Once a quarter, I write a newsletter intended to convey relevant, timely, useful and inspiring information and resources. This quarter, I penned an article about the equity market’s five-year run of appreciation without a major correction (as measured by the S&P or Dow Jones Industrial Average). I discussed the potential downside risk to an investment portfolio – and offered prudent actions investors could take to reduce portfolio risk.

When I finished the article, I titled it: “5 Ways to Reduce Risk on Your Portfolio.” After reading and editing the article, I decided not to use it. Not because of the content, which I believe is sound and meaningful, but because of the attention-grabbing headline.

Getting Your Audience’s Attention

Today, gaining and holding your reader’s attention is getting harder and harder. To a large extent, this is a result of the ever-increasing volume of content bombarding readers in so many mediums. In addition to “old” media of TV, newspapers, and magazines, now the choices have exponentially multiplied by the “new” media. Old news: Back in 2010, a Pew research study found that more Americans were getting their news from the internet than from TV or print media. This means that “small” voices, such as mine, have an uphill battle to get our message across – even to our most loyal readers.

Another study found that people are using four or five different devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablets, and choosing among a multitude of “apps” to access the information and entertainment they seek. From Facebook to Twitter to Buzzfeed, the battle for eyeballs and clicks is big business and adds up to big bucks. Buzzfeed feeds its readers a steady stream of abbreviated stories with appealing and attention-grabbing headlines. Here are just a few: “11 Foods That May Be The Fountain of Youth,” “29 Little Things Guys Can Do To Be Instantly More Attractive” and — believe it or not — “15 Things That Are Very Different When You Have Big Boobs.”

Just a headline or actual useful content

With this continuous bombardment and the never-ending demands on our time, attention spans have shrunk. To complicate matters, people may be looking for a quick fix to a problem that may take time to solve, or for which there is no easy solution. When it comes to financial issues, endless articles shout out to potential readers, with (actual) headlines such as: “7 Ways to be healthy, wealthy and wise,” “The 5 Best Ways to Make Extra Money in 2014,” “25 Unusual Ways to Make Quick Money,” and “1 Billionaire Reveals 5 Simple Ways to Make Money from Stocks.” The latter is from the Motley Fool, and the content was sparse, disappointing and not at all “simple.”

“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” – David Ogilvy

All of this made me rethink my original premise. Can I offer meaningful insight about portfolio risk if it is reduced to an attention-grabbing headline? How can five bullet-point ideas about portfolio risk reduction apply to every situation? The idea is absurd. The truth is that it is not “simple” to fully understand the different types of investment risks and their causes. It is not “easy” to know how these multiple variables influence investment returns. Even more difficult is to understand human behavior and how that affects our investment choices and the risks we take or don’t take.

Our Approach

We understand that each individual is different. Each person faces a unique set of issues based on individual experiences, resources, expectations, needs, and desires. Our task at HK Financial is to guide each person individually to learn about his or her relationship to wealth, money and investing, and discover a context and meaning to life so every individual can make sound and informed investment decisions.

So if you want answers to questions about your specific investment portfolio and want a better understanding of your risk tolerance (or intolerance), then please call us to arrange a complimentary consultation. We will share ways to reduce risk that are specific to your investment portfolio. Or, if you are willing to go deeper, to understand your behavior as it relates to your wealth and life, please sign up for WealthCouncil. WealthCouncil is a safe environment where you and others take turns talking and listening in a group format, in response to pertinent questions posed by experienced facilitators.