Money Talks: When Financial Planning Turns Into Overthinking

"Too little information and you’re blind. Too much and you're blinded." 

– Stuart Turton, The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

This isn't a quote from an investing legend or a behavioral economist, but from a mind-bending, time-looping mystery novel (which I’d recommend if you’re looking for something different for your next vacation read). In The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, the protagonist must solve a murder by inhabiting the bodies of eight different witnesses.

Beyond its twists and turns, the book offers a lesson that extends well beyond fiction—one that perfectly parallels one of the biggest challenges in investing and financial planning: balancing uncertainty and overanalysis. Too little information, and you’re blind. Too much, and you start second-guessing everything.

The Risk of Too Little Information

Investing without enough knowledge is like setting out on a cross-country road trip without a map or GPS. You might eventually reach your destination, but not without unnecessary detours, wasted time, and costly wrong turns. In finance, those detours don’t just cost time—they cost real money.

Take Roth conversions. On the surface, they seem straightforward, a smart way to move money into a tax-free account. But many investors realize too late that they’ve triggered the pro-rata rule, making a portion of their conversion taxable. They were on the right track, but they had blind spots. This rule affects anyone with pre-tax IRA balances, but it’s a common trap for high-income earners.

Then there’s the cycle of trend-chasing, fueled by financial headlines and social media. One day, everyone is piling into short-term Treasuries because “cash is yielding more than stocks.” The next, it’s AI stocks or some other hot sector that’s “guaranteed” to outperform. These aren’t strategic moves, they’re knee-jerk reactions to headlines.

This is a classic case of the Dunning-Kruger effect, where a little knowledge breeds confidence, but not enough to reveal the blind spots.

But overcorrecting, trying to absorb every possible piece of information, doesn’t solve the problem. It often just creates a new one.

The Risk of Too Much Information

If too little information leaves you lost, too much information can leave you paralyzed. More data feels like more control, but at a certain point, it does the opposite and it creates more doubt. This is decision fatigue in action.

Retirees delay Roth conversions because they’ve read too many conflicting opinions. They spend hours trying to optimize for the perfect tax scenario, only to miss opportunities because the “right” answer never feels certain.

Investors obsess over market headlines, convinced they need to react. Every new data point feels like a call to action. Sell, buy, hedge, pivot. In reality, most of it is just noise.

Portfolio allocations get overcomplicated in the pursuit of optimization. Some investors spend months tweaking their asset mix, convinced that a 0.5% shift in international stocks will make all the difference.

People put off important financial decisions, not because they don’t think they need to act, but because they’re stuck trying to determine the “perfect” move. They want more certainty, more analysis, more proof. But in an effort to get everything just right, they end up doing nothing at all.

The Solution? Know What Matters

Great investors and financial planners aren’t the ones who consume the most information; they’re the ones who know what to filter out. The goal isn’t to eliminate uncertainty, it’s to make decisions with clarity despite it.

• Focus on goals, not headlines

• Build a plan, not a forecast

• Make decisions based on discipline, not noise

Because when it comes to your money, you want to be informed, but when you try to see everything, you often lose sight of what matters. Just like in Evelyn Hardcastle, seeing everything at once doesn’t necessarily bring clarity, it often creates more confusion.

The key is knowing what truly moves the needle and focusing on that.

About This Series

The Money Talks blog series explores timeless quotes on wealth, investing, and life, diving into the lessons they offer for making smarter financial decisions. These are the quotes we live by—guiding principles that inspire us to rethink how we manage wealth and life in our complex world.

About the Author

Carson McLean, CFP®, is the founder of Altruist Wealth Management, a flat-fee fiduciary firm specializing in financial planning and investment management for high-net-worth individuals. With over 15 years of industry experience, Carson helps clients cut through the noise, avoid costly mistakes, and make confident financial decisions.

Disclosure:

This material is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as personalized financial advice and should not be construed as a recommendation for any specific investment strategy. Advisory services are offered through Altruist Wealth Management, a registered investment advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.