Is your financial advisor committed to helping you achieve your American Dream? Are they helping empower you to not speculate and gamble with your family’s financial future by implementing academic investing science to your long-term investing strategy? Most importantly, have you discovered your True Purpose for Money?
The American Dream Experience, led by Matson Money Founder and CEO Mark Matson, is an educational event that allows investors and advisors to come together to engage in a profound conversation around money and an exploration of purpose and investing. The two-and-a-half-day experience provides potentially life-altering discoveries about an academic approach to investing and tools to help shield yourself from the exploitation of the financial industry.
What Does the American Dream Experience Consist of?
Contrary to what many might expect from an event on money and investing, we begin with the assertion that money cannot, in fact, make you happy. “There is no home or possession, no return on a portfolio, no object or experience, that will bring ongoing fulfillment, satisfaction, or journey toward investing peace of mind,” says Matson.
“There is zero correlation between the amount of money you have and your enjoyment and fulfillment in life,” he says. The question can instead become: what can I do with my money to make a difference for myself and others that could free me from the destructive cycle of wealth?
It Starts with a Powerful Purpose
We believe the solution is purpose, and we are committed to empowering families in discovering their True Purpose for Money through their participation in the American Dream Experience.
Purpose is the reason for which something is done or created, and why something exists; it gives direction for the way one is moving through life.1 And once you have discovered your True Purpose for Money, everything in your life can create opportunities to align with that purpose. Why? Because when it is not about money and it is only about purpose, purpose can be far more powerful.
Seeing Investing in A Whole New Way
“When it comes to your investing, it’s not a war for your money; It is a war for your mind,” says Matson. “If the investing world can control how you think about money, investing, and your future, then they can control you.”
There are Wall Street Bullies who can profit from destroying your American Dream. Mark Matson is committed to coaching the American Dream Experience to participants so they can be aware of these potential threats. “These bullies seek to harm, intimidate, and coerce your mind,” he says. “They take advantage of your fears and greatest desires and try to manipulate you for their benefit.”
There are three types of Wall Street Bullies: Con men, prognosticators, and gurus. The con man will convince investors they can control that which is outside of their realm to control.2 The prognosticator can lead investors to believe that they can predict future events or developments, and the guru can be perceived as an expert in their field – sometimes despite obtaining any credentials or backing.
If no one can predict the future, how do the Wall Street Bullies convince others they can? “If you want to be free from the Wall Street Bullies, you’re going to have to stand up to them,” says Matson. “Your dreams are worth fighting for and you can become the hero of your own story.”
Wall Street Bullies may be considered external forces that can work against investors, but as participants at the American Dream Experience can discover, investors can also be susceptible to potential internal threats attacking their financial futures.
“Your brain is not hard-wired for investing success,” says Matson. “It is hard-wired for basic survival.”
Investing Biases
Internal biases are systematic errors in the thinking that impacts one’s choices and judgments.4 “Cognitive biases can distort your thinking, leading to poor decision-making and false judgments,” says Matson.
Common biases that have the potential to destroy investors’ American Dreams can include hindsight bias, false patterning bias, prestige bias, confirmation bias, overconfidence bias, necessary lie bias, recency bias, herding bias, and familiarity bias. Matson takes investors through these biases at the American Dream Experience and coaches investors on how they can not only be cognizant of potential biases but how they can be mindful of their own thinking.
“Most of us like to believe that we use logic when making important decisions in life,” says Matson. “But most investment decisions are filtered and colored by emotions and not science.”
Participants in the American Dream Experience can leave Day 1 having discovered their True Purpose for Money, having begun to lay the framework to be a conscious investor, and having a new understanding of the potential forces working against them achieving their American Dream. Participants have an opportunity during Day 2 of the American Dream Experience to create the possibility for a new world of investing.
DISCLOSURE:
1. Dictionary.com. <www.dictionary.com/browse/purpose> Web. Accessed 19 June 2019.
2. Lexico.com. Web accessed 6/23/2022. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/con_man
3. Matson, Mark (2021). Main Street Money: How to Outwit, Outsmart & Out Invest the Wall Street Bullies. Pg 5.
4. Vinney, Cinthia. Thought Co. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 23 Agust 2022<www.thoughtco.com/cognitive-bias-definition-examples-4177684> Web. Accessed 23 October 2019.
This content is based on the views of Matson Money, Inc. This content is not to be considered investment advice and is not to be relied upon as the basis for entering into any transaction or advisory relationship or making any investment decision.
This content includes the opinions, beliefs, or viewpoints of Matson Money and its Co-Advisors. All of Matson Money’s advisory services are marketed almost exclusively by either Solicitors or Co-Advisors. Both Co-Advisors and Solicitors are independent contractors, not employees or agents of Matson.
Other financial organizations may analyze investments and take a different approach to investing than that of Matson Money. All investing involves risks and costs. No investment strategy (including asset allocation and diversification strategies) can ensure peace of mind, guarantee profit, or protect against loss.