Do you make big money decisions with a process, or a gut feeling and a friend's word? This week: a process you can actually run.
A saying is not a system. Neither is a gut feeling.
InvestBetter™ episode 5 is about how to make investment decisions with a process, so the next opportunity gets a real answer: yes, not now, or no.
How to make investment decisions: run every opportunity through the same set of questions before you say yes, and let the answers decide. Most people do not. They have a gut feeling, a saying their dad used, and a friend who vouches for the deal. In this episode Sten Morgan talks with Jeremie Kubicek, an entrepreneur, author and co-founder of GiANT, who grew up on a family farm in Oklahoma where every season starts with the same three questions: what goes in, what it costs, and what comes back. He has carried that into every business he has built, and into the deals he now says no to.
Why is all money not equal?
Because every dollar comes with strings. Money borrowed from a bank is not the same as money from an uncle, and neither is the same as an investor's check. Each one carries different expectations, and those expectations shape what you can do later. Jeremie's aha came while scaling companies with other people's capital: the question is never just "can I get the money?" It is "what is attached to it, and do I want that attached to me?" That is why he puts it this way:
How to make investment decisions: the five-question process
Jeremie runs every new idea through a set of gates before it becomes a company. If it does not clear one, he kills it or shelves it, with no drama and no late-night second-guessing. Sten runs clients through the four checks from Episode 1. Put them together and you get five questions and one decision. Answer them in order, and do not skip one because the answer is uncomfortable.
What is the goal?
What are you trying to accomplish, and what do you expect back? If you cannot say it in a sentence, you are not ready to say yes.
Whose money is it?
Your savings, a loan, family money and investor money each come with different strings and expectations. Know them before you take them.
Does it pass the four checks?
Risk, performance, time and fees. Does the risk fit you, is the upside real, will it eat your calendar, and what does it cost?
How does it fit the whole picture?
Weigh it against everything you own and run, not just one account. One more good deal can still be the wrong deal for you.
Are the three plans in place?
A business plan, a financial plan and a people plan. A funded idea with no one to run it is a car with the engine on, going nowhere.
Good ideas that are not right yet go in an idea bucket you revisit once a year. "Not now" is a complete answer.
Why does a process beat a good instinct?
Sten asked Jeremie whether most of the people he works with have a process. His answer: almost none. They have a mantra, something they read or heard once, and they call it a strategy. A process is different. You can run it at eleven at night, on an idea that excites you, and still get a straight answer. Jeremie's one investment he regrets most went through exactly one filter, a friend's credibility. With the other five questions, he says, he would not have done it.
What should your advisor be looking at?
Jeremie's message to advisors was blunt: walk a mile in my shoes. An owner's portfolio is not one account. It is the businesses, the real estate, the people, and the dollars set aside for taxes, all at once. If someone can look at the risk across all of it, not just the part they manage, that is worth having in the room. That is the standard a complete financial plan is built on, and it is a fair question to bring to whoever you work with.
Do this week
- Write the five questions on one page and run one live opportunity through them.
- Start an idea bucket for everything that gets a "not now."
- Ask your advisor to walk through the risk across everything you own and run, not just one account.
Jeremie's last word was about patterns: see where things are going, know who you are, and partner with people who have a system for it. You will not get every call right. But a process means the misses are smaller, the yeses are deliberate, and the good ideas that are not ready yet are waiting for you instead of chasing you.
Two pages: the five questions and the decision, three quotes from the episode, a five-line self check, three questions to ask your advisor, and three steps for the next two weeks.
See where you stand across the core areas of a plan. It is not a financial plan, but it is a clear first step.
One short note a week with the new episode. Nothing else.
FAQs
How do you make better investment decisions?
Use the same process every time: name the goal, know whose money it is, run the four checks on risk, performance, time and fees, weigh it against everything you own, confirm the business, financial and people plans, then answer yes, not now, or no.
What does "all money is not equal" mean?
Money from a bank, from family and from investors each comes with different strings and expectations. Those strings shape what you can do later, so the source of the money is part of the decision.
What is an idea bucket?
A list for good ideas that are not right yet. Instead of saying yes to everything or losing the idea, you park it and revisit the list once a year. Jeremie keeps dozens there.
