Author's Name: Helen Olin-Harold

A few years ago, Sam received an inheritance after his father's death. Due to his deep grief and the pressures of work, marriage, and raising his children, he couldn't decide how to deal with the inheritance. He decided to put the money in a savings account at a local bank. Every now and then, he would think about how to invest the money. He knew he had to invest it in... well, something. Throughout the year, he received several phone calls from a very formal bank employee, who was known as the wealth management officer. This employee would call about the money and suggest that they meet for a follow-up meeting.
Sam went to the bank, and the clerk offered him coffee and a small cake, and talked to him about his children, his job, and his plans for the upcoming summer vacation. Then the clerk offered him a solution, which he described as almost foolproof, and he began talking very quickly about expected profit rates, risks, and the importance of the stock market.
Then, the wealth manager, or wealth management specialist, or whatever his job title was, asked Sam to sign the paperwork immediately so the money could start rolling in, as he put it. Sam refused to sign; he knew there were unscrupulous people in the money management industry and wanted to study the matter very carefully.
So Sam called his friends and friends of friends. Some of these friends worked in finance, or were married to people in finance, so they could give him suggestions based on their years of experience in their field, or their partners. One of them suggested that Sam manage the money, but he didn't say how much he would be paid for his time and effort. Another said he would contact Vanguard and put the money in something called an index fund. Another suggested investing in bonds. A few talked about dividing the money up by percentages among different investment projects. Another friend suggested using a financial advisor named Kelly, who had done him great work in the past.
But others told Sam terrifying stories. For example, a friend convinced him to invest in technology stocks in 1999, but he lost "a certain amount," as the storyteller put it. A coworker told him about a seemingly good family friend who pushed her mother to invest her money in an investment field that didn't yield the expected returns, leaving her mother in a worse position than she was. Several people also mentioned the story of Bernie Madoff, the investment fraudster.
It was confusing; everyone seemed to have a different opinion, and everyone was so sure they were right... certain they either had the secret to making the money grow, or proof that it would inevitably be stolen. Sam panicked; he needed the money; he wanted to send his children to college, and he couldn't risk losing it.
So Sam ended up... doing nothing.
But Sam's savings didn't end up losing a significant portion of their value due to inflation. The stock market also performed well during that period, and of course, Sam didn't benefit from these gains. He didn't take any action, just stood there, doing nothing, because the sheer number of options and uncertainties surrounding investment choices, the economy, and the financial services sector had paralyzed him.