My dear Friends,
Welcome back; I hope you had a fantastic start in 2023, surrounded by friends, family, and the usual bounty of resolutions.
Resolutions like forecasting market trends have become staples when starting a new year, and 2023 was no different. However, assuming my perception is not wrong, there seems to be a confusing number of gurus, with too many contradicting each other.
The modern-day guru covers almost every topic, from mental health to financial well-being, and the growing crowd numbers of people hoping to self-improve are their diligent followers.
As I neither consider myself a guru nor a fortune teller, I will refrain from making any market forecasts for 2023. To add to my case, I remember the many financial market forecasts gurus made for 2022; in the end, most proved very wrong.
I think there is an urgent need to take a closer look at the growing number of self-declared gurus and find out why we should be wary!
A multimillion industry
There is no denying the self-care and personal-growth industry is booming. You can hardly move on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube without falling over snappy advice posts. Like, “putting yourself first isn’t selfish; it’s necessary’. Or “don`t overspend this Christmas.
The formula
To understand this phenomenon, we must understand the formula behind this. First, we need to be convinced that there is a problem, something wrong with us or missing from our lives. Whether it’s wealth, career advancement, a dream relationship, or a guinea pig, it doesn’t really matter.
The reinforcement of inferiority and shame followed them. This makes us to our own renovator’s delight. Similar to a crumbling house riddled with termites and rising damp but presenting an outstanding opportunity for improvement.
Second, there’s always someone to help you find a solution: usually, between 5-10 easy steps will transform us into that elusive ideal version of ourselves. These steps vow to rebuild our shaky foundations and banish the white ants of self-doubt.
Some gurus embellish their recipes for fulfilment with loads of science-sounding language or an industry‘s lingo. The “latest findings” in neuroscience is a favourite: “What neuroscience tells us about overcoming [insert problem of choice].
Huge appetite
Humankind seems to be really troubled. Today self-declared gurus cover all sorts of topics. Their numbers are on a steep upward trajectory. Self-help books dominate book bestseller lists; Social Media offers advice for all kinds of “ailments”, covering a wide span of topics from mental health and finance to weight issues and relationships.
Clearly, it’s boom times for the self-help industry, that’s for sure. The appetite for self-improvement appears endless and has gone up during Covid-19. There is no doubt that some gurus offer valuable insights, but the majority are far from experts in their chosen field.
However, the belief that one only needs enough persistence and the right mindset to be successful, find personal fulfilment or get rich fast is a dangerous fantasy. What started way back in the late 18th century has become a multi-billion business. A $41,81 Billion business, to be precise, with a compound annual growth rate(CAGR) of 5,5% between 2022-2030.
The catchy headline
Headlines that seem to address a problem that weighs us down are tempting, and gurus know that. The content might not offer a solution, but we hope to learn something that can be instrumental in solving our problem.
We have all come across these catchy headlines on social media, book titles or any other publication. “5 incredibly effective ways to work smarter, not harder.” “Most productive people: 6 things they do every day.” “3 Questions that will free your mind and turn your life around.” ” 10 easy steps to be a millionaire in 12 months.”
The New Year, New-You
Each post carries the promise of a New You. A well-rested, effortlessly creative person who goes to the gym five times a week, reads 100 books a year, completes a day’s work in two hours, meditates and journals every morning and launches startup businesses in their spare time in between raising gritty, grateful offspring – all while somehow remaining “stress-free.”
Achieving these ambitious life goals requires nothing more than a few easy-to-implement tips and tricks. Supposedly, some of these tips might even make you unbelievably rich. However, the authors of these posts go to painful lengths to stress that money can’t buy happiness.
Silicon Valley
Let’s be honest. After sifting through dozens of them, one quickly realizes it is not worth the bother. This is not to say there aren’t any meaningful contributions that go far beyond kitchen-table psychology and common sense. Sadly, many serious content creators with a more humble approach do not get the traction they deserve, partly thanks to the SEO playbook. SEO conformity brings headlines or content the traction they need. Sadly search engine usability prevails over value, researched, and actually the actually helpful content.
In many ways, search machines and social media have made our lives easier. At the same time, Silicon Valley manipulates what we read, what we search for, or who we should believe. The catch is that the very system that is supposed to help us lures us into likes and clicks or to buy the ultimate gadget, book, or course. The same system facilitates the creation of self-declared gurus that are far from experts.
“The inescapable truth the gurus never tell you is that self-improvement never ends.”
Richard Whittall, National Post
The guru and narcissism
There were once a handful of financial market superstars—mostly seasoned members of a financial institution, successful financiers or outstanding fund managers. Today’s wealth and finance literature is spread across an online army of authors and bloggers, with only a few standing out. The vast majority clambers to get a piece of the action. Helping you is secondary; however, helping themselves to make more money is a priority.
To become a modern-day “guru”, they only have to engineer somehow a brand that works for them. Then hire the right influencers, pay for some celebrity support and publish a few articles to gain traction. Voila, the guru‘s success is ready to skyrocket. How helpful or insightful the content and any credentials are actually less important.
There is one thing most self-declared gurus have in common, something far more deceptive: the over-inflated ego. These gurus consider their wealth, success and views as strictly their own doing. They believe they somehow masterminded their success story and did not have the slightest doubt that their stories will inspire others. In short, most gurus have an overabundance of self-help but totally lack self-awareness.
Easy solutions
Their most annoying habit is the trivialization of people’s real problems in an attempt to provide easy solutions. People want a quick fix, and self-help gurus, like fortune tellers and people who sell you the “miracle” diet/exercise plan, are more than happy to tell you what you want to hear and avoid the actual eventuality that change is hard work and is most likely to fail.
A self-declared guru will not tell you anything you don’t already know. What their followers fail to realize is that these gurus are extreme narcissists. It’s not about you; it’s them. They want you to think their actions are for the goodwill of others, yet they only benefit themselves. They advance, mainly financially, due to the support of their followers, while their followers fail to achieve anything.
The Financial Guru
“Being rich doesn’t mean you know how to help other people get rich”. Please take one of the most famous financial gurus out there, Dave Ramsey, whose Twitter reads like the main difference between you, a plebeian, and him, a mega-rich, is that you are at fault for continuously buying things you don’t need. Really?
“typical millionaire lives in a middle-class home, drives a two-year-old or older paid-for car, and buys blue jeans at Wal-Mart.”
Dave Ramsey
Usually, their advice makes broad assumptions about human behaviour they likely know nothing about. At worst, they’re pushing misinformation for their financial gain.
Like how the diet industry doesn’t want you to lose weight, dating apps don’t want you to find love, and finance gurus don’t want you to get rich or else they’ll lose their customers. Their personal finance advice prefers you stay where you are financially.
Finance gurus are incentivized by gaining followers, not by giving you accurate economic guidance. Having a marketable personality will work for them better than the level of nuance that personal finance demands. At the end of the day, personal finance gurus will give advice that’s better for them than it is for you.
“For folks who are looking to begin their investment journey, check out Wealthxyz, I trust they will make my money work for me”.
Anthony Robbins, Life & Business Strategist
The myth and knots
But while the New Cult’s mode of delivery and the variety of channels has changed in recent years, the dubious scientism remains the same, including the reliance on questionable interpretations of neurological research and anecdotes from the rich and famous to back up claims.
Despite the more significant number of voices in the choir, the chorus is very much in unison – most of the new self-improvement advice on offer is more or less the same with minor variations, and it’s not exactly groundbreaking but common sense wrapped in scientific pseudo language.
With self-declared gurus, god only knows where half of these people come from. It’s a market-driven rather than a peer-reviewed industry. The onus is on the reader to sift through the material and decide what’s credible and what’s not.
The inescapable truth the gurus never tell you is that self-improvement never ends. Even after we’ve made changes to improve our lives, we can’t help but think we could be running faster, taking more time for ourselves, or being more productive at work, all the while ignoring or discounting the positive changes we’ve already put into place over the years. And, of course, legions of self-improvement writers are poised to take advantage of our restless need to tweak with new and slightly different listicles on how to eat better, work faster, or lose weight.
“The reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, not for one minute, been money.”
Oprah Winfrey, Talkshow Moderator, Self-help Author
The 2023 market forecast
While news media presents us with an increasingly populated world under the sway of vast, faceless and unseen forces – economic market cycles, demographic shifts, geopolitical tensions, climate change – the finance guru pushes the reassuring notion that our personal choices determine our financial well-being.
We are fed with forecasts cloaked in financial market lingo to make sure you or I can barely make sense. Then the guru, after having told us what will happen to the financial markets over the next 12 months or so, the guru will advise on how best to invest in weathering the storm he has forecast.
Of course, the forecast only materializes in parts, and his advice fails. The fault is ours because we did something wrong. Now, because we blame ourselves for failure, the only solution left is to buy this guru’s services. Be it a book, a DVD, a course, or we succumb to employ his wealth/financial management service. We subscribe to the App or any other gadget they have developed – all at a discount- available only if you subscribe to something else on offer a.s.a.p
So, just because someone is famous, has a million followers, or whatever else makes Silicon Valley and Google‘s SEO happy does not mean any of the guru‘s advice is evidence-based, valid, or helping your problem-if. There is one.
Speed Read
There are many obstacles that stand in the way of making financial decisions. The global economy, political developments, natural disasters or a health crisis, to name a few. The self-declared financial guru is unlikely to have the answer to your specific problem because his motives are primarily self-serving. Some might be able to show you the way, but ultimately, you will have to make informed decisions. So, don`t waste your time and money on the many 2023 financial market forecasts – they are probably self-serving.
Rather than trusting the mostly contradictory forecast by self-declared financial gurus, gather your information, stay knowledgeable, boost your financial confidence, trust your gut feeling, join a peer group and seek professional advice from someone who knows your circumstances and has your interest at heart.
