Money Psychology 19: It's complicated
This email doesn’t have a lesson, but a suggestion.
But first, one more story, the last one for now.
Clarence Hughes went to the dentist in 1931. His mouth was radiating pain. His dentist put him under crude anaesthesia to ease the pain. When Clarence awoke hours later, he had 16 fewer teeth and his tonsils removed.
And then everything went wrong. Clarence died a week later from his surgery’s complications.
His wife sued the dentist, but not because the surgery went awry. Clarence, she said, never consented to the procedures in the first place, and wouldn’t if he were asked.
Well, for most of history, the doctor’s job had been to fix the patient.
And doctors felt to do so on their own authority, without consulting with their patients about the decisions that needed to be made.
But the ability to judge what is the right thing for someone is not that easy. Medicine is a complex profession and the interactions between physicians and patients are also complex.
So is the scenario in finance.
Financial advisors can’t tell you what to do with your money, because they don’t know you. They don’t know what you want. They don’t know when you want it. And they don’t know why you want it.
But they aren’t useless, obviously. They have knowledge. They know the odds.
However, it's up to you to decide how you apply their suggestions to your own finances.
AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW
Reply and let me know if you liked this series of lessons.
See you soon!
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