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Steve's note: Here at DailyWealth, we focus on bringing you actionable investment ideas. But we know you can't take full advantage of these ideas if you don't have full control of your finances. Read on for our friend Mark Ford's "common sense" advice on... How to Talk Your Broker into SubmissionBy
Saturday, January 28, 2012
In native cultures, medicine men wield power because of the community's belief that they have magical powers.
To reinforce their mystique, these crafty connivers invent words and phrases that their followers can't understand. The idea is something like: "If you don't understand what I'm saying, how can you doubt my power?"
Modern-world medicine men – doctors, lawyers, and brokers – do the same thing. Like their primitive predecessors, they often wield power over their clients by verbally intimidating them.
Sometimes, they do so to save time. By talking over their clients' heads (but with authority), they can often prevent their clients from asking questions that require long and complicated answers.
Sometimes, they use jargon to trick their clients into doing something they would probably not do if they understood the business at hand.
And sometimes, they speak cryptically to maintain what they view as a desirable superiority over their clients.
Now before you send me angry letters about unfair generalizations, I'd like to be the first to say that I realize this sort of behavior is not ubiquitous. Not all doctors, lawyers, and brokers are verbal bullies. But I have worked with many doctors and lawyers and brokers for a long time, and I can tell you this: Verbal intimidation exists. It's so common that for many, it is an essential professional tool.
You should never let anyone verbally intimidate you. This is true for all your personal relationships, but it is also true for all your business relationships. Today, we are speaking about your professional relationships – the relationships you have with doctors, lawyers, and brokers.
I used to allow doctors, lawyers, and brokers intimidate me. Whenever I used them, I acted like it was my job to please them... not the other way around. When I talked with them, I was always on my best behavior... always grateful, always self-effacing.
I felt that since I didn't understand medicine, law, or finance, I was in no position to tell them what to do. Nor could I evaluate the advice they gave me. I was a know-nothing. They were omniscient. All I could do was be a good boy and hope to be treated kindly.
This was a very costly mistake. It induced me to undergo unnecessary medical treatments, to spend big money on contracts that were overly complicated, and to make investments that I instinctively knew would never be profitable.
It took me a long time – over 20 years – to tire of being taken advantage of. I probably wasted more than $1 million because I allowed myself to be bullied.
Nowadays, I am diligent about standing up for myself with professionals. In every interaction I have with them, I remind myself that I am their boss and they work for me.
If you think you might have the same problem I had, here are some ways you can gain control of all your professional relationships:
Change the way you think about professionals.
Many people (consciously or not) put professionals on pedestals of reverence. They accord them respect and courtesies they don't give to plumbers, say, or other tradesmen. As a result, they are reluctant to question the advice they get, or worse, they feel compelled to follow it out of some sense of submissive gratitude.
The truth is, doctors, lawyers, and brokers are nothing more than tradesmen. They have knowledge and skills that they sell. To earn their fees, they must work hard and well for you.
Make yourself "the boss of you."
Promise yourself that, starting today, you will not let them bully you – and that you will actively and consciously "be the boss."
Rather than think, "Gee, he's such an expert"... think, "I am paying this guy good money. He better prove to me he is an expert or I will fire him."
And when you get advice, instead of thinking, "I had better do what he says or he may be mad at me"... think, "This guy may know his field of expertise, but he doesn't know me. I am the best and sole judge of what is best for me. Only I am qualified to decide what I should do."
Evaluate the professionals you are using.
Think of the professionals you work with and rate them according to the following three criteria:
1. Do they make you feel like you are in charge?
A good professional relationship is one where the client is the boss and he feels like the boss. You should be able to figure out how you feel about the professionals that you use instantaneously.
If you don't feel in charge, you aren't.
If you don't feel you can speak frankly about any fears and concerns you have, you are not in charge.
If you don't feel free to criticize them, you are not in charge.
Here's what you need to understand: The only way you can feel like the boss is if the professional feels like you are the boss. If he doesn't – if he thinks you are just another schmuck who needs his help – you will never be in charge.
2. Do they give you advice that is easy to understand?
A good professional feels obliged to communicate clearly with his clients. That means translating the arcane language of his profession into advice that can be readily understood.
You can determine whether your broker, doctor, or lawyer has a commitment to communication by asking:
"Do I feel like I spend enough time with him? Or do I feel like he is usually busy, and I'm taking up his precious time?"
When he sends you documents, does he often attach a cover letter that explains, in layman's terms, what the documents say?
Do you frequently feel lost or confused when he gives you advice? This should rarely happen... and when it does, you should feel free to ask questions and get clear, understandable answers.
3. Do they understand and care about your concerns and needs?
A good professional doesn't treat all his clients exactly the same. He understands that each client has his own specific concerns, worries, problems, and needs. A good professional takes time to understand this and tailors his advice accordingly.
If you feel like you are getting cookie-cutter advice, or if you feel like he doesn't really care who you are, he is not doing his job.
What to do to make things right...
How do you now feel about the professionals who are working for you? Are you feeling a bit upset? Have you realized that you may be getting less from them than you deserve?
If so, here's what I suggest. Call or e-mail the offending party and say you want to have a 15-minute meeting about your "professional relationship." If they ask why, say you want to talk about whether "the value I'm getting is worth the money I'm paying."
If he refuses to have the meeting, you don't need to put another thought into it. He isn't doing his job. Get rid of him.
If he does give you a meeting, go in prepared. In just a few simple sentences (that you have prepared beforehand), tell him exactly how and why you are dissatisfied. Don't be judgmental. Express your concerns as statements of your future expectations. In other words, don't say, "You talk in an intimidating way." Instead, say, "I want crystal-clear explanations of all your advice and full and clear answers to all my questions. Can you provide me with that?"
That's really all you have to do. If you end up "firing" someone, don't spend a moment regretting it. Just go out and find someone new and better.
And find that person by interviewing him. In the first meeting, list your expectations and ask him if he can meet them.
Be the boss. It is your body, your business, and your money.
Regards,
Mark Ford
Further Reading:
Find more common-sense wealth-building advice from Mark here…
Before Mark amassed his fortune, he was burdened with serious debt. In this essay, he shares his proven strategies to "emancipate yourself from financial slavery"... and save for the future.
After three "failed" retirements, Mark knows first-hand one of the worst mistakes retirees make... and how to overcome it. "It's a common mistake," he says, "Yet I've never heard it mentioned by retirement experts. Nor have I read a word about it in retirement books..."
"Of the hundreds of wealth-building strategies I have tried over the years, the best one was also the simplest," he says. "By following this simple rule, I was able to do better than I ever expected... without a single day of feeling poorer than I was the day before."
Market NotesCHART OF THE WEEK: THE WORLD'S LARGEST COMPANY UPDATE Our chart of the week displays the price action of the world's biggest publicly traded company, Apple.
This week, Apple stunned the market by reporting quarterly revenue that was 73% higher compared to the same quarter one year ago. The company sold 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads last quarter. Apple's incredible success has allowed it to accumulate nearly $100 billion in cash... which is larger than the market cap of American icons like Disney, Home Depot, and UPS.
Apple's recent success also vaulted shares 6% on Wednesday... a move that pushed Apple's market valuation higher than ExxonMobil. This makes it the world's largest public company. The stock has climbed 113% in the past two years and sports one of the market's strongest uptrends.
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Stat of the week
37 million
Number of iPhones Apple sold in the most recent quarter... which represents a 128% increase in sales from the year-ago quarter.
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