James gives great advice he can't follow
Feb 04, 2026James is a financial planner. Fifteen years. Solid client base. People trust him with their life savings and he takes that seriously.
His advice is good. His clients' portfolios perform well. He sleeps fine about their money.
His own portfolio? Conservative to the point of cowardice. Returns that barely keep pace with inflation. His clients take more risk than he does.
He knows this. It nags at him. Quietly, in those moments before sleep when the truth sneaks past the defences.
Here's what James can't see:
Other people's money is just numbers. Decisions about their portfolios are intellectual exercises. Clean. Unemotional. Clear.
His own money is different. Every decision about his own money is also a decision about who he is. If he loses, he's not just poorer — he's a fraud. A financial planner who can't manage his own finances. What would his clients think? His colleagues?
So he plays it safe. Pathologically safe. And calls it "conservative strategy."
His identity is invested alongside his money. And you cannot think clearly when your sense of self is on the line.
That's subconscious programming. Somewhere in James's past, he learned that mistakes aren't just mistakes — they're proof of inadequacy. So he avoids any arena where he might be wrong.
His colleagues think he's just cautious. His wife thinks he's sensible. Nobody sees that the man who confidently moves other people's money freezes when it's his own.
No amount of market research fixes this. No strategy course. No podcast. The problem isn't what James knows. It's what happens to James when his own identity is at stake. And that's a conversation the financial planning industry doesn't know how to have.
Perry Mardon
