Carl Richards, a Certified Financial Planner and creator of the Sketch Guy in the New York Times, invites us to focus on the intersection of Things That Matter and Things You Can Control (Carl Richards, 2018).  You can see his sketch here.(Hinman Financial Planning, 2018)

These are some of the few things we cannot control:

• Markets are not within our control, but how we invest in them and how we allocate our investment dollars is.
• The economy is not within our control, inflation will come and go, interest rates will rise and fall, but we have control over many aspects of our education, where we work and how we spend our time.
• Spending and savings are within our control. It may not seem like it at times, but what we spend our money on and what is left over is within our control.

These are just a few examples. I invite you to think about what really matters to you and what is within your control.  I’d love to hear from you if you have an example of that which we can and/or can’t control.

Lastly, I have met with hundreds of successful investors and savers and they will often tell you about both their successes and their failures as investors.  We tend to remember our mistakes and we fear loss more than we enjoy our gains.  What I have noticed is that the successful investors and savers make more good decisions than bad.  Their success is the sum total of all their successes and failures.  As long as the successes outnumber the failures you will do just fine.

Articles Referenced

Hinman Financial Planning. (2018). HinmanFP.com/portfolio-item/what you should focus on. Retrieved from Hinman Financial Planning Inc: http://hinmanfp.com/portfolio-item/what-you-should-focus-on/?doing_wp_cron=1521821442.5642540454864501953125

The information provided is for guidance and informational purposes only.  The articles are not the opinions of ProCore Advisors, LLC.