Finance is a touchy topic to talk about with another friend. This is made worse when your friend is from a different age group, socioeconomic status, or gender. What’s worse is that topics on finance are also dirtied by online gurus and other baseless keyboard warriors. Over time, this issue of not talking about finance has resulted in many seeking financial advice from advisers working for a fee or leaving that aspect of life completely swept under the carpet. I am sure many of us have had that intent to share valuable experiences with others but the thought of being flamed or questioned is more than enough to mute our voices. Furthermore, sharing such info normally will not benefit the sharer so seriously, “Why bother?”. In today’s post, let’s just analyze and alleviate this situation together so that we can all contribute to this discourse without making others feel bad and benefit from it.
Do not downplay difficulties when managing finances
We have heard too many online heroes sharing how easy it is to be financially independent and free from the iron cage that is work. These people often make other’s feel bad because those on the receiving end might have tried before but failed to achieve similar results. In fact, most people who have tried to invest or have bought financial products might have regretted their decision. Therefore, to be a financially savvy friend, we will need to share our difficulties rather than our successes. Such sharing will help retain interest for those who are facing or have faced difficulties in their financial journey so that they will not give up along the way.
Share only USEFUL information (Avoid humble bragging)
There is an increasing amount of filth circulating around with regards to how a person has achieved remarkable results through investing or trading. Honestly speaking, what is the value in that sharing besides bragging about their successes? On one hand, no one will ever be able to replicate the exact scenarios to benefit from that strategy in the past months or years. And on the other hand, what if that success was actually caused by a series of unintended events? In the past year, the Fed has been printing money and keeping interest rates at zero to boost the market. That itself is proof that anyone who has made significant profits out of the US market is not actually brilliant but just a benefactor of foolish government decisions and greed. Instead, it will be more helpful to share information on fundamentally important news and facts about businesses and legitimate investment strategies.
Keeping conservations grounded on logic and facts
It is easy to make comments about someone else’s strategy but it is less exciting when our suggestions point to lower returns and focuses on identifying potential risks. Hence there is a growing number of frivolous comments made to arouse attention and greed in others. Basically, talk is cheap, and posting a comment online will not require any fact-checking so occasionally a comment thread can be filled with loads of verbal diarrhea and lies from random people. To be a person who has real intentions to point the conversation back in the right direction, we can always try to stop gibberish from staining the message board and telling the truth about potential risks involved to provide a more balanced viewpoint on the matter.
Closing thoughts
As a financial blogger, it is easy for me to say that I do want to help more people learn about finance but it might not be the same for others. Most of the time, we all have our own separate agendas when we engage in a conversation or discussion at work or social events. This means that it is almost impossible to reshape conversations especially when it comes to sensitive topics such as finance and investing. That said, I do hope that more people will stay grounded and sway away from sensationalised information about “get rich schemes” or easy formulas because there is simply no way any of those schemes are sustainable and viable strategies. When I hear gibberish about how easy it is to make money fast, I always think of a lottery winner telling others how he or she did it. Even if it did happen, no one should believe that it is a legitimate way of achieving similar results using the same methods because the odds are just too low.
