• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wealth Pilgrim

No Money Worries. No Matter What.

Neal Frankle featured in
  • Home
  • Life Insurance
  • Investing
    • Build Strong Investment Building Blocks To Avoid Going Broke In Retirement
    • Systematic Mutual Fund and ETF Investing
    • Stock Market Investing Guide
    • Choosing the Right Investment Brokerage Guide
    • How Bonds Work Guide
    • How Banks Really Work Guide
    • Annuities – What You Need To Know Before You Invest
    • A Beginners Guide To Buying Individual Stocks
    • Create A Pool Of Great Mutual Funds and ETFs To Pick From To Secure Your Retirement
    • ETF and Index Fund Investment Guide
  • Earn More
  • Banking
  • Retirement Planning
    • Retirement Guide
  • Ask Neal a Question
  • Reviews
    • Upgrade Personal Loans Review
    • Lending Club Review
    • Prosper Review
    • Ally Invest TradeKing Review
    • CIT Bank Review
    • LegalZoom Review
    • Lexington Law Review
    • Airbnb Host Review
    • Should You Drive For Uber?
  • Tax
  • Courses
    • Raise Your Credit Score So You Can Buy a House – Free Video Course

The Big Money Secrets I Learned as a Trapeze Artist

by Neal Frankle, CFP ®, The article represents the author's opinion. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info.

I recently discovered some very valuable money secrets that can be applied whether you’re considering being self-employed or creating wealth. I finally realized that at times, I have to take action when every part of my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional body screams “NO!” And I learned this lesson 30 feet off the ground as I took to the air with the greatest of ease. (If you are a real glutton for punishment, you can view the entire spectacle below.)

OK. You saw the video. We both know I’m no trapeze artist. In fact, this was the first time I ever “graced” the big ring. But let me tell you how I got up there and how I came to “the big secret.”

I was relaxing peacefully on the beach while on vacation. A group of circus performers set up next to me and demonstrated their acrobatic skills. Soon, they invited the audience to participate. The 7-year-old in me was dying to give it a try. The 52-year-old in me gave the 7-year-old a time-out and continued sipping the chilled cola in my hands.

Naturally, there were a lot of other people watching the performers. One little girl (no older than 5) was visibly conflicted. She wanted to climb up there and give it a try, but she was afraid. I overheard the instructor tell her that it was normal to be afraid – bouncing around in the air is indeed a frightening proposition. But in reality, there was no danger involved. He showed her the nets and the harnesses. He explained that thousands of people had done it before and not one ever got hurt.

That’s all she needed. She swaggered up to the ladder – after throwing me a confident smirk. She let fly and did beautifully. I can’t tell you if it was that speech, her smirk or my unwillingness to be upstaged by a post-toddler, but for whatever reason, I was sold and gave it my best.

What has any of this got to do with you and making the best investments? What’s the “big money secret”?

The secret is that sometimes you have to go against yourself.

Before I put one toe on that ladder, I understood that the very worst thing that could happen would be for me to fall into the net looking like a monkey in electric shock. Moreover, it would be a slow fall – the pros were all around me with harnesses and ropes. If it worked out well, I might find myself in a new career. Either way, I’d walk away with an experience I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Even though I understood all of this intellectually, I still froze as you can see in the first four or five seconds of the video. What finally got me off of that platform? I acknowledged my fear but remembered that my intellect was in charge at that moment – not my heart.

If you need to take some financial action, expect fear but don’t be paralyzed by it. Carefully consider the pros and cons. Once you make a decision based on all the facts, that’s it. Don’t allow your heart to override your head. Anticipate and acknowledge your fear because it’s a natural human reaction. Just don’t be overcome by the fear.

Make a decision, execute and don’t look back. Don’t wait for everything to “feel” right before you take a step off. I promise you, the perfect moment never comes.

Tweet
Pin
Share

Reader Interactions

User Generated Content (UGC) Disclosure: Please note that the opinions of the commenters are not necessarily the opinions of this site.

Comments

  1. Brana west says

    April 17, 2009 at 4:01 PM

    Great act! I heard Mimi encouraging you in the background. Way to go Mimi. As with all financial decisions as well, an encouraging spouse helps you accomplish your goals.

    Fantastic reading as always!

    Reply
    • Neal says

      April 17, 2009 at 5:13 PM

      Right you are. Mimi is certainly my better half…make that my better 5/6

      Reply
  2. Joanna says

    April 17, 2009 at 8:40 AM

    Does Ringling Brothers have room for flying CFPs? If so, you’re in.

    Sometimes it can be easier to make a decision than to actually execute. It’d be interesting to explore the process that happens to spur the execution after a decision is made.

    Thanks for the video!

    Reply
    • Neal says

      April 17, 2009 at 5:14 PM

      Great point. I wonder if the ability of the human to have faith and act is one thing that separates us from the other animals….

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Are You Human? * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Primary Sidebar

Who is Neal Frankle

Neal Frankle

I'm a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional with more than 25 years of experience. I feel very blessed and hope to share my personal financial experience and professional wisdom with readers of WealthPilgrim.
Read More »

Stay Connected

Facebook Twitter YouTube RSS

More Categories

Career Development
College Funding
Credit Cards
Credit Score Fixes
Money and Marriage
Debt Relief
Estate Protection
Property Investment Loans
Small Business Strategies
Spend Less Money

Disclaimer

Wealth Pilgrim is not responsible for and does not endorse any advertising, products or resource available from advertisements on this website. Wealth Pilgrim receives compensation from Google for advertising space on this website, but does not control the advertising selection or content. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers. The information contained in WealthPilgrim.com is for general information or entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice. Please contact an independent financial professional for advice regarding your specific situation. Wealth Pilgrim does not provide investment advisory services and is not a registered investment adviser. Neal may provide advisory services through Wealth Resources Group, a registered investment adviser. Wealth Pilgrim and Wealth Resources Group are affiliated companies. In accordance with FTC guidelines, we state that we have a financial relationship with some of the companies mentioned in this website. This may include receiving payments,access to free products and services for product and service reviews and giveaways. Any references to third party products, rates, or websites are subject to change without notice. We do our best to maintain current information, but due to the rapidly changing environment, some information may have changed since it was published. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers.


About · Contact · Disclaimer & Privacy policy

Copyright © Wealth Pilgrim 2022 All Rights Reserved