The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (34 page)

It bothered me when my clients lost money, and I began to think more about it. Finally I realized that it wasn’t a matter of luck, but a matter of, well, spirit, for lack of a better word. It was the attitude, the instinct, with which the client went into an investment that helped to determine whether he or she would make money or lose money. Of course there are good investments and bad investments. But however solid the investment, the investor has to be solidly behind his or her investment as well.

I began to see, too, that the questions I had been taught to ask as a broker worked very well for me—I was rich in commissions—but often worked less well for my clients. I changed my approach. I began really talking to my clients about how they felt about investing in the stock market in the first place. The ones who invariably lost money said that it made them nervous, that they didn’t like it. I asked them why then they invested in stocks, when there were so many other excellent places to put their money, and their answer changed my life: “Because you told me to, Suze.” They were trusting me more than they trusted themselves.

From then on, my heart just wasn’t into selling stocks the way it had been. I can date the beginning of my financial advisory practice from the moment I asked my first client, then the second and third, how they felt about buying a stock, rather than asking whether they wanted five hundred or one thousand shares. If there was any hesitation whatsoever, I began to suggest that clients pass. I suggested that they pay attention to that little voice inside them, because what it was telling them was what was right for them to do. In 1987, I left the corporate brokerage world to start my own firm, where I could really give advice that was good for my clients, not just good for me. Now I give advice in my books that is good for anyone with financial concerns.

There are many ways the universe offers us guidance to protect ourselves, but we usually just turn our backs on this guidance because we don’t recognize it as such. The little voice inside you is actually a powerful signal—I believe it’s the voice of God—and if you listen to it, and take action based on what it tells you to do, it will keep you safe and sound. This sixth step to financial freedom is about finding that voice inside you—and learning to listen to what it has to say.

It was Janet’s first time ever buying a stock, and she just felt it was right. So why did she end up listening to everyone else?

If Janet had listened to that voice in her gut, she would have doubled her money. If her friends had listened to their own voices inside them, they wouldn’t have lost money. If her adviser friend had listened to
his
own inner voice, he wouldn’t have lost money for his clients and himself, if he had invested, too, although it’s worth knowing that many advisers don’t have the money to invest in their own advice, nor are they obliged to. That little voice inside each of these people, perhaps dozens of people all told, was trying to protect them. None of them trusted themselves more than they trusted others. As a result, they all lost.

Remember how, when taking multiple-choice tests, you would read the question and, without any hesitation, choose answer A? Then you would start to doubt yourself and begin to think that maybe the correct answer was D. You’d change your answer to D, even though your gut feeling was still A. You’d be wrong. When the test came back, you’d see that you were right the first time. The correct answer was A.

When it comes to every financial decision you will make for the rest of your life, you will choose correctly if you go with the answer that reflects your instinctual response. That answer will always be the right answer for you, the answer that will empower you to make money for yourself.

Please go into a quiet room by yourself. Sit there for a moment in silence—no computer, TV, phone, children. Place your hand exactly on that part of your gut that tells you when you’re nervous about anything; you know the place. As you contemplate the following scenarios, take careful note of your very first response, how nervous or confident you feel about each answer that comes to you right away, before you start to rethink it. You should begin to see how you feel emotionally about investing and about planning for your future and how much you trust yourself.

Your best friend, who’s smart but has never been known for financial expertise, comes to you all excited. He’s heard about this up-and-coming technology stock from another friend of his: a sure bet, he says, a once-in-a-lifetime thing. He’s investing everything he has, and he just knows he’ll see a payback in a month. Would you like to join him?

You’ve helped your sister find a new apartment. The rent is fairly high, and because she’s just out of college, the landlord wants you to cosign the lease. Would this be a good idea?

Your parents just gave you one thousand shares of a stock they bought years ago, in a company that has done well for them all this time. Your own financial adviser wants you to sell it and invest in a company she likes better. What would you do?

Your company has a 401(k) plan, and you’re presented with choices about how you want to invest your money—conservatively, with a modest but guaranteed return; or aggressively, with higher-risk investments but a greater chance for real growth. You must decide by tomorrow.

You are self-employed and you have all your retirement money in a SEP-IRA in a respectable mutual fund. You read in the newspapers that the manager of your fund, which has done well for you, is leaving the company under mysterious circumstances and starting up another fund of his own. The stories seem to suggest that maybe you should transfer the money to this new fund. What do you think?

Your new brother-in-law is a financial adviser, and a successful one at that. Your money is doing well in a mutual fund, but he says he can make it do better by playing the stock market, if you trust him with it.

You are offered a job with a new company that’s just starting up, and you like the people a lot. The salary is about the same as you’re making now, with room to grow as they do, but you wouldn’t be getting all the benefits you have with your present company—no 401(k), no insurance. You feel there’s such energy behind these people, and they really want you. But you’re old enough that you are really beginning to think seriously about the future, and you also feel safe where you are. What should you do?