Trying to pick the best investment before you’ve come up with a financial plan is like trying to decide whether to take a plane, train, or automobile on a trip before you’ve decided where you want to go.
It makes as much sense as a doctor handing out prescriptions before giving a careful diagnosis.
If you want to do something with your money that is slightly more rational, the very first step is to have a plan. Out of that plan, a process naturally comes into focus. You know, an investment process, a savings process, a process for making decisions about how much insurance to have. And then, and only then, do you get to the last step: finding specific products to implement that plan.
Most of the “news” you see on the financial pornography networks, most of the books written about finance, are about this little tip of the iceberg… the product.
I’m not saying the products aren’t important. They are.
But there is an order of operations to consider here.
First, have a plan, then define an investment process, then find products to populate that plan.
That is how you make smart decisions with your money.
-Carl
P.S. As always, if you want to use this sketch, you can buy it here.
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