The route to your financial goals

Different investors are heading for different goals and each needs a different route

- Dhirendra Kumar

There are people who are good at finding places and there are those who aren’t. It’s very noticeable. You tell someone to reach a certain place and give detailed instructions. Most people can follow the directions and reach the destination. Sometimes, the exact route that you have described may not be feasible. Some roads are blocked or something like that. When that happens, a sharp difference emerges. Some people can easily find an alternate route; others get lost. Why does this happen?

Based on my observations, I think the difference lies in the way different people process the original directions. Some memorize them and follow them by rote; others figure out the general direction of the destination. The second group is able to figure out an alternative route, while the first group fails if the original route is not available.

I’m sure you can see why I'm talking about route-finding in what should be an article on investing and how this has a strong parallel to what different people need as guidance from an investment-advice service or website. There are people who need precise instructions and there are those who just need some general idea of what to do.

However, it’s not quite that simple. To illustrate what I mean, let me add some more factors that are important.