Cocktail party talk is one of my favorite story topics because it reminds me how important it is for most nonfinancial types to have a wealth adviser on their team.
At a get-together this past week, a new friend found out I work in the financial world. She and her husband asked me the usual questions: What’s the market going to do? Do you have a hot stock tip? How will this or that news event affect our investments? Standard stuff. I told them the truth, which is that I didn’t have any of these answers for them.
But after a few minutes and a few more sips, the real questions emerged. Paraphrased, here’s the big one: Is it possible to be on the right track, financially, and to be sure of it?
In the absence of real guidance, I realize it’s very difficult for many people to know.
Without getting into specifics at a social event, I asked a few questions, like: Do you know what it is, specifically, that you really want to achieve with your financial resources?
Then: What, if anything, are you doing to measure and monitor your progress toward your self-described future goals?
And: Do you have a repeatable, evidence-based investment process in place that is based on your risk-tolerance thresholds?
Finally: How confident are you in your life-income plan and when you can quit working?
Unfortunately, they didn’t have very good responses to these questions. Fortunately, with some professional direction and based on my brief impression of their financial circumstances, they could probably arrive at that place I call “financial confidence.”
I wrote a short book, The Eight Points of Financial Confidence, that is filled with challenging life and financial questions. When answered after some contemplation and discussion, they can point to actions that will help raise your feeling of confidence, which can help you sleep better at night. It’s available for purchase on my website.
I made sure to get a copy of this book into the hands of the cocktail party couple.