Ambition: Where There's A Wheel There's A Way

The Age

Saturday March 1, 2008

Marcus Padley

The fact that alloys exist tells us how most of us are wired - to impress other people.

SEND a Martian to Earth to make some objective observations and there are a few things he simply will not understand. On top of supreme beings picking up after dogs, the next on the list would surely be alloy wheels. What's going on there? Not sure quite why but a while ago one of my mates paid $4500 for a set.

It would probably have been all right had he, one, told his wife before he bought them; two, didn't have a monster of a mortgage; three, had a car worth more than $10,000 to put them on; and four, spent more time looking after the kids than he does lying around on the sofa doing generally very little while watching Carlton pick up the wooden spoon. He spent a good couple of months on combat rations. Didn't get much to eat, either.

If happiness is the anticipation of an improvement in our standard of living, then alloy wheels are designed to communicate to everyone else that we have arrived. They have no other practical purpose. It is all about appearing to progress in our wealth and status.

The fact that they exist tells us how most of us are wired - to impress other people. This flaw has tremendous qualities, such as driving us to succeed, but it is also an expensive, stressful, time-consuming and, from a Martian's point of view, pointless conditioning. It also makes us vulnerable, to the financial services industry in particular. Accepting that everyone has the constant need to improve, it becomes clear how to sell. You deliver the promise of improvement.

When I went into broking, my mentor gave me this line: "Broking, Marcus, is about three things, packaging hope, delivering on that hope, and executing as many trades as you can in the meantime."

To elaborate, here is the three-step guide to broking.

? People buy hope. Offer that and wallets will open. You can deliver hope for an instant (today's trade) or you can deliver it for longer.

If you want the client to stick, you'd better deliver it for longer. The only way to do that is with a structure. A plan. To be happy, people need to know they are on a path. Show them a path.

? Deliver. There is only one creed in broking. Make people money. You make people money and the money will follow. Make other people successful and your success is guaranteed. Luckily the pursuit of money is one of the greatest games in town.

? Execute. A lot of a broker's role is facilitating trade. Turning thoughts into trades. Every time a client comes on the phone he has something on his mind. Your job is to find out what that is and act on it as quickly as possible. Time is money. Don't waste time. Get to the point.

Of course that was back in 1980, before the accelerator pedal, before leverage. Things have changed. The financial services industry now not only sells hope, it sells speed.

Selling leverage is a core function. Some products are transparent, such as margin lending. Some are less so such as CFDs. Some are incredibly complex. The more promising, complex and glossy the story, the more you will pay in interest.

This whole industry is about selling product by raising hopes. The whole game is about leaving someone else with the risk while you take the interest. Of course, you already knew that.

You have to wonder what the world would be like if we cured ourselves. If we didn't have to impress anyone any more. If you could find satisfaction without congratulation. If happiness was no longer achieved through anticipation of an improvement in our lifestyle but by a satisfaction with our current lifestyle. Learning to appreciate what is, not what could be.

The financial services industry would be out of business. Alloy wheels wouldn't exist. Everything would be a lot less stressful and life a lot cheaper.

Of course it will never happen. A 6000-year course in Buddhism might eventually deliver satisfaction to you, but it's not much use if the other half isn't satisfied. And there's the rub. Back to the grindstone for me.

Marcus Padley is a stockbroker and author of the daily sharemarket newsletter Marcus Today. For a free trial, go to www.marcustoday.com.au

© 2008 The Age

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