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Fulfilling Your American Dream Depends on the Quality of the Questions You’re Asking

Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, August 2022

Which stocks should I buy? Should I be in the market or out of the market? Which fund manager has the best track record? Perhaps unknowingly, what investors are really trying to get answers to is, what’s going to happen next, in the future? 

However, it might be helpful to ask, how many people in the world can reliably, consistently predict the future, and if they could, why would they share that skill with you? Imagine if you knew in advance what the stock market would do and how affluent and powerful you would become. It’s fun to dream, but not practical. 

These questions turn investors into gamblers and speculators, not prudent investors because success depends on the future occurring the way you believe it will. Now ask yourself, how comforting is it to be rolling the dice with money intended for important things like retirement or your children’s education? 

So, what would be the correct, more effective and empowering questions for an investor to ask? Here are a few: 

1. How do markets actually work? How does the market generate returns and set prices? 

2. What are the warning signs that I am or am allowing someone to gamble and speculate with my money rather than prudently invest it? 

3. Do I have a way to mathematically measure how much risk/volatility is in my portfolio? 

4. Do I have a clear-cut method for measuring the success or failure of my portfolio? 

Engaging in a process to discover the answers to these questions will give you a breakthrough in clarity, freedom and power around money and fulfilling your American Dream.

“That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” 

~James Truslow Adams