Introduction - Invested Poorly: Sad Tales of FInancial Fails

Transcript

Investing in the stock market is like a great action movie. One filled with adventure, drama, suspense, love, loss and of course it must have a climactic ending where the hero prevails.  Well, I think most of that is true with one exception, the ending; because when you think about all the options we have to choose from when it comes to investing, more often than not, we choose… poorly.

Welcome to the introductory episode of Invested Poorly: Sad Tales of FInancial Fails!

I’m your host, Jeff Harrell, a former portfolio manager and financial advisor. I created this podcast for everyday investors because after leaving the financial services industry in my mid-40s to pursue a full-time travel lifestyle, I quickly realized I missed having conversations with individuals seeking advice on how to reach financial independence, or FI - capital F, capital I. Because when you see that look on someone’s face, or hear the excitement in someone’s voice, when they realize they’ve finally reached FI, you get to participate in a feeling of freedom that all of us are searching for.

Unfortunately, I think a huge reason attaining FI remains so elusive for many of us, is because no matter where you are in your financial journey, the most common thing all of us are chasing after is MORE. It really doesn’t matter how much we’ve got; we all just want more. And here’s why I’m creating this content. My hope is that by listening to this podcast you’ll realize your quest for MORE is healthy, but the MORE of what you are after, is not money. It’s TIME.

I’m convinced that all of us could use a little help when it comes to investing. But finding a credible resource, with unbiased, straightforward recommendations can be difficult and overwhelming—quite frankly wasting our precious resource of time.

As I mentioned, this podcast is for the everyday investor. So, with that in mind, I’m going to make some assumptions about those of you listening and intrigued enough to hear my take on investing and financial independence.

First, I’m betting you have at least a basic understanding of the stock market and that you are financially responsible, with a decent savings rate and a desire to learn more about investing. If I’m right about that, then I’m also betting you either have already acquired, or you hope to soon reach, a net worth of what I like to call “real money,” meaning you are now responsible for managing your money and choosing which resources you use to help guide you down the path of your FI journey.

If these assumptions describe you at all, I think this podcast may provide you with the most important trait a successful investor can ever hope to possess…humility. Because I can assure you from experience, at some point the stock market humbles us all.

Now, there are a host of reasons why investing can seem so daunting. For some, it’s simply because you don’t have a clue how to get started. For others, you might be intimidated because the so-called “experts” on TV make everything sound so complicated. Some of you may suffer from paralysis by analysis, just flat out overthinking everything, and never getting around to doing anything. Plus, there’s always a few of you who think you know a lot about investing, but if you were to let someone really evaluate your performance, you may be surprised to find out you don’t know as much as you think you do. And of course, I have to mention those who believe the stock market is too risky or always going to crash, so you can never quite pull the trigger and end up just sitting on a pile of cash. 

The two-plus decades I worked in the industry left me with countless stories of investors who wrecked their finances, and their sanity, due 100% to investment decisions rooted in their feelings of fear or greed. Full disclosure, I was guilty of this myself in the early years of my career. I spent the first decade banging my head against the wall, the same way everyone else does trying to figure out how to beat the stock market. I devoured earnings reports, listened in on quarterly conference calls, messed around with charts and technical analysis. All of this in-depth research was… a total waste of time! Finally, one day I went into my boss’s office, and told him, point blank: “We Can’t Win.”

Before I go any further, let me backtrack here real quick. One rule I made for myself when I was a portfolio manager was that I would never invest my own money in securities that I wasn’t also recommending to our clients. So, after more than 10 years of hopelessly trying to beat the market, I was now ready to go all-in on keeping my money, and our client’s money, heavily invested in low-cost index funds.

Now, as far as I’m concerned, any approach that encourages low-cost passive investing, automation, and some type of rules-based methodology to managing your investments, sounds good to me.

So, with everything I’ve seen over the years, what do I think it takes to make someone a better investor?

Well, it certainly isn’t a lack of available resources. There are plenty out there to choose from. One of my personal favorites is a book written by J.L. Collins, titled The Simple Path to Wealth. It’s a very easy read, written by an industry insider like me with a similar investment philosophy. I think this book is practically guaranteed to make a lot of people totally re-think their investing strategy. In fact, one friend who read the book after my recommendation called me before he was even halfway finished, and asked how he could fire his financial advisor. It was like a light bulb went off in his head and he realized how easy investing really can be. If you want to go one level deeper, Morgan Housel wrote a book called The Psychology of Money. I consider this the perfect complement to The Simple Path to Wealth because it outlines why we all seem to find a way to fail at investing, despite it being so easy.

I always tell people that if you can’t explain your investment strategy to a 5th grader, then it’s too complicated. Every episode you listen to will drive this point home, with real-life investing stories and examples that will make you think, learn, and evaluate your own investment decisions.

My hope is you’re going to realize very quickly just how easy investing can be, and how little time it takes to start investing wisely—ultimately, giving you MORE of what you really want…time.

When you are ready to become the hero of your own investing adventure, I encourage you to binge Season 1 of Invested Poorly: Sad Tales of FInancial Fails. Enjoy the podcast.

Invested Poorly: Sad Tales of FInancial Fails was created for informational purposes only and should not be relied on for specific tax, legal, or investment advice. You should consider consulting a qualified professional to review your situation before engaging in any transactions. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal and past performance is no guarantee of future results.

This podcast was produced by Ted Cragg. Learn more about creating podcast mini-series like this by visiting QuickEditPodcasts.com.