The WAY to WOW Shows
Procrastination Can Destroy Wealth
September 30, 2026
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[0:02] We spent a lot of time worrying about making the wrong financial decision, but almost none calculating the price of making no decision at all. Waiting can feel safe because no money moves. But sometimes doing nothing is the most expensive choice you can make. Today on People Making Money, procrastination can destroy wealth. Who are [music] you and where are you going? [music]

[0:37] What do you want? Hello and welcome to People Making Money. I'm your host, Kevin Bemel, and I'm here every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about job hunting and being an employee, starting and running a business, and building wealth, all the whole financial side of our life. And I've been doing those topics in reparatory, and today I'm going to be talking about a wealth-b buildinging topic. I I do want to take just a moment to to note that this format of the show

[1:14] will continue until uh the end of October and then starting in November the format of the show is going to change. I'll talk more about it as we get closer to the date but uh please do stay tuned for that. So today, as I mentioned, we're going to be talking about a wealth-b buildinging topic that is procrastination can destroy wealth. And this this is a tough one. Uh and as as big a procrastinator as I am and as much as I work to build systems to

[1:51] prevent myself from procrastinating, I continue to do it. And so it it is it's a very difficult habit to break number one. Um but but also it it can um be a habit that a bad habit that that gets replaced by an equally bad habit and that is to to act too quickly to act without proper thought and consideration. Neither one of those neither of the extremes are useful in our financial lives and building that

[2:27] balance uh is is is difficult. Balance is is always a difficult thing u but especially in our financial lives. So um I'm going to talk about five misconceptions that I think many of us have about investing and how we can reframe them in a way that's uh going to be more productive for us in our lives. So um the first the first uh misconception and probably the biggest misconception around investing is along

[3:04] the lines of I'll start when I have more money, right? Um you know, I'm only making a little bit now. There's there's no point in investing. It's not going to be meaningful. I'm not going to accumulate very much and so ah why bother, right? And the the the reality is that saving and investing um well I mean the the the heart of of the the misconception is that um it you know it's it's only a worthwhile thing to to save in advance and and invest uh

[3:41] when you have you know a significant amount of money with which to do so. Right. And and so the real question should be not uh you know when will I have enough money to make it uh you know worthwhile investing but how can I create the habit of saving and investing and build it up over time. So anyone who was not born wealthy but became wealthy did so over time

[4:18] typically over a long period of time even if the realization of that wealth didn't come until maybe they sold their company or if they were if they're an employee and there was an IPO and they got millions of dollars from the IPO still that that end event is is just the the point at which a long period of over a long period of time value has been built up that now can be realized. And so

[4:54] what matters far more than how much you invest is that you do invest even if it's small amounts at first and you're not building up a you know much of a net worth. the building the habit of investing is is important. And um so the other the other part of this is that the earlier you start investing the more you're able to take advantage of compounding returns. So most of us have

[5:29] heard of you know compounding interest where you basically get interest on the interest that you've already earned. So the sooner in your in your life you can start that the more that compounding will be able to work for you right. So uh for for you know the there when when you start you know falling prey to this misconception think about the cost of the missing years right so [clears throat] if you had if let's say you're 40 now and you

[6:04] know you could have started investing albeit small amounts when you were 30 right now you're 40 you missed out on 10 years so let's say all you could invest for the first few years of those 10 years was maybe you know $50 a month that was $600 a year. Okay. So even if that and then maybe you could do 75 the next year that's 900 and and 100 the next year that's 1,200. Well, in those three years alone, you've got 12 and 9 is 21 and 6 is $2,700

[6:39] plus the accumulated interest could be $2,800, something like that. $2,900, right? But if you if you were to play that out over the 10 years, you might find that you've lost out on anything from 10 15 maybe even $20,000 of uh net worth building number one just for that 10 years. And then if you were to take that $20,000 and what just that could grow to over the next 20 years if you already had it

[7:15] by the time you turn 40, right? You probably lost out on, you know, could be something like, you know, $100,000, which, you know, for pretty much anyone that's that's a, you know, a lot of money, right? And so the the also keep in mind that the ability to catch up is is difficult. So you know starting at 40 catching up for what you could have done when you were in your 30s it's it's not as easy let alone starting at 50 or 60. Now let me

[7:51] add that sometimes because of what happens in life you know we have to start later. Okay. So the best time to have started was young. The next best time to start investing is now. And and that that is a philosophy that I I I hope you will work very hard to embrace. Right? So um the other [clears throat] thing about starting um later in life is we tend to not be able to tolerate as much risk. And so the return that we're going to

[8:27] get if we start later in life is going to be lower than if we start earlier and and can you know take on some additional risk because we do we will have the opportunity to recover for it right. So um again while the best time to start investing might have been sometime in the past that doesn't matter. The best time to start investing is right now. If you haven't done so, right after this, you're done watching this episode, go make an investment. Even if it's $25, $50, right? It's so easy to do. You can set up accounts online in just a few

[9:03] minutes at any major financial institution. There are, you know, online uh uh stock trading platforms like Robin Hood and uh Fidelity. all of these very very easy to set up and just get going with something. Okay. All right. So, that's that's number one. I'll start when I have more money. Big misconception. Don't don't wait. Do it now. Okay. Um the second uh misconception is I'm waiting until I know what the market is going to do,

[9:38] right? Uh so uh you know people delay making making investments decisions um until the economy or interest rates or elections or markets or geopolitical geopolitics become clearer and and that reduces the risk. Those things never become clear. Okay? They they just don't. Uh the world is chaotic. Uh economic markets uh shift all the time. uh and and and that is that that does add risk, but it's also what creates opportunity and

[10:15] to try and time the market is one of the biggest fallacies we can have as investors. So the the the question that's underlying all of this is, you know, what exact when exactly will everything become clear enough for you to be comfortable? And I suspect that if we're honest with ourselves, that answer is never. Right? So we we have to be willing to accept some uncertainty. We have to be willing to accept some risk. Okay? Now in the early days when we're

[10:51] getting our feet wet, we may not be comfortable with a lot of risk. Uh so just work on dealing with the uncertainty and maybe put it into some kind of uh fixed return investment or something like that where it's predictable and you can just just get your feet wet, right? Um or, you know, just take some a little bit of money, maybe a $100 and just play around buying a stock or two here or there. These days when you can buy stocks essentially commissionfree, right? So you can kind of do just just play around with it and

[11:26] instead of thinking of it about it as oh I can't afford to lose this money think about the $100 as I'm buying myself an education right so you know that's a lot cheaper than going to college that's for sure and and see what you can do with the $100 see what mistakes you make and learn from those mistakes so rather than trying to figure out how to time the market. Just go into the market and learn by actually doing, right? So the the the

[12:03] decision not to invest is still a decision, right? And we want to distinguish risk analysis from paralysis, right? So it could be that because of various factors um the risk uh the market is extraordinarily uh volatile at the moment. Okay. So wait until next week. Okay. But the the markets are never calm in the sense that we can predict what they're going to do

[12:40] over the short term. We know what the US stock market is going to do over the long term. it's going to increase. It always has. Okay. Now, there are periods when it declines, but then it makes up those declines and starts to gain again, right? And so, we we have to have some faith in uh the economy and some faith in ourselves and be willing to make some mistakes uh rather than be paralyzed by a fear of risk. So uh you know this this also

[13:15] creates uh like let's say you're already in the market and something happens that you know the tendency is oh I got to get out of the market right not necessarily in general and and when I this is uh when I say in general I mean probably 90% of the time we're better off just kind of writing out whatever turbulence is going on. Uh, and this is another reason for getting started early when we're younger with smaller amounts because we're making smaller mistakes, but we're learning good lessons that we can apply a a as we have more wealth at

[13:52] stake. Right? So, we we don't want to make our objective to eliminate uncertainty. What we we want to do is is to is to learn to make decisions while acknowledging that uncertainty. Right? So, think about what events would cause me to act, what would make me change my mind, you know, um, and how will I know when when one of those or both of those events occur, right? So, if you can't answer those questions, you don't have a

[14:27] strategy. You're probably just procrastinating, right? So, if you're if you're if you're thinking, I'll wait to see what happens and you're thinking that sounds prudent, it it it it isn't. Unless there's an expiration date, okay? Uh what you're doing is you're creating the conditions for procrastination. Okay? [snorts] All right. So, uh, you know, I'm waiting until the market, uh, till until the market is to

[15:02] see what the market or to know what the market is going to do. No, just figure out what the market is doing and make investment decisions based on your best sort of summation, your best judgment as to what will work. And then see if it does. And if it does, great. And if it doesn't, learn from your mistakes and try again. Okay. Uh misconception number three, as long as I don't make a bad decision, I'm not losing anything. Right? So this this is kind of the idea

[15:37] that the the safest way to avoid uh financial mistakes is to maintain the status quo. So the question then is what is the price of doing nothing? So, we tend to notice visible losses and overlook invisible opportunity costs, right? So, if you invest $1,000, if you invest, sorry, $10,000 and lose $1,000. So, it you know, it's obvious you you lost 10% on that investment. But if you leave

[16:15] $10,000 sitting in a very low return investment um for 10 years and you miss out on the opportunity for for growth, in the end you may lose a lot more than than $1,000 in opportunity costs. You might lose $2,000 in opportunity costs or or even more, right? And so, you know, what we want to do is make sure that we're as much as possible

[16:51] optimizing our investments. Okay? And and that is going to mean there's going to be some risk of loss, but that is the the other half of opportunity for gain. Those two go together, right? So what is the price of inaction? Well, let's say you've got some expensive debt, right? U not paying it down is costly. Not refinancing it to a lower interest rate is costly, right? Those are opportunity costs. You don't see

[17:27] them as losses, but they are. So failing to shop for insurance mean can mean that you're overpaying premiums, right? Or you're missing or you're you're carrying inappropriate coverages, right? It can also mean you're not carrying the right coverages and then when you need it, that insurance is not there, right? Again, opportunity costs. So leaving cash idle is an opportunity cost. delaying retirement contributions um can mean missing out on employer matching contributions if if your

[18:03] company does that right. Um putting off tax planning until uh until after a transaction may mean that you're going to pay more taxes because it could have been structured more tax efficiently but it wasn't right. Um, avoiding estate planning. This is a big one, right? This I see in in my practice. Avoiding estate planning typically means a much larger cost for settling your estate. Even if there's no estate taxes due, it's more it's much more expensive to settle an

[18:39] intestate succession than it is one where there's a will or even better a trust. Okay. Uh so staying at an underpaid job, right, because you felt changing jobs was risky, right? Or um if you're running a business, delaying raising prices because you felt like, oh, I didn't want to take the risk. So all of these things are opportunity costs that lower our wealth or lower our ability to build wealth. and

[19:14] uh in the end may accumulate larger losses than anything you'll actually see on paper. So every important delayed decision has an opportunity cost, even one where it never appears on any kind of statement. Okay, let's take a quick break and we'll come back for more. When life brings unexpected changes, managing inherited property shouldn't add to your stress. Magnum Properties specializes in probate and trust real

[19:50] estate management. We handle the complexities while you focus on what matters most. From property maintenance to tenant relations, from legal compliance to maximizing value, we're your trusted partner through every step. Magnum Properties, Inc. turning property challenges into peace of mind. Call us today at 213-264-4396 or visit magnumprops.com. Okay. Misconception number four. I

[20:25] [snorts] need to find the perfect answer before I act. Right? So because financial decisions are so important, you should continue researching until you found the optimal solution. Okay? So when does careful analysis turn into expensive indecision, right? Because that is essentially the road that you're on when you search for the perfect answer. And and the reality is that while some decisions deserve extensive

[21:01] analysis, uh many times perfectionism is really just masquerading as prudence, right? And so the goal isn't to find the sort of theoretically perfect decision. It's to make a good, informed, potentially reversible decision in a reasonable amount of time. Right? And and so that's what's so important is to be able to distinguish between a reversible decision and a difficult to

[21:37] reverse decision. Right? So, uh, choosing where to keep short-term savings that can be, you know, relatively easy. Those are generally speaking liquid investments and so if you need to change them you can uh selecting uh you know various allocation in investments so you have diversity that can be changed too in most cases uh choosing a financial professional to assist you a wealth advisor that can be that can always be reviewed and you can change the person right other other uh

[22:14] decisions are essentially irreversible. Selling your business, exercising options, um uh making tax elections, you know, or or giving away assets. Okay, you you probably can't undo any of those, right? And so those decisions uh need to have greater analysis but that analysis cannot prevent you from in you know in essence pulling the trigger and making the decision. So match the amount of analysis to the consequences and the

[22:51] reversibility of a decision. Okay? So if if if a decision has high reversibility probably doesn't take a whole lot of analysis. Okay. So [clears throat] you really want to uh create a decision deadline. So define the question like okay the question is who should I choose for a financial advisor right determine what information you genuinely need? Well you probably want some information about their experience their track record. Okay. And and how they work with

[23:26] their their clients, right? Um and then identify who should advise you. In other words, who in this case since you're hiring an advisor, who can give you good advice about the kind of advisor you should hire, right? And then establish criteria for the decision, right? Maybe you want them to have a certain number of years. Maybe you don't want them to have too many years because you don't want someone who's too mired in how investing was done 30 40 years ago. Okay? And then set a date for making the decision. Gather your data, correlate

[24:02] it. Um look at your criteria and then decide right um otherwise the I need to think about it. it becomes basically a multi-year financial strategy that leads to nowhere. Right? So, a a a very good decision made on time is much more value than this sort of hypothetical perfect decision that's made too late. The reality is even a good timely decision sometimes will be better than a very

[24:37] good decision that was delayed and therefore uh you know didn't have a proper amount of time to mature. [clears throat and cough] Okay, so that's that's number four. Uh I need I need to find the perfect answer before I act. Nope. Nope. Create a plan and act according to the plan. And then finally, so finally uh the last misconception with which I want to deal is I'll deal

[25:13] with the big financial stuff when I need to, right? So estate planning, succession planning, ins insurance, business exits, retirement planning, all of those sort of difficult family money conversations, they can wait because you know nothing's wrong today and I don't want to rock the boat and you know my there's all these other difficult things going on. So what financial decisions become impossible or dramatically more expensive once the triggering event occurs? And this estate

[25:48] planning is one of those uh things. Once you know you're gone, you're gone. There is no opportunity to do estate planning at that point, right? And so putting off these large financial decisions can be the most um uh can be the worst thing of all. Right? So a some financial opportunities they don't have uh an expiration date that controls you. Okay. So um but others do.

[26:27] So for example, life insurance, it gets more and more expensive as you get older and at some point especially if you have certain underlying health care conditions, it may be so expensive it doesn't make sense to buy it. Whereas if you had bought life insurance earlier on, it would be inexpensive and it'll continue to be inexpensive because now because the policy is in force, right? I I mentioned already estate planning, right? So, uh, you know, some of these decisions,

[27:03] you know, they have to be made and they have to be made early otherwise you're not going to get to have the choice of any decision farther down the road, right? So, [clears throat] identify especially with large decisions, identify decisions where waiting changes the available options. Right? So I mentioned already your health and age can infect can affect your insurability, right? Age can affect um financial options and costs. I I talked about that at the beginning because as we get older, our ability to tolerate risk

[27:40] generally declines, right? Tax rules and personal circumstances change and those can limit our options. Right? Business conditions can deteriorate. So it may be that you know you may not want to sell a business you know right now or in two years or whatever but if you're looking ahead and thinking you know the market for this business is likely to deteriorate over the next 5 to 10 years maybe the smarter choice is selling now getting out at what looks like the peak of the market um rather than you know

[28:17] sort of running the business into the ground right especially if you have key employees who might leave, right? Relationships can change. So, look at all of look look at what what big decisions but what big financial decisions you need to make and then look at what could change the choices you have for how you handle those decisions. actually write those things down and then start dealing with the big decision that is already the most choice constrained constrained. Okay, deal with

[28:54] that and then move move on from there. Right? So waiting distinguish between waiting intentionally and procrastinating accidentally. Right? Be intentional about these things. So uh just a couple of quick closing thoughts. So we usually evaluate financial decisions by asking what happens if I'm wrong. So that that's a fine question. But there's another question we should ask and that is what happens if I wait. Okay. So the cost could be another month of interest. It could be another year

[29:30] without investing, another year of of you know underpricing yourself. So putting off decisions often times can be more costly than making a bad decision. Right? So um while you don't need to make every financial decision today for every important decision you're postponing, know the answer to three questions. For what am I waiting? What is the waiting costing me? And when will I decide? Okay. So um I thank you very much for joining me. If you're a

[30:05] procrastinator like me, in the notes, look down below. You'll see links in the show notes to social media. What um what are you what are you doing to try and counteract your uh your procrastination? Okay, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Okay, real quickly, schedule of shows. These are all Pacific time. Mondays at 10 a.m. Trust in Estates weekly. Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. uh business lessons from the military. Wednesdays like today at 10:00 am people making money and every other Thursday at 5:00 pm join me at Jiggers's place for a

[30:41] cocktail and a smoo and we'll talk about all kinds of non-finance related topics. So once again thank you so much for joining me wishing you a wonderful rest of the day and signing off as I always do. Marie darling, you are my bell.