Knowing and doing are two different things. We were reminded of this recently, during a Financial Literacy Month discussion. A colleague surprised us with a contrarian opinion on financial literacy.

Conventional thinking is that the presence of so many people who fail to save for retirement and make costly mistakes is proof that more and better financial education is needed. Our colleague asked us whether the issue was one of knowing, or one of doing?

“Consider what we know about health and what we do about health,” he said. By some estimates, lack of exercise and poor eating habits lead to millions of deaths each year, not to mention deaths from tobacco use and alcohol abuse. Haven’t we all heard about these things?

Likewise, most people may have heard that investing for the future is a good idea, and spending within one’s means. But surveys show that many are ill-prepared for retirement.

Whoever first said “knowledge is power” perhaps was only partly right. Wall Street pioneer Roger Babson wrote a century ago:

“Experience has taught me that there is one chief reason why some people succeed and others fail. The difference is not one of knowing, but of doing. So far as success can be reduced to a formula, it consists of this: doing what you know you should do.”

Our view at 228 Main is that ‘knowledge in action is power.’ We will continue to promote knowledge and awareness of financial and investment concepts and ideas. But we will also work to motivate and persuade on the merits of taking worthwhile action.

Knowing. And doing. We need both in order to get where we want to go. Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.