Five 'Whys'... and One 'Why Not'

"He who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

One of my favorite professors from my MBA studies introduced to me "The 5 Whys," which was most notably used by Toyota corporation.  Essentially, it is a method of asking questions to find the root cause of a given problem.  As the name of the method suggests, a troubleshooter should generally arrive at the root cause of a problem after asking the question, "Why?" five times...

As you may imagine, "The 5 Whys" is quite interesting to me, especially considering its seemingly close relationship to the Socratic Method of inquiry, which is a quite effective means of arriving at "the truth" by asking a series of questions.  The 5 Whys, however, is more of an incremental path from effect to cause rather than a clever means of proving a point through the use of logic...

I thought it would be interesting to try The 5 Whys technique on a common personal finance problem to see if it may be effective in finding the root cause:

The Problem:  "I'm not sure when or if I'll ever be able to retire." 

Why?  "It takes a lot of money to retire."

Why?  "I have to replace my current income with my savings."

Why?  "So I don't have to 'work' anymore."

Why?  "Because that's what retirement is..."

Why?  "I don't know... That's what they say..." 

In the preceding case, the interviewee was led to the root cause of the problem:  Retirement was not defined by the individual  -- it was defined by conventional wisdom, which is commonly referred to as "they."

I must admit that my "five whys" were created to prove a point:  When it comes to personal finance, or almost any personal endeavor, the "root cause" to most problems is a lack of understanding or awareness of the problem in the first place or, more specifically, a lack of self-awareness... 

"You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream of things that never were; and I say "Why Not?" ~ George Bernard Shaw

One of the reasons I am so fond of the use of philosophy is that it perpetually asks  the question "Why not?"  Asking "Why" has the tendency to come across as judgmental and implies that the interviewee has done something wrong.  Asking, "Why Not?" has more of the effect of opening the mind to possibilities, expanding horizons, and revealing truths that have yet to be discovered...

Referring back to our 5 Whys, we may instead ask, "Why not define retirement for yourself?"  The problem here is that our capacity to succeed at anything in life is only limited by our imagination.  If our imagination is limited by the external influences of the world, then logically, our potential is limited by the same degree... 

Consider this equation: 

Imagination - External Influences = Potential

Put simply, if our External Influences exceed our Imagination, then our Potential is negative! Look back at the equation, do the math, and think about that...

What are your thoughts?  Are you limiting yourself by giving outside influences control over your life?  Why?  Or why not allow the limits of your imagination create your boundaries?   

To "why" or "why not" -- that is the question...

Comments

[Penguin]

Greetings!

I would like to Thank You for very inspiring and educational site/blog you've created. Great job!

I wish you all the best,
Penguin

[The Financial Philosopher]

Penguin:

I appreciate your positive and encouraging remarks! I believe I have learned much by reading and writing of the content in this blog and am always inspired to continue when readers let me know their thoughts...

Thanks again...

[Oz]

Another great post. During a dinner discussion the other night, a friend pointed out to me that I get into the habit of asking why. I hadn't realized this, and proceeded to do it again later in the night. Needless to say, I think I've been in philosophy class a bit long. However, that same friend pointed out that he always learned something when I probed him like that.

I've certainly had external influences, as well as past external influences limit me. Perhaps I'm just not asking why enough!

[The Financial Philosopher]

Oz:

I am the same way but try me best not to sound critical. As a financial planner, I use open-ended questions to find "the truth." It typically takes two or three selective questions...

Cheers...

[www.Good-Payday-Loans.com/]

This is a well thought out blog, I'm going to spend more time here. Great thought proking posts!

[financial planner]

I love the "five why" method of getting to the heart of a problem.And btw, thank you for attributing those two quotes, I had thought that they were from others.

[David]

I agree we do need to define our own retirement. It should be based on our values and circumstances, financial or otherwise. As a Baby Boomer this is very relevant to me. We are the first generation to plan our own retirement. It is in our own interest to take control and decide what we want to do with our life and our nest egg and plan accordingly.
Congratulations on a unique and refreshing Blog on financial matter.

[The Financial Philosopher]

David,

I appreciate your personal insight. Most of my clients are baby boomers and I am quite thankful for their (your) contribution to the new and evolving meaning of retirement.

Thanks for the comment...

Cheers...

Kent