Every industry has some dirty little secrets. Today we’re letting you in on some of the financial world’s secrets. How many of these are you familiar with?

Most of the time, no one really knows what’s going on.

You already know that nobody can predict the future, but most financial professionals also have a tough time explaining what happened in the past.

There are always compelling narratives to explain movement in financial markets, but the truth is that it’s really hard to pinpoint the real causes and effects. Financial professionals do a good job of convincing others (and themselves) that they understand all of it, but most of the time nobody really has a legitimate explanation for what causes what.

Lesson: If too much of your money is exposed to financial markets that move around wildly without explanation, you could be in big trouble.

Most of the things we argue about aren’t all that important.

We can spend all day debating with other financial professionals about which financial tools and strategies are better, how much money you should have in cash, or what the market is going to do next week.

The problem for some financial professionals is that they can get way too caught up in debating minor details while unintentionally missing the big picture and distracting you from the things that really matter.

Lesson: Focus on the big picture and the goals that you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t get too hung up on nit-picky arguments between experts.

Listen to the entire episode or jump to specific sections using the timestamps below.

Navigating the Show

[2:09] – No one knows

[7:35] – Not that important

[11:52] – Skill and luck

[16:56] – Bold opinions

“No one can predict the future. There are lot of people who pretend that they can.”

– Michael Schulte