Here’s a question to ponder: where does confidence come from? Does it come from experience – what you’ve seen and been through, so that you know more or less what might happen this time around? Does it come from knowledge – ideas and concepts which you’ve researched and studied, facts and figures which you learned in school, that kind of thing? Or maybe it comes from intuition: a hard-to-describe “gut feel” that you can’t quite define, but which you know to be true. Most experts would probably agree that it’s a little bit of all of the above. They’d also agree on one last thing: that wherever it comes from, for most people, confidence doesn’t come easily. Doesn’t really matter what field of endeavour you’re talking about – working at a job, raising a family, pursuing a hobby or pastime that you love, whatever – it usually takes a good deal of time and effort (along with a fewmistakes made along the way) to feel as if you really know what you’re doing. Needless to say, confidence is an incredibly valuable tool when it comes to managing your money. Having a degree of certainty and self-assurance about what you’re doing (or not doing) with your investments can make a tremendous difference to how you perceive financial challenges. It can also make a great deal of difference to how you choose to respond (or to not respond) to those challenges. The equation goes something like this: more confidence means more peace of mind. More peace of mind means better decision-making. Better decision-making means better performance, usually with a lot fewer hiccups and missteps. That’s a particularly valuable thing in times such as these, when months of extreme stock market volatility have made even the most experienced, most savvy investors question how much they really know, or how certain they can really be about anything. Given all that’s happened with the stock market over the past several months (and, if we’re being totally honest, what might continue to happen for several more), it seems like a very good time to pass on some tips and hints on how you can strengthen your financial confidence. Some of the pointers listed below have to do with your perceptions and thoughts, while others are more practical “to dos,” that can help you minimize or even eliminate some of the common scenarios and actions which lead to financial anxiety and worry, and replace them with things that actually build confidence over time. While not everything on this list will be of use to everyone at all times, taken together, this forms a powerful emotional foundation of resiliency and fortitude that you can draw upon whenever the going gets tough financially. by James Dolan THE CONFIDENCE GAME Nine essential tips to make you feel mentally stronger and more empowered about your finances 30 | www.snowbirds.org Finance
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