Emotionally unsatisfying answer

July 31, 2025

Every now and again I’ll get a question that elicits this response: “I’m going to give you an emotionally unsatisfying answer.” Let me expand on why.

Advisors and other professionals charged with dispensing advice will from time to time get a question that involves some serious complexity. It is why someone asked, after all, and they deserve an answer. In our line of business, questions of the sort usually involve distant financial projections, forward-looking assumptions, the possibility of a changing landscape, etc. The soup du jour is the dreaded Roth conversion question. Complicated topics, especially related to money, are a breeding ground for the usual suspects to offer deceptively simple “solutions.” Today, we see this in the rise of finance podcasts and YouTube channels capitalizing on this dynamic. It reminds me of the fitness industry. If “seven-minute abs” was the solution, why are we still bombarded with new ways to get amazing abs?

In especially complicated situations that come with a minefield of options and their resulting frustration and anxiety, we are hardwired to seek certainty and precision in our course of action. We crave it emotionally, and answers that appear to provide it feel like the right thing to do, even if we logically know it’s probably not that easy.

Think of a time when you were in a difficult situation, maybe struggling with a pivotal life decision, and you solicited advice. You might go to the bar with your best friend, who dutifully listens (when not watching the game) and who suddenly and with total conviction says, “Do it! You only live once! Do you want another beer?” In an alternate universe, you went to your therapist, and they reminded you that how we navigate life’s choices is less about the choices and more about how we react when facing their difficulties. They say we might consider how our patterns contribute to anxiety and the need for control, and that we should take a deep breath, exercise, slow down, and remember there are no perfect answers. They remind us the world is complicated, and all we can do is our best and give ourselves some grace when dealing with hard stuff. “Looks like your time is up; I’ll see you next week.” You go home tired; you feel better—sort of—but you’re left with more questions than answers.

You were craving your friend’s response, and its certainty left you feeling awesome, even if it proves to be the wrong choice. But it does nothing to help you with the next conundrum you’ll face. Your therapist left you feeling a bit worn out, maybe needing a nap, and you went home feeling like you had some work to do. In short, it was emotionally unsatisfying. But…importantly, your therapist wasn’t trying to please you; they were being straight up and, in doing so, gave you the tools to hopefully make a better choice now and in the future.

There are plenty of times when I get a question whose answer couldn’t be clearer. “John, I want to use my emergency cash to buy a triple-levered inverse ETF, because the podcast I listen to mentioned that the market is going to…what do you think?” I say, “Do not do that. That is an expensive low-probability bet with a high chance of failure.”

But when you hear me say, “I am going to give you an emotionally unsatisfying answer,” it is because there’s no certainty to be found, nor any precise way to act. That is the truth. I’d rather you be momentarily let down by that than damaged by advice aimed at pleasing our human instinct for control, certainty, and clarity. At the very least, I hope you appreciate the realism.

It's complicated out there. We don’t always have the answers, but we will always have honest responses.

- John Bass