What We Think is Right is Not Necessarily So

jacobtedBehavioral Finance

Are you one of those do-it-yourselfers, who believes you can fix anything with the proper tools and instruction manuals? How did that turn out for you? The financial cost of doing it wrong yourself often exceeds the cost of paying someone to help you do it right!

Election day, 2008. On my way to vote, I unknowingly fell victim to a detached retina in my left eye. The damage was irreversible.

As a result, I began to unconsciously adjust myself to accommodate my new reality. Soon I became unstable as my posture began to deteriorate. I became stoop-shouldered. My golf game, which was in no great shape to begin with, began to suffer; I was spraying the ball everywhere and lost 20 yards of distance.

Frustrated, I started making more adjustments. They felt good for me. And my golf game started to improve. Briefly.

I continued to self-diagnose and adjust.  My perception was I was feeling stronger. But the results were getting worse.

At the urging of my wife, I started physical therapy. The therapist began to adjust my posture and gave me exercises to strengthen my core. I hurt in places I never hurt before. The positions my therapist was placing me in felt quite uncomfortable, dare I say unnatural. I had to relearn how to stand and walk.

I started to revert to my old, ‘comfortable’ habits, but my therapist would have none of that!

4 weeks later I am standing upright and square. My foundation, my ‘core’ is stronger than ever, and my new posture is beginning to feel normal.

Had I continued to try to solve this problem myself, I am confident that I would never have achieved the level of success I attained with the help of a trained professional. She was worth every penny.

My brother told me, “What you do is very important. You help your clients by ensuring that they avoid making poor financial decisions.” I like that.