Your Financial Escape

What if there were no CNBC or Bloomberg Television or MarketWatch.com? What if your investments and their prices were only reported to you once a year?  Once every 5 years?  Once every 10 years? What if all the financial publications' covers were splashed with "BUY AND HOLD" or "ASSET ALLOCATION IS THE KEY TO INVESTMENT SUCCESS" or "BORING IS BEAUTIFUL WHEN INVESTING"? What if all participants involved in the delivery of financial advice were held to a fiduciary standard and were required to put their clients' needs before their own? What a wonderful world that would be :) However, we don't live in such a world.  Instead, we have to contend with second-by-second updates about our investments which naturally cause us to question if they're the right investments at this very moment.  This breeds speculation and does not foster a true investment mindset. Between paper and electronic statements and online account access, we can watch our investments gyrate with the whims of the market.  But what if you invested in something today and couldn't get a price update for 5 years?  Would that change your investment philosophy and strategy? Of course, if all the financial magazines and newsletters and other publications stopped printing their "5 Funds To Buy Now" and "We've Found The Next Microsoft" headlines, they'd sell a lot less magazines.  But you must remember, these organizations are in the business of selling magazines and they're not in any way responsible for your financial well being.  So they print what grabs your attention because that's what sells magazines and newspapers.  They profit from your fear and greed. What about stockbrokers, financial advisors and financial planners, most of whom are held only to a "suitability" standard when delivering financial advice or selling financial products?  This creates a large and very gray area where the client's best interests are not always paramount, and this can cause life-altering problems for some unsuspecting consumers. But in my fictitious world where all financial journalism were on the up and up and all financial advisors were legally responsible for looking after their clients' well being, things still would not be perfect. There will always be speculators -- whether in Las Vegas or on Wall Street.  There will always be people willing to tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear, and charge you money for the privilege. There will always be people with the best of intentions that simply cannot (or will not) be good stewards of their financial resources.  And in the financial industry, it's "buyer beware" just like everywhere else. But before you dismiss the opening paragraphs as wishful thinking, there could be some big benefits to a less speculative, less "sales driven" financial services industry. For example, costs would come down.  If there's less of a marketing and selling motive driving the Wall Street machine, then costs associated with the delivery of financial education and advice and investments would drop precipitously.  This might impact the long-term viability of some of Wall Street's oldest and largest institutions, but many of these firms are hoping to keep the old model of financial services alive at the risk of ignoring today's "brave new world" of better advice and better, lower-cost delivery of that advice. And perhaps one of the biggest benefits of this investment utopia would be that consumers could get some of the time, and thus their life, back.  If you don't feel compelled to sit and watch CNBC like a zombie or pour over the Wall Street Journal every day, imagine what you could do with that recaptured time.  How about getting outside to do something fun with family or friends?  I'm sure you can come up with something. So, are we destined to live in this toxic investment environment forever? I'm happy to tell you that no, you can escape it all today.  And it won't cost you a penny.  In fact, it could save you money and add years to your life. What's the secret?

Just ignore it.  Yes, read that again . . . I said "Just Ignore It."

Not only am I giving you permission to never turn on CNBC again, but I'm encouraging you to do so.  You don't have to play by anyone's rules but your own.  And you'll be amazed at how much of a relief this can be. Get outside, pursue your passions, do something fun with your kids, go to a movie -- you get the idea. No one can predict the future.  And whether you're watching the ticker on CNBC or looking at last month's account statement, you're spending time looking at things that have already happened.  That's right, it's already in the past and there's nothing you can do about it.  So don't get so worked up about it and certainly don't spend so much time obsessing over what's already happened -- whether 5 minutes ago or 5 days ago or 5 years ago. With a well designed plan that is based solely on the things that are most important to you and your family, much of the rest of this 24/7 always-on information is nothing more than noise.  Certainly you'll have to make some course corrections along the way to reflect changes in your own life, but this is something that should take minutes a YEAR -- not minutes a DAY. So just relax, let it go, and have a great weekend.