Look around. The financial services industry is all about products.
Have an investing problem? Try the new improved ETF which tracks a back-tested, newly created index.
Want to achieve your goals? You need a trading platform specialising in small caps.
The notion of a company selling products to try and generate profits is not exactly something that gives me pause. But, you shouldn’t care about products.
Many seem to have internalised the industry view that the answer to every problem is a product. But the problem is that many investors have no idea as to what is the outcome they want to achieve. I think that many investors spend their time arguing about the best brokerage platform to avoid the truth of the matter - they have no idea what they want to achieve.
As an investor advocate, I suggest you care about outcomes, not products. To be clear, ‘getting rich’ or ‘having the most money possible’ is not a goal. And I don’t say that in a judgemental way. I say that because it doesn’t work.
If you are simply trying to ‘get rich’, then logic dictates that you should always be in the best performing product. That is a perfect approach for an industry that wants you to trade as much as possible and give into the temptation of the compelling narrative attached to the newest ETF.
Do this:
- Define your goals.
- Internalise your goals until they are your only investing focus.
- Approach investment products or platforms with a healthy dose of scepticism.
- Avoid the kryptonite of successful investing and resist chasing returns.
- Don’t let investment marketing sway you from your path.
The above is an extract from Mark LaMonica's more detailed Don't settle for products when you really need an outcome
