Investors need not waste time worrying about what they can't control, like market volatility and its many causes, because there is a greater threat to their financial success and it comes from within. The internal battle we face is a war between our primitive minds and our current reality, where some of these primal survival skills are outdated, if not useless. The cognitive biases that kept the species alive, can lead to making less than optimal financial decisions - especially if we Read on...
Give Yourself (and Your Money) Some Love
Of all the emotions I see investors wrestle with, shame tops the list with fear riding shotgun. Both are toxic to your financial well-being because they keep you frozen in a death-spiral of inaction. Change requires taking different action. It is scary because there is the risk of failure; fear of the unknown. But doing nothing is a certain slow death. Which is worse? You don’t have to make radical, scary changes to your finances to see improvement. But you do need to give yourself Read on...
Why You’re Failing Miserably, and How to Stop
For decades I've been entrusted with the confessions of people preoccupied by their inability to feel adept in handling their finances. These individuals come from all walks of life, possess various levels of education, and span a wide range of household income. They are all smart and successful in certain areas of their lives, but when it comes to investing to meet their financial goals, suddenly all competency goes out the window - at least from their perspective. I say it's more of a Read on...
Hardwired to Help
Sometimes you find a cause to support, but when a cause finds you it means something in life has sunk its teeth in and has torn some of your flesh. Such was the case for our family when, in 2014, our fifth-grade son showed me a lump on his neck. What appeared to be an infected lymph node turned out to be Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. And, while it was caught in its early stages and is one of the more curable cancers, the road to recovery was filled with a hot-coal walk no child should Read on...