The Investor’s Process: First Honesty, then Fearlessness

Billy Joel sang, “Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard and mostly what I need from you.” Mark Twain once said, “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so. Someone said, “What if you believe something to be true, but it’s not, when would you want to know about it.” Shakespeare wrote, “To thine own self be true.” Being honesty with yourself is the hardest human achievement to accomplish.

If you could take several risk tolerance tests, you’d be able to synthesize a risk profile. If you compared the results of those tests with your retirement plan portfolio, you’d more than likely discover that your holdings are more aggressive than your test results. The next experience most investors have is a personal gut check. Have you been living a lie? An honest assessment can be more than just being truthful to yourself, because once you’re at peace with your true view of reality, you can move in a degree of fearlessness. Why? Because you won’t settler for less than the whole truth. A half-truth isn’t truth. A statement with omissions can never be the truth even if it has some facts. Once you settle for the whole truth about your money, you act in newfound courage about what financial products you purchase and retirement plans you’ll follow.

One big axiom of money honesty is admitting what you don’t know and not being afraid to hire someone who does know.

Major contributions to this press release are directly from David’s newest book entitled, “Return on Principle: 7 Core Values to Help Protect Your Money in Good Times and Bad.” David has also authored the critically acclaimed book, “Stop The Financial Insanity, How to Keep Wall Street's Cancer from Spreading to Your Portfolio." David is not only a best selling author, but also a popular platform speaker and TV talk show host of the Income Generation. David’s credentials include CFP, CFA, MSFS, CLU & ChFC.