Investing has never been easier. Today, investors can open an account, research securities, follow market developments, and execute transactions from virtually anywhere. They can male investments that were once only available to the very wealthy (not necessarily a good thing). Financial information is everywhere, investment products are plentiful, and professional advice is readily available.
Yet accessibility and information don’t necessarily translate into understanding.
For independent-minded investors, navigating the investment world can be surprisingly challenging. There are thousands of investment choices, competing opinions, constantly changing market narratives, and an industry filled with professionals, products, strategies, and terminology. Knowing what to invest in is only part of the equation. Understanding why you’re investing, what risks you’re accepting, how much you’re truly paying, and how to evaluate the decisions being made on your behalf are equally important.
That’s why I started Your Investment Insider, an online invitation to a personal conversation.
Experience Matters. Understanding Matters More.
As you know from reading The Ward on the Street, I’ve spent 40 years working in the investment business. I’ve experienced multiple market cycles, financial crises, technological transformations, and dramatic changes in how investments are managed and delivered to clients.
I’ve worked with individual investors, wealthy families, financial professionals, and institutions. I’ve managed investment portfolios, developed investment strategies, evaluated financial products, and helped clients understand the decisions affecting their financial futures.
One lesson has remained remarkably consistent: The more investors understand about the investment business, the better equipped they are to participate in it. And the better questions investors ask, the more they learn about the industry and its products.
That doesn’t mean becoming a professional investment analyst or spending every waking hour following the markets. It means developing a working knowledge of the concepts, processes, incentives, and considerations that influence investment decisions.
Education Beyond the Headlines
Your Investment Insider is designed to provide that understanding. It is your chance to have a one-on-one conversation with an experienced investor to explore how the investment business actually works, and to ask questions from A to Z. Even questions you are too embarrassed to ask your adviser, your friends, or even your spouse.
The objective isn’t to tell you what to buy or sell. It’s to help you understand the questions worth asking before making important investment decisions. You can examine popular investment strategies, challenge conventional assumptions, and learn concepts that are often unnecessarily complicated. Maybe even learn how current events affect the markets and your portfolio, using historical data as source material.
Important disclosure: Your Investment Insider is not a Registered Investment Adviser and only offers general investment education and knowledge. It is not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities regulator, and it is not a broker-dealer, insurance agency, or financial planning firm. Nothing on the website, in the courses or one-on-one sessions, or in any communication from Your Investment Insider is individualized investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice, or a recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold any security, fund, insurance product, or other investment. Examples discussed are for illustration only and are not endorsements. Using this site or attending a session does not create an adviser-client, fiduciary, or other professional relationship. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Before making any financial decision, consult a licensed, registered investment adviser, attorney, or tax professional who can consider your specific circumstances.
I’ll approach these subjects with curiosity, perspective, and an appreciation for what history can teach us. There will be no promises of extraordinary returns, no predictions presented as certainties, and no manufactured urgency.
Whether you want to ask free-form questions, or use one of my topical agendas, you determine what we talk about and how in depth we get. It’s great to read the articles in The Ward on the Street, but surely some of them have prompted new questions in your own mind. That reminds me, The Ward on the Street will continue to publish articles about investing, retirement, and the financial industry. You are not losing a source of information, you are gaining a second, more interactive source.
An Informed Investor Is an Empowered Investor
You don’t have to manage your own investments to benefit from understanding them. Whether you work with a financial advisor, manage your own portfolio, or simply want to become more knowledgeable about the financial world, education can make a meaningful difference.
You should be able to understand the strategies being recommended, recognize the risks involved, know exactly who is getting paid (there’s no such thing as a free lunch regardless of what the sales material says), and have informed conversations about your financial future.
That’s what Your Investment Insider is about.
I’m not here to convince you that the investment business is broken or that you should distrust the professionals working in it. I’m here to help you understand it.
Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to become a professional investor. It’s to become a more better investor by becoming a more informed investor.