I chose four words to describe Jameson Capital’s values and vision: Preservation, Growth, Legacy, and Courage. I’ll address all four of these in separate posts. But I want to start with the last one: courage.

Many people have described courage as not the absence of fear, but the willingness to act despite the presence of fear. I think this is accurate.

And I can’t think of a scarier domain than money. When it comes to money, we get scared. In fact, we are downright overwhelmed with fear. This is why so many financial advisors and financial planners exist—because we want a professional to handle it! (Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not down on financial planners & advisors; having a personal “board of directors” or counsellors in our lives is a good thing.)

But what if you chose to act with courage instead of fear, or rather in the face of that inevitable fear? What could that small change do for your life this year? What about in 10 years? This is where our legacy starts to come into play (but that’s for another post).

When we make a poor financial decision, our gut reaction is to say “I’ll never do that again!” and to retreat into a cocoon of safety. But courage lurks out in the wild. Courage calls to us from our cave of safety and says to try again. Learn from your mistakes; don’t just run from them.

One of my worst financial mistakes only cost me $700. It still nags at me. I filled out a card at a mall for a “FREE” Bahamas vacation. I got a call a week later saying I’d won. And I never win these types of things! (My “scam” meter went up, but my optimism drowned out the noise.)

Maybe this time it’s legit, I thought. I did my best due diligence by researching online for reviews. Lo, and behold, there were some people saying it was NOT a scam, but to lower your expectations of the quality. Still, I went forward with it. Signed up, gave my credit card over the phone, and waited to book my dream vacation.

Needless to say, it’s been over 2 years, and I still haven’t gone on that vacation.

Now, I could say that I’ll never go on vacation to the Bahamas. Or, I could say that I’ll learn from this mistake and look for even more ways to vet a “winning ticket” type of call.

Courage is a choice. And we are better served when we lean in to courage, rather than shirk back in fear. (Plus, I think our legacy is also better served by our courage.)