Set Your Course for More Money in 2022

Andy Snyder|December 22, 2021

How about some unsolicited self-help advice as we come to the end of the year?

If you’re looking to make more money and feel better about your finances in 2022, you’re going to like this.

We like it because the story behind it brings us back to our youth… and the days when we could feel the wind blowing through our hair.

During college and then grad school, we got paid to fish. We even wrote a book about it. We fished all over the country but spent most of our time many miles off the mid-Atlantic coast before heading way up north to Alaska’s protected coastal saltwater.

What a time it was.

For several seasons, we were the hot boat. Folks knew who we were and that we’d almost certainly be on the fish.

We’d often attract a crowd of six or more boats. One would see us and start fishing nearby. Then another would see multiple boats on his radar screen and assume we were onto something. Then another… and another.

We got used to it. But sometimes we’d have some fun with it.

Tricked Ya

Every once in a while, we’d throttle up, move to a featureless spot and just drift and eat lunch.

Sure enough… the boats would follow.

That’s because most guys never bothered to make a plan. They just went where everybody else was going.

To the inexperienced, it may sound like a good idea. Weren’t those guys just following the path of the experienced and successful? They might have had only one or two days on the water all month… Weren’t they just being efficient with their time?

Nope.

Like all things this simple… there’s a catch.

Most days, we were fishing atop a very small piece of structure, like an old shipwreck or a pile of rocks. Those are great spots… unless you drift 10 feet off of them. Then you don’t catch anything.

Other days, we were looking to do something unique and special (like catching a huge halibut on an extremely light line).

And sometimes, we were down below, fixing the head.

This idea becomes very important in the realm of investing.

Perhaps Warren Buffett is loading up on insurance stocks again. The mainstream press loves to tout whatever the Oracle is buying.

But should you follow him?

Maybe. But probably not.

Maybe he’s found the market’s honey hole. More likely, he’s just buying insurance companies for their reliable cash flow… and will make his real money somewhere else.

That’s how he got rich.

But if you follow him and buy only the insurer, you’ll be in trouble.

In life, people do a lot of things because everybody else is doing them.

But we learned there’s a much better way to do things. It, too, has to do with boats and how we get from here to there.

Follow Your Chart

Again, lots of folks determine where they are going by merely scanning the horizon to find the crowd. As we’re prone to say, it’s a recipe for mediocrity.

But there’s a much more effective way of ensuring you’ll get where you want to go. Every good captain knows it.

It’s called “dead reckoning.”

It’s the art of getting somewhere by looking only at where you’ve been.

On the water, we measure the distance between point A and point B. Then we calculate speed, wind and current and account for any obstacles in the way. We can then determine exactly how long it will take us to get where we’re going.

Done right, it’s incredibly accurate.

But it all starts with a plan. We must know where we are going.

The crowd may already be there… or we may be entirely on our own. It doesn’t matter.

But here’s the real mind-blower of this idea. It has to do with the reason we invest.

Once again, lots of folks simply want to go where everybody else is. That’s why they pile into debt… so they can be just like the next guy, who’s also in massive debt.

A man’s neighbor has a hot car. So he needs a hot car too.

Both have what they think they want… but both aren’t “catching fish.” In most cases, neither is.

There’s a better way to build financial happiness and success.

Again… dead reckoning.

With this form of navigation, following the crowd is deadly. Instead, we merely track where we were and compare it to where we’re going.

In other words… are we closer to our goal than we were yesterday? Did we hit our goal for that day?

That’s it. Very simple.

Just keep asking those questions, make corrections to maintain your course… and eventually you’ll get there.

Set your plan for 2022. Chart your course. And follow it every day.

You will reach your goal.

We guarantee it.

The crowd might just be watching some bozo eat lunch. But you’ll be making the haul of your life.

Note: Alpesh Patel is a master market navigator. He’s got the awards (and wealth) to prove it. He can’t tell you where to go… but he can give you invaluable tips as you make your way. Over the last five years, he beat the S&P 500 by 580%. That kind of success will go a long way to helping you reach your daily goals. He reveals how he did it here.