As a financial advisor for the past 20 years, the question that I’ve likely received most often is some version of, “So, how are we doing, you know, relative to our peers?” We have an innate desire to be successful, don’t we, or at least better than someone else? And while I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a healthy competitive impulse or a desire to win, one of the more soul-sapping traps, especially in financial planning, is that of comparison—which Teddy Roosevelt called “the thief of joy.” Much like in arm wrestling, there’s always somebody better. CIRCA 1967: Viktor...