By Daniel Goodwin
G.K. Chesterson said, “It’s not that they can’t see the solution; they can’t see the problem.” The problem that haunts many families today is reaching their financial and retirement goals. Many have no idea whatsoever about their “retirement readiness”. We live in a world of confusing and contradictory information. Investment information is primarily provided and perpetrated by a very self-serving and self-interested financial services industry. I grew up in the country and we called this the “fox guarding the hen house”. Just watch an episode of any financial show and watch who the advertisers are. You’ll see what I mean.
If you want to break free, find ownership and take control of your financial future it’s tough to do without a process that provides true peace of mind, and that is going to involve just a little bit of work and digging on your part. Finding the answers to the right questions is your first step and I am going to list them for you right here in this article.
Here are our top 12 questions that you need to answer ‘YES’ to in your journey toward peace of mind
Have you identified your personal risk tolerance, and do you know how it’s measured?
Do you know your average 1, 3 and 5-year returns?
Have you done better or worse than your benchmark?
Do you know if you are working with a Fiduciary or not?
Do you know what the appropriate benchmark is for your portfolio?
Do you know how to measure diversification in your portfolio?
Do you consistently and predictably achieve market rates of return?
Have you measured the total amount of commissions and costs in your portfolio?
Do you have an Investment Policy Statement?
Have you devised a clear-cut method for measuring the success or failure of your portfolio?
Do you know how much your investments could go down in a single month or year?
Are you being adequately compensated for the risk you are taking with your investment capital?
Bono said “It’s not that we did not have the answers. It was the questions we had wrong”.
Peace of mind with our money is all about knowing the answers to the right questions and that journey begins with knowing what questions to ask. Now go get answers…. Don’t be lazy and give blind faith to anyone. The quality of your retirement and your capacity to live an abundant life is at stake.