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People sometimes get intimidated when it comes to personal finance, especially in areas like investing or taxes. Often this is because they don’t have enough information to really understand the implications of what they plan on doing. That happens to me as well, but I pretty much just blunder through and chalk mistakes up to a learning experience.

Usually I start out with an idea of what I want to do (begin investing in stocks, for example) and just sort of jump in with both feet on a small scale. I learn most easily by doing, so that works for me.

But I also read up on the subject, talk to people who have done similar things, review articles from experts, and look at what has happened in similar situations in the past. Google and the library are my friends.

That “investigating” stage can create problems for me though, because I begin to doubt myself. Of COURSE people like Warren Buffet are better at investing than me. (There’s the understatement of the year.) Of COURSE a fee-only financial planner who works with stocks every day has more experience with investing than I do. Why should I think that I know more about the subject than they do? I don’t.

But does that mean that I should automatically take their actions as being better than mine? No. Sometimes my instincts are right, and when that quiet little voice pipes up, I need to listen to it.

I need to be sure that I’m doing the things I’m doing for reasons that make sense to me. And “well Warren Buffet did it” isn’t necessarily a sensible reason. Generally speaking by the time people hear about something Warren Buffet did, the situation that prompted him to do whatever it was has probably changed.

I need to examine what’s prompting me to consider the things I’m considering. Is it because I read something in Google Finance? (Along with zillions of other people…) Is it because a heard something from someone I know? (How do they know about it?)

It’s sort of like going to a store, seeing something on sale, and wanting to buy it. If I didn’t want to buy it before I went to the store, why do I suddenly want to buy it now? Just the act of examining my motives and urges can help me to avoid mistakes.

Feelings over brain (and examining what prompted those feelings) works for me the vast majority of the time. So I’m learning not to ignore my instincts. They’re there for a reason.

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