Repurchased Mutual Funds Again

As some of you may have noticed, I sold away my mutual funds just before the recent correction. While many people were throwing insults at their brokers, I was quietly breathing a strong sigh of relief. Then, my friends started asking me about my rationale for dumping all my mutual fund holdings, since I appeared to have quite good timing. Actually, to tell the truth, I was not 100% certain that a correction will take place. However, the signs made me worried.

Additionally, if you read my historical post Sold Off All My Mutual Funds, you would have noticed that I expected this correction to be much more severe. Till now, I still believe it would have been, if not for the lowering of interest rates in the U.S and governments throwing money to salvage the situation. When I decided to get in again, Internet Bill payment takes 2 working days and I did not get in at as good a price as I should have gotten. This teaches me the importance of speed. Mutual Funds are simply too inflexible, since you may be correct in timing the market, but I would say it’s impossible to factor in the transaction time to get in at the correct time. The reason being the fact that people react to news very fast and can’t afford 2 days waiting time.

I am seriously considering dealing with shares or options directly, instead of investing in Mutual Funds. I believe it would give me the ability to react faster if I need to and also potentially higher returns. However, the main concern now is time, since I just started working as a Financial Adviser and also just started school. To be honest, it is not easy for me to work as a Financial Adviser, especially since I know that I stand a much better chance at becoming a millionaire if I chose to help my previous boss or do internet marketing. Maybe even helping my friend, who recently got his business idea funded by venture capitalists, will give me better chances at becoming a millionaire. However, since I made my choice, I got to make the best out of it. After all, giving financial advice is a meaningful job, although prospects always seem to treat us as salesmen.

But… you know what? I think that it’s their loss if they do not pick up a plan I recommend and that’s why I don’t get emotional when my prospect does not wish to sign a plan, despite thinking that it’s good for him. After all, he is the one to suffer when he is old, poor and helpless because he did not bother to save when he had a choice to. I even have prospects that show their fists to me when I have not even said anything, but I just laughed my way off. It’s seriously funny how people can treat total strangers like arch-enemies.

That does not mean that I am nonchalant towards my prospects and do not care about them. I still do my best to get them to make the correct decisions, but my salesmanship is simply not good enough yet. After all, I have always been quiet when meeting people I barely know for the past twenty years in my life. Changing takes some time and I have to admit I still fear rejection slightly, which explains why I don’t really approach a lot of people a day.

However, I have an experience I truly enjoy while working. This prospect was very receptive to my suggestions and I had very good rapport with him. He was also determined to start saving, but needed to confirm with his mom, since he’s still a student. In the end, that phone call resulted in us finding out that his uncle is also a financial adviser, so his mom told him not to get from me. Well… I was slightly sad that I helped to present and the deal is likely to go to someone else, but I still encouraged him to get the plan from his uncle.

In my perspective, I may have lost a sale, but I still believe that I have helped him awaken the idea of saving for his future needs. This makes it seem like it’s not that bad after all. Of course, I hope that such things don’t happen too often.