Coaching

Coaching Versus Planning

Does the information from the Financial Services industry leave you confused and bewildered? If someone really could accurately predict market movement on a consistent basis, what would be their motivation for telling you? If what you thought was the best way to invest in the market turned out not to be…when would you want to know?

Most planners do not get paid for being prudent, they get paid for selling products. The media and financial community often push planning as a solution to all of the investor’s problems. Stock brokers and financial planners have been presented to the public as the solution to the investor’s dilemma. We are shown commercials with Abraham Lincoln following a retired man on the golf course helping him improve his game, brokers showing up for the birth of a child, or buying presents for a clients son. The underlying inference by the traditional financial planning community, and the understanding of people who use planners, is that they are there to help bring peace of mind.

What’s the problem with that, aren’t planners part of the solution? If you’re an investor, chances are you have been involved in relationships with brokers and planners hoping to solve problems around investing. Try as they may to portray their services as unbiased safe havens, many investors know in their gut that the reality is quite different. Obviously not all planners, brokers and financial institutions fall into this category. There are some very well meaning people out there that do a great job helping their clients. The industry at large, however, is skewed against the investor, and when the temptation is great enough, even a good and honest person can end up being self interested.

What a coach does is help you wade through all the complex issues involved in the investing process through regular coaching sessions, both one on one and as a group, we want to focus on creating peace of mind through education. Ultimately, investing is a people problem not necessarily a portfolio problem. The solution is a coach that will educate and enlighten creating clarity and confidence. You do not need to know everything if you have a coach teaching you the few right things!

How Wall Street Hurts Investors

Wall Street and the traditional financial planning process cause much of the distress that people feel in their financial lives. It seems logical to hire a planner to escape these financial difficulties, so why does this distress continue to happen? The root of the problem lies in the way this planning is carried out.

First, planners are often used as a marketing tool to sell financial products. They generate commissions on the recommendations they make.  An individual working with a planner rarely knows whether these recommendations are in their own best interest, or the best interest of the planner. In addition, they have little way of knowing whether the same products could have been obtained elsewhere at a lower cost.

Most planners actually work for a brokerage firm or a broker/dealer; they don’t really work for the client. Although they often promote themselves as independent, they are employees of a firm. The brokerage firm actually controls what products can be offered and recommended.

Second, the traditional planning process does little to educate investors and help them deal with the instincts and emotions that are at the root of poor investment returns.  Who teaches the rules?? Ultimately, investing is a people problem, not necessarily a portfolio problem. The solution: a coach that will educate and enlighten, creating clarity and confidence. Coaching will help you wade through all the complex issues involved in the investing process. Regular coaching sessions, one on one and as a group, can create peace of mind. Education leads to clarity, clarity to confidence, and only with confidence can one have peace of mind. There is not a lack of information in our society today. The problem is a lack of clarity.

How can you tell if you are being properly coached? Simply take the “10 Must Answer Questions” Quiz on this website. I believe that having the answers to these twenty questions is the key to having true peace of mind in an uncertain world.

Request a consultation or our free market investor series and begin a journey toward peace of mind.

What is a Coach?

How is Financial Coaching different from traditional financial advice? An investment coach is a financial professional who goes beyond typical financial planning and advice. A coach will help you identify your investment philosophy, understand your investment strategy, and provide discipline throughout your investment experience.

A coach will not only help identify the right strategy for you, but will help you monitor your decisions and behaviors regarding your investments, keeping you on track to achieve the results you want. So, how do you determine whether or not you are working with a coach? A coach helps you answer ‘Yes’ to the 20 Must Answer Questions for Investing Peace of Mind. If what you thought the best way to handle your money turns out not to be, when would you want to know???

Take the 10 Essential Questions Quiz and find out if someone is gambling with your future. Request our free market investor series and start your journey toward peace of mind.

What is Coaching?

Coaching is not encouraging people to speculate and gamble with their money based on a research department or a prediction about what will happen in the future. The financial industry is littered with self-confessed gurus, stock pickers, and research departments offering buy and sell recommendations every day implying they have superior insight to the market’s direction. However, when you look at the data, it is not supported academically. People spend a lot of money chasing opinions, suggestions, and speculative recommendations. If someone had real insight into the future of the market, why would they tell you?

Coaching will identify potential money demons in your life that may be interfering with your peace of mind. Our coaching is designed to get you focused on the academic truths and research of the last 50 years. This research comes from acclaimed academic institutions and universities, including the work of many professors and Nobel Laureates. The science is there, but it is not often promoted; fear and greed create a lot more transactional profit for the industry. The reality is this: investing is not as complex as the industry wants you to believe. It is important that you get some coaching so you can understand what the science dictates. Take the 10 Must Answer Questions Quiz and find out if someone is gambling with your future.

Request our free market investor series and start your journey toward peace of mind.