Why are financial decisions so difficult?

Buying a first home. Upsizing. Downsizing. Taking a new job. Investing. 

Here's what I think is the biggest challenge of our time. Headlines that grab our attention. Look at these from the past few months:

"Home prices could slump 20% in some markets warns OSFI chief"

"70% of Canadians are worried about covering retirement costs"

"Canada’s economy is seen growing at 6.3 percent, beating the central bank’s forecast" 

"Canada loses 200,000 jobs, nearly double the blow economists expected"
"Breaking: U.S. economy adds 467,000 jobs to defy Omicron"

These headlines are what is referred to as "Clickbait", designed to grab your attention and lure you into reading the article. The authors are taking an angle on some subject matter and presenting an argument either for or against something and their motivation is to sell something - mainly advertising.

You know how conflicting the headlines are and it plays on your emotions.

Is the economy good or bad? Is this a good time to be investing or not? Is this a good or bad time to buy a home? Is the stock market going to crash? 

You can't make decisions that have long-lasting impacts based on the headlines. Here are some tips to help you make sense of it all.
1. There is always a crisis somewhere - there always has been and there always will be. You can't stop the storms from coming you have to be prepared to weather them.
2. Everything in life goes in cycles. There's the economical cycle. There's a cycle in the animal kingdom. The tides. The way the earth revolves around the sun and creates seasons. 
3. Gather information from many sources before making choices. We live in a time of information overload and it's not more information you need, but rather wisdom and insight to understand it. 
4. Simplify everything with systems and processes and reduce the number of choices that have to be made. For example, if you have a properly diversified portfolio and quality investments, you don't have to be figuring out what to do all of the time - you just ride out the volatility. 
5. Spend more time with smart people. You become the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. 
What we sell is planning, advice, peace of mind, confidence, clarity, and simplicity. If you are lacking in one of these at any time, by all means, come and see us.

Roy Disney once said, "When your values are clear your decisions are easy".

Take a few minutes and work through a process for determining the things that matter to you. Click here to go through this simple exercise.

We offer fee-only retirement income, investment, and tax planning to Canadians over age 55.

Learn more about our services for those 55+

Fee-Only Retirement Income, Investment, & Tax Planners,

Willis and Nancy Langford