Aligning Finances and Priorities | Unemployment & Defining Success

Aligning Finances and Priorities

By Evan Hewitt, CFP® | Financial Advisor

Every household makes trade-offs. The question is, are you making them on purpose?

For many couples, everything feels important. Every expense, every decision, every goal. But when everything is a priority, nothing is. That lack of clarity tends to catch up to you, especially when life forces a decision.

When you haven’t named what matters most, it’s easy to feel stuck in patterns of miscommunication and resentment. It leads to reactive decisions instead of intentional ones.

We’ve seen the opposite too, where couples regularly talk about what they value, why it matters, and how their spending reflects that. It’s not about micromanaging every dollar. It’s about knowing the big picture. When you have that, small decisions don’t require debate.

Our encouragement is this: you don’t drift into financial alignment as a family. You talk your way into it—honestly, repeatedly, and with intention.

If it’s been a while, get some time on the calendar. Ask questions like:

What are our priorities in this season of our family?
Looking at our spending, do our decisions align with those priorities?
What might we need to add or improve to close the gaps between the two?
What might we need to prune from our lives to make space for what matters most?

Unemployment Claims:

The blue line in the chart above represents continuing unemployment claims, which reflect individuals who remain unemployed and have not been rehired one week after filing. The green line shows initial unemployment claims, indicating those filing for unemployment benefits for the first time.

As of the most recent data, there are 1.956 million continuing claims—an increase from 1.902 million the previous week. This marks the highest level since November 2021.

While data like this can be interpreted in various ways, one clear takeaway is that reentering the workforce after a job loss appears to be more challenging now than at any point in the past four years.

College Grads & Jobs: Speaking of unemployment, the 2025 graduating college classes are experiencing historically weak hiring conditions. In fact, graduate unemployment now exceeds national averages, a rate reversal not seen since the early 1980s.

While many factors are considered to be complicating the issue, one primary contributing factor (generally) seems to be a general slowdown in hiring. The Labor Department reported earlier this month that there were about 1.5 million fewer hires in the first four months of this year than in the first four months of last year.

Defining Success: In his book, The Soul of Wealth, Daniel Crosby has an entire chapter on the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. Here’s an excerpt:

The phrase is a reminder that it’s in our flawed nature to compare ourselves to others, particularly people we see and interact with every day. Money insecurity leads us to compete and not appreciate what we have. Also true, though, is that the research shows one thing for certain: The Joneses aren’t very happy.

An examination of 259 different independent samples found that materialism was “associated with significantly lower well-being” and was a poor way of meeting psychological needs. The researchers’ findings suggest that this association holds across different demographics, participants, and cultural factors. Another meta-analysis of 92 studies found that those pursuing goals of growth, community, giving, and health experienced significantly higher levels of well-being than those pursuing the Jones-y goals of wealth, fame, or beauty.

Or said another way by famous poet Henry David Thoreau: “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” How do you define success or true happiness?

*The views expressed represent the opinions of Compass Ion Advisors, LLC, as of the date noted and are subject to change. These views are not intended as a forecast, a guarantee of future results, an investment recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. The information provided is of a general nature and should not be construed as investment advice or to provide any investment, tax, financial, or legal advice or service to any person. The information contained has been compiled from sources deemed reliable, yet accuracy is not guaranteed.

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