“I guarantee, your investments feel OK”
I was playing tennis today with my coach. I wasn’t picking up the racquet head enough to allow topspin to flow. My coach said I was too tense. I stopped to reflect, and I said that I didn’t feel tense. Moments earlier my forehand was relaxed and effortless and I then realised that I was holding too much tension. If my coach had not pointed out the tension in the backhand, I would have not fully appreciated why my success rate had dropped even when I felt OK. As far as I was concerned, I didn’t have a problem because I didn’t feel the problem.
Every investor has problems. It starts from not knowing how much money they have made; not understanding risk enough, not knowing what costs they pay, what they pay their investments managers to do for them….in fact, the list of problems is long. For the most part, however, investors feel they are OK. What they are doing is all good. They ‘feel’ there are no real issues to address.
Your question is how do you recognise a problem if you don’t feel it?
It’s completely normal to feel that way. Just as it was normal for me to feel no tension in my tennis shots.
Without triggers to help us realise it’s not OK, we drift. Without my coach to be my trigger, the problem would not be identified and addressed. How often do most amateur sportspeople get into ‘bad habits’. When problems are not identified early on and addressed, the problem is compounded. The tennis player looks awkward. Their feet don’t move. They are late on the shots. The error rates increase. It then becomes very difficult to change the habits formed.
It’s the same with investing. When you invest it is not for today. It is for your future self. It is for your family in the future. It is for your future lifestyle. As such without solving problems today, they will compound.
If you are open-minded and prepared to be a little challenged but know your outcomes will improve, come and talk to us.