Grit isn't about intense effort in short bursts — it's about consistent effort over time, fueled by a deep sense of purpose or interest. It's effort — applied consistently over years — that turns potential into achievement. This definition has informed my objective is to connect my clients to their "deep sense of purpose" and then define the specific efforts which need to happen consistently over time for them to achieve that purpose. I guide my clients to first get clear about life goals... "What circumstances do you want your money to create? What experiences do you want your money to enable? What do you want your money to make you FEEL?" These questions allow my clients to connect with their "deep sense of purpose or interest". I then ask what they're NOT willing to sacrifice to achieve those things. It could be vacations or sleeping soundly, going to the gym or tithing to their church. I want my clients clear about what "living well" feels like along the way to creating retirement savings which will provide the kind of future my clients want. After we've gotten specific about the numbers... i.e. how much will it take to create the defined future, and how much needs to be saved to get there, I then take my clients through the process of creating a "flow-based" spending plan. Instead of obsessing over rigid spending categories ("$150 for restaurants, $200 for clothes"), we set-up 2 checking accounts (respectively titled, FIXED and FLEX) and 1 savings account (titled, NON-MONTHLY). The FIXED checking account is the account into which the income flows. It covers all of life's fixed monthly expenses (utilities, mortgage, phone, etc). Then, after figuring out all the 'non-monthly' expenses (semi-annual insurance payments, quarterly bug treatments, 2x year sprinkler open/close) and determining how much is needed per/month in the NON-MONTHLY savings account, we transfer that sum into the savings account. Whatever remains is transferred into the FLEX checking account. This FLEX spending account is used to pay for all spending which requires an active decision (groceries, eating out, clothes shopping, coffee, etc). Concert tickets? A weekend getaway? If the money isn't in the FLEX spending account, then it isn't happening. The discipline to stick to this plan requires GRIT, consistent weekly/monthly behavior which is connected to clients' long-term goals and deep sense of purpose.
Unfortunately, most of us aren't raised with much understanding or perspective on investment, so we tend to want to make emotional decisions instead of financial ones, and that gets us into trouble. Instead of getting used to setting retirement investments aside right out of our paycheck, for example, we keep postponing that because it feels like we'd be "losing" money we're currently used to spending. Or we get excited about particular companies in the news and buy into them instead of investing in boring but consistently high-performing funds. And when the market declines we panic and want to sell before it gets too bad, when in reality that just locks in our losses. Financial grit means having the discipline and perspective to hold the line. You set the money aside, you invest it in smart ways, and just keep going like a machine regardless of what the market might be doing at the moment.
Financial grit is the ability to resist what may seem like a better opportunity for your financial future when, in reality, it merely drifts from your financial plan. Financial grit, then, is financial resilience. One thing that I see every day at San Diego Service Group is that it also holds true for us. Whether it is managing the budget for repairs or expanding our operations, it's not the people who have the maximum resources that end up succeeding, it's the people who adjust and continue. The same applies when it comes to managing our finances. The reality of grit when it comes to money is that it's investing, not sprinting. The goal is to finish well, not reach for the finish line every time the market moves.
Comprised of two dimensions Determination and Resilience financial grit is the ability to remain steadfast in passion or pursuit of long-term financial goals, regardless of significant challenges and apparent setbacks. It is a key ingredient, according to Goldman Sachs, when it comes to increasing retirement savings. That's discipline in terms of saving and investing over the long term, regardless of market volatility or life stuff. It's also about educated decisions, and risk-reward evaluations. It takes real financial grit to discipline yourself at investing and it's about focusing on making an investment plan, sticking with it while being flexible around the edges when necessary. It also means keeping up to date on personal finance and seeking expert guidance when necessary. With financial grit, let's embed that into our investment plans and improve the chances of confidently and resolutely meeting our retirement goals.
Financial grit is the willpower and stamina that is required to remain consistent with long-term financial objectives even when the market is volatile or experiences short-term failure. It is just like perseverance needed by homeowners and unity of professionals in large scale industry such as that of Alpine Roofing and Solar to accomplish the huge project due to uncertainty of weather and delay of material. Making financial grit a part of the investment behavior implies being able to contribute to the retirement account consistently, even in time of economic unpredictability, and avoid instant response to short-term market fluctuations. Similar to how regular roof maintenance saves money in the future as it prevents future expensive repair, regular investing and rebalancing helps to save money in the future as savings are not eroded. Defining milestones, automation of donations, and seeing lows in the market as an opportunity and not a threat all contribute to that resilience. The very attitude to durability and planning which is inherent in a well-built roof may be utilized in individual finance: gradual, consistent investment is the surest safeguard of the future.
Financial grit refers to the financial discipline of sticking with your savings or investment plans regardless of what's going on in the world or markets. Financial grit does not mean you aren't afraid of anything. Financial grit means consistency. You can't make decisions on a whim or based on emotions or what the world is doing. As someone who owns a business, financial grit has helped me continue investing despite lean times by adjusting where we spend money rather than where we grow. Financial grit is like a muscle. Every time you decide not to do something short-term, it grows. The payoff isn't more money. It is knowing you're in control of your world rather than trying to react to it.
In a few words, 'financial grit' is the determination to stay committed to your financial goals, whatever financial goals you set for yourself. This commitment should go beyond what the markets and life throw at you. Essentially, it's being disciplined and consistent with your finances and strategies. For example, when markets dip, financial grit is what keeps you from abandoning your plan in a panic. Financial grit could mean saving consistently or making regular investment contributions. It's accepting that financial wealth takes time. It's also learning to stay calm when markets fluctuate and keeping your eyes on the bigger picture. Over time, this mindset doesn't just help you save more - it changes how you think about money altogether, turning short-term sacrifices into long-term wealth.
Financial grit is simply a new name for an old virtue: discipline. It is sticking to your plan when every instinct and every newspaper headline would tell you to sell. I see the opposite quite a bit in my personal injury work. An insurance company will delay a case for years, hoping that the financial stress felt by the client will create a sense of desperation. The clients who get the million dollar settlement are the ones with the financial grit to see the fight through to its conclusion. The ones who will take a $50,000 lowball offer in order to short-circuit the stress do not have the financial guts. You develop this financial grit by making your investment decisions before the panic starts. The best way to give you this capability is through automation. I have my contributions to retirement and investments automatically deducted every single payday. When the market falls 20 percent, I do not have to get the courage to buy. My plan does it for me. The automated constancy of this approach will create true wealth. It is just the opposite of reacting to fear.
Estate Lawyer | Owner & Director at Empower Wills and Estate Lawyers
Answered 6 months ago
To answer your question, I believe that a financial grit is nothing more than the combination of perseverance plus a positive attitude in the pursuit of a challenging goal such as retirement savings over long term despite experiencing downturns in the market, or even personal financial setbacks. You know what? My clients tell me that they get much better results with estates if they have this perseverance and resist the temptation to panic sell in the bear markets. At the same time, I see a good strategy to apply this grit in such a strategy as Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) which is the commitment to invest a certain amount at steady intervals regardless of what the market conditions are. I see professionally this discipline eliminates temptations of 'time the market' and locks you into a consistently long term investment schedule thus representing the needed perseverance. In saying that, however, when people do this, they are, in fact, future-proofing their retirement savings which at the end of the day mean large and safer estates for their beneficiaries.
I ran M&A deals on Wall Street for over a decade, and "financial grit" is just a fancy term for sticking to your plan when markets punch you in the face. It's the difference between the 59-year-old executive in my case studies who carved out 12% for metals and retired eight months early, versus someone who panics and sells at the bottom. Here's what actually works: I had a 70-year-old widower who kept 15% in silver even though his friends called him crazy for "holding rocks." When a hurricane destroyed his rental property, that silver had climbed 35% and he liquidated just 60% of it--$266k to rebuild--without touching his stocks during a down market. That's financial grit with a specific number attached. The tactical piece nobody implements: set a metal allocation percentage and rebalance once per year maximum. I use 5-10% for younger clients, 10-25% for retirees. Write it down, set a calendar reminder, ignore daily price swings. One of my engineers started with $400k in gold in 2013, checked it annually, and ten years later had $684k funding his entire travel budget from RMDs alone. Most people confuse activity with discipline. Financial grit means buying your 5 ounces of gold plus 200 ounces of silver, then doing absolutely nothing for 18 months while your neighbor brags about his tech stock gains. The parachute only matters when you're actually falling--and by then it's too late to pack one.
After 15 years in real estate, I've learned to just stick with the plan. That means setting aside renovation money even when the water heater breaks. I review my properties monthly and move funds around without panicking when the market shifts. It's not a perfect system, but ignoring the hype and staying consistent has definitely paid off for me over time.
After flipping hundreds of properties, I learned a simple lesson. Stick to your plan. That means keeping cash for unexpected renovations while still investing for retirement. When the market gets crazy and tries to talk you into something stupid, don't listen. Just stick with your strategy. It's not a guarantee, but a steady approach almost always beats chasing quick money.
When I was building Magic Hour, the market would swing wildly and it was easy to get discouraged. What kept us going was focusing on our actual goals, not the daily noise. It made the slow growth feel real, not scary. The same goes for saving money. Break your big goal into small pieces. Staying steady matters more than being perfect.
Financial grit is your brain's way of sticking with tough financial goals when every part of you wants to give up, even when setbacks or market dips hit. It isn't just about willpower; it's actually built on self-regulation circuits in the prefrontal cortex and the reward system—including the often-misnamed ventral tegmental area—that help you persist and recover from losses. In my experience coaching execs through the chaos of market swings, those who use "future pacing" mentally picture themselves hitting their retirement target, making abstract goals feel immediate and real. One client, during a downturn, made it a ritual to check her numbers once a week and intentionally talk about the wins, not the losses; this tiny shift made her nucleus accumbens light up in ways that reinforced resilient behaviors instead of fear-driven reactions. If you want to build financial grit, start by setting up small, consistent habits that link saving and investing to things you actually enjoy, like planning vacations or meals rather than the bland old spreadsheet. Turns out, rewarding yourself for perseverance creates new neural pathways—call it neuroplascity magic. The real trick is rewiring your brain so financial discipline feels less like punishment and more like opportunity.
I actually left a well-paying nonprofit finance job at 60 to start FZP Digital, so I lived this concept before Goldman Sachs gave it a catchy name. Financial grit for me meant walking away from guaranteed paychecks and benefits to bet on myself when most people are coasting into retirement. Here's what it actually looked like: I spent decades as an accountant watching numbers, then learned web design on the job, then combined both skills to launch my agency. The grit wasn't in one big decision--it was showing up every day for four years building client relationships when I could've just collected a steady salary. I tracked every expense obsessively (accountant brain never shuts off) and reinvested profits instead of drawing them out, even when it would've been easier to pad my lifestyle. The drumming background taught me something critical about financial grit that spreadsheets never did: you practice the same beat 10,000 times before it becomes muscle memory. I applied that to my business--I didn't chase every shiny marketing trend. I picked WordPress, SEO, and serving CPAs/attorneys/nonprofits, then got obsessively good at that specific combo. Four years later, over 50% of my clients are women-owned businesses who come back because I understand their numbers AND their creative vision. My advice: pick your lane based on skills you already have (even weird combinations like accounting + drums + web design), then commit to it for at least 3-5 years before judging results. Financial grit isn't sexy--it's choosing boring consistency over exciting pivots.
I'm a CPA and managing partner at a commercial real estate firm, so I've watched countless investors make emotional decisions that wreck their long-term returns. Financial grit in real estate investing means having a written investment criteria *before* you start looking at properties--then actually sticking to it when a "great deal" comes along that doesn't fit. I wrote about what I call the "1031 Rambo" mistake where investors overpay for replacement properties by 15-20% just to avoid capital gains taxes, when running the actual numbers shows they'd come out ahead paying the IRS. That's the opposite of financial grit--it's letting emotion (spite toward the IRS) override math. Real discipline means calling your accountant, getting the exact breakeven number, and walking away from deals that exceed it. The parking lot maintenance principle applies to retirement too. Property owners hate spending $3,000 annually on lot upkeep, so they skip it--then face a $250,000+ parking lot replacement later. I see this with retirement savings constantly: people skip the "boring" $500/month contributions because they don't see immediate results, then panic at 55 when they're $300,000 short. Financial grit is doing the unsexy maintenance work consistently when you'd rather spend that money on something visible today.
When your portfolio drops, it's tempting to make changes. Don't. Instead, automate it. Set up recurring investments so you're not making emotional decisions. Then, put a quarterly review on your calendar. But first, make sure you have an emergency fund. That safety net makes it much easier to stick with your plan when things get shaky.
Financial grit is really about discipline over perfection, it's your ability to stay consistent with your financial goals even when the market, economy, or life itself gets messy. It's less about being aggressive and more about being steady when things don't go your way. In practice, that means sticking to your investment plan during downturns, contributing regularly even when budgets tighten, and reviewing your goals instead of reacting emotionally to headlines. Automating contributions, rebalancing on a schedule, and setting clear long-term targets are simple ways to build that resilience into your habits.
Financial grit means having the determination and persistence to stick to your long-term financial goals, even when faced with difficulties, market ups and downs, or unexpected setbacks. For entrepreneurs, it involves staying disciplined and focused, especially when income varies or business needs compete with personal savings. To develop financial grit in investing, start by setting clear and achievable goals and automating your savings so you regularly contribute to retirement accounts. Spreading your investments across different types of assets can help reduce risk and keep things stable during uncertain times. Entrepreneurs should also review their investment portfolios regularly to stay on track with their goals and avoid reacting emotionally to short-term market changes. Building financial grit also means continuously learning about investing, seeking professional advice when needed, and being patient so that your money can grow through the power of compounding over time. By developing these habits, entrepreneurs can strengthen their financial resilience and steadily increase their retirement savings for long-term security and independence.
I've seen "financial grit" play out backwards in my 19 years running OTB Tax. Most people think it means cutting expenses and toughing it out, but the clients who actually build wealth do the opposite--they spend money on tax strategy upfront to multiply what they keep long-term. Just last year I had a chiropractor who was "gritting through" by doing his own books and using cheap accountants. He thought he was being disciplined by saving on fees. When we went back three years, we found $21,000 he'd overpaid in taxes because nobody showed him how to restructure from LLC to S-Corp or track his mileage properly. That's $21,000 that could've been growing in retirement accounts. Real financial grit for retirement means spending $500 on a tax strategy session now to save $5,000+ annually going forward. I had a client move from W-2 to starting a side business--suddenly her cell phone, internet, and portion of her home became deductible. She's redirecting $8,000/year in living expenses she was already spending into tax deductions, which freed up actual cash to max out her Roth IRA. The math I show clients: if you're in the 22% tax bracket and find $10,000 in legitimate deductions you were missing, that's $2,200 back in your pocket annually. Over 20 years at 7% growth, that's an extra $87,000 in your retirement account. Financial grit isn't about willpower--it's about investing in expertise that makes your money work harder than you do.