How to achieve your goals

Published on July 19, 2023, 12:09 p.m.

Start by spending less. Invest more. Get comfortable with taking more risks if needed. And eliminate objectives that are not important.

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We all want to achieve whatever we desire and risk nothing in return. But that is not possible. If it were, you wouldn't be reading this investment advice.

You should be able to simplify, eliminate some goals in order to gain whatever is the most important to you. This is not just good investment strategy, it is overall good life advice: be ready to forego some imediat pleasures for long-term, sustainable happiness.

That might imply spending less, and saving and investing more. That could also mean that you should accept less comfortable investments, maybe take on more risk.

But wait, shouldn't we chose the risk level that we are comfortable with? Well, that would not be our advice. When you invest with us, just like with any other intermediary, you do have the posibility to decrease the overall risk level to a comfortable level. However, have no illusion: by decreasing the risk that you accept, you are also decreasing your chances of succes.

Here's why: when we give you an advice, we ALREADY compute the strategy that maximizes your chances of success. Since we chose the strategy which delivers the highest probability of success, that strategy is also the one with the lowest risk of not reaching your objectives. This is how we think the risk should be defined.

However, if you want less volatility (this is how risk is usualy expressed, by others) than what we recommend, you should be aware that it is impossible to deliver the same probability of succes.

It's like going from city A to city B for a concert: we might tell you that taking a buss would be the best alternative to get to city B and your concert just in time. But if you insist to take the only available train because the train is more safe and comfortable to you, that particular train might not get to city B in time. Unless the concert is somehow delayed for an hour, you will miss the concert. So decide which is more important to you, to get to the concert in time or to have a comfortable ride there? Think about that when you chose a lower risk level for your investments.

You have probably guessed by know that taking on more and more risk doesn't ends up well either. It's like asking your drunkyard neighbour to give you a lift to that same concert. Yes, you might arrive there in time, but the real risk of not getting there in one piece is also very high.

Calculating the optimum risk, or the probability of (not) reaching your goals is complicated. It is done automaticaly for you when you invest with us.