is proud to announce that we have been voted “Best Of 2019” in the North Bay*! Thank you for your vote of confidence and we will continue to excel for you into the future! Here is a quote from the article in North Bay Biz’s Annual Readers’ Poll Award Guide:

“Recognized once again by the NorthBay biz readers as Best Wealth Management Firm, the company guides its clients through the various emotional, practical and market vagaries on to a path to retirement security that is right for them.”

– Bonnie Durrance