An earlier version of this post appeared on my Retire on Purpose substack. I revised it and am resharing it here in light of the market corrections we’re seeing in March 2025.
Sometimes the financial media is your biggest enemy. At least, it can play that role for any regular investor focused on retirement or building a business.
This is a theme I touch on often and is a core message of ‘Retire on Purpose.’
You can’t protect your personal agency and peace of mind if you can’t tune out the media doom machine. For more, see here, here, and here.
But it’s not all bad news and things that go bump in the night. I was reminded of this during a recent meeting with one of my clients.
“Morgan,” she said, “there is more than doom and gloom in the financial media. Sometimes the media shifts to urging rampant speculation.”
Clicks, Fears, and Fervors
We laughed, but it’s true. It can even happen in the same scroll of the news page. One article provokes fear of the upcoming disaster. The next urges you to buy into this “sure thing” now.
Ultimately, news sites are running a daily program called Clicks, Fears, and Fervors. Editors ask themselves: What can we rustle up next? What will get clicks? What unbridled emotion can we evoke with our next column title?
“Buy Gold Now,” says one financial expert, because “the collapse is coming.” (The collapse of what? How will gold help?)
If you’re alarmed, don’t worry, just keep scrolling. You’ll come to: “Stocks are set to surge based on a rare technical signal.”
You get the gist. It’s all for the clicks, fears, and fervors.
Sound investing is something different.
It’s based on your big-picture purpose (broken down into more bite-sized goals).. It focuses on holistic planning (that includes your life not just your money), and it’s driven by a clear process (not emotion).
Purpose, planning, and process. That’s the new mantra. That’s how we retire on purpose.
