Why do I need an investor coach?

Coaching was defined by Steve Zaffron as altering the way the game occurs to the players so that they can win their game.

Investing is a game. The nature of investing itself makes it a game: potential reward, potential loss, critical to develop skill, critical to endure, critical to be coached. The only thing that is different about this game from others is that if you play correctly, you win. That is because your chief opponent is yourself.

In this game, it is critical to master the skills of investing: discovering and living into the future, discovering your purpose, uncovering choice, being “cause in the matter” for your family, owning equities, diversifying globally, rebalancing. These skills can only be learned by doing, with oversight from a dependable and knowledgeable mentor: a coach.

Choose wisely. There are a litany of financial pros calling themselves coaches these days. Find out whether they really mean it by asking how they will alter your occurrence.

If you want to know what coaching is for sure, sign up for an Online Investor Inventory here.

Simon Joshua is a licensed investment advisor representative at Cornerstone Wealth Partners in Michigan. He has structured his practice around investor coaching and committed himself to leading communities in establishing a legacy of fulfillment.

Why can’t we change?

I have been overweight since I was 15. I have never had difficulty knowing what to do about it. It was simply never a big enough problem to motivate me to solve it.

That is where most of us live with our investing. We plod along wishing for things to be different. The more we try to change, the more things seem to stay the same.

My roommate recently asked me the right questions about my weight:

“What are your goals for this year?” I listed them off until I got to loosing weight.

“How are you planning to do that?” Now I could no longer ignore the problem. And the conversation that I should have been having with myself for the past decade was finally taking place.

“May I help you with that?” This was comforting and empowering.

If no one has ever asked you the right questions around investing, you may feel like I have been feeling about my diet and activity: failing, powerless to change, can’t talk about it. That is why I love the Investor Inventory. It is a tool that opens the door on this conversation. I get to ask you the right questions and you get to stop being trapped the way you always have been. It takes an hour. Schedule below.

Click to Register for Coaching

How about it, Ref?

In sports, we play the game by following the rules, putting points on the board, and playing good defense. But sometimes there is a breakdown. There is cause to halt the game. Someone stepped out of bounds or got hurt. When this happens, we are used to hearing the referee blow the whistle.

In life, it is easy to go about our days dealing with our people, working, making money: putting points on the board. We go through life as just another player on the court. But where is the ref?

Without the whistle, opposing teams turn into enemies. Without the whistle, the game devolves into a street fight. Without the whistle, all but the most jaded get burned out.

In life, invariably someone steps out of line, or gets hurt. Inconveniently, this happens when we are working toward an objective: get out the door, make the sale, finish the project. You have a choice. You can continue to be just another player. You can ignore the problems, allow them to fester, forestall the consequences

Or, you can do what is necessary to finish the day, dedicating time at the end to talk it through. This is not just about asking questions. (How did that make you feel?) It is about making a call. Someone committed a foul? They need to know that! Someone stepped out of bounds? If you don’t tell them, who will?

Sometimes you are not the leader. If you don’t have power to convene a meeting, do what is necessary to convince those who do that if this continues unchecked, both the team and the game will suffer. If you are a leader, allow followers to give feedback and prove to them that you value them by taking it to heart.

Are your objectives in life more important to you than your relationships? Are your relationships more important? You must decide, because out of that answer comes the way you handle breakdowns.

For my money, be a ref, not just a player.