Sick of all the personal finance noise

Sick of all the personal finance noise? Tune it out

Are you tired of all the relentless financial noise in the news? Most of it is useless and irrelevant to your life. Instead, focus on what’s really important in your life and use your spare time to develop a plan to achieve it.

This concept is simply communicated in this illustration below from author and New York Times columnist Carl Richards.

The following is an excerpt from an article Carl Richards recently penned:

Let’s try a little thought experiment.

Think back over the last couple of years to a time when you read something about money in the news, you acted on it, and then, with the benefit of hindsight, you were glad you did.

This could include any number of things: the direction of interest rates or currencies, the latest hot investment trends, bear or bull market predictions, company mergers, or market collapses.

Whatever.

Go ahead, I’ll wait. Close your eyes and think about it.

I’ve done this experiment hundreds of times around the world, and I’ve only had one person come up with a valid example. It was news about a change in the tax law.

That’s it.

Isn’t that interesting?

Think of all the financial pornography out there, think of the number of anxiety inducing headlines in our newspapers every week, think of the Money sections on the nightly news or in our weekend newspapers. And almost all of it is noise. Almost none of it is actionable.

Occasionally, we get information—you know, facts and figures. But most of that is useless because it doesn’t matter to you, or it is beyond your control anyway.

The noise is worthless, the information is useless, and then, every once in a while, there is a little teeny tiny speck that might be useful. In fact, the one piece of feedback I get about this sketch is that the little tiny dot that’s labelled “Stuff That Might Actually Be Useful” is way too big!

This leads to one obvious question: Why are we paying attention in the first place?

It might be fun—if you’re into that kind of fun. You know, like going to the circus. You might consider it part of your job to be up on the latest market news.

But most likely, it’s just a waste of time.

So now I’ll get out my little permission-granting wand and grant you permission to stop paying attention to all the noise.

Instead, use that time to work focus on what’s really important in your life and develop a plan to give you the highest chance of achieving it.

We are here to help

Calibre Private Wealth Advisers provides financial leadership and peace of mind for successful professionals, business owners and their families.

We engage our clients in real conversations around their life and then help them use the money they have to get the best Return on Life

If you have any questions/thoughts in relation to this article or have a need for some advice and would like to discuss your particular situation, please contact Gordon Thoms or David Conte at Calibre Private Wealth Advisers on ph. (03) 9824 2777 or email us here.

The information contained in this article is of a general nature only and may not take into account your particular objectives, financial situation or needs. Accordingly, the information should not be used, relied upon or treated as a substitute for personal financial advice. While all care has been taken in the preparation of this article, no warranty is given in respect of the information provided and accordingly, neither Calibre Private Wealth Advisers, its employees or agents shall be liable for any loss (howsoever arising) with respect to decisions or actions taken as a result of you acting upon such information.