Lead Weight Of Responsibility

This content today is extremely different to normal, but I need to get it out, as it's pressing on my mind. Unusually, this page is not about a cold assessment of an investment provider or lending tips. Instead, it's all about me.

I have to say, that makes me uncomfortable, but here goes. And, to warn you, it's different, because it's personal and emotional, so brace yourselves or switch to another of our more normal, recent research pages now if you don't like that stuff.

I want to tell you about responsibility. I have a problem with it, in that I take it very, very seriously. I carry it through all aspects of my life and when I fail in any of my responsibilities I feel a deep shame.

I have talked to therapists about this. They've helped a little bit. What helps me more is people who help me laugh at taking myself too seriously. But in the end I mostly just live with it.

Running 4thWay and leading the research, I have carried responsibility here through 11 years now.

My responsibility at 4thWay is to you: the lenders. In over a decade, we still have a perfect record in terms of calling the good eggs and the bad ones when conducting the calculated stress tests that underpin the 4thWay PLUS Ratings. And we have an excellent record in the research that leads to our reviews and other content, with a couple of minor mis-assessments, but nothing that lost anyone any money.

I'm not looking forward to that record being broken. And it will definitely be broken. No-one can forecast correctly forever. For example, at some point, a bunch of people will be lending in a large batch of loans at a strongly-rated lending account and to everyone's surprise their losses on those loans outweigh the interest earned.

That isn't normally supposed to happen to top-rated accounts, even during a severe recession and major property crash.

Logically, all that matters is that I have encouraged you enough to diversify and that overall you still have many more strong-performing lending accounts and loans than losing ones.

But nevertheless the weight and feeling of responsibility sits heavily in me. To me, I literally (correct use of the word) feel it physically inside me in my chest. It's an ugly grey stone or a lead weight (not literally this time). And I sometimes can't breathe easily from thinking of the responsibility I have towards you all.

I can't imagine how I would feel if I made a horrendous mistake and lots of you lost loads of money. What if our high standards of accuracy and truth were ever compromised and I allowed 4thWay to slip into making a quick buck?

My rational brain tells me that this is a ridiculously implausible scenario. We have the asset class itself to thank for that, as it's simply very stable. But also partly we can thank my team, because we are really, really good at investigating and tracking these investment providers, and giving you the whole truth without fear of reprisal.

But my subconscious and irrational part of me feels this burden, the anxiety and the fear when I allow my mind to wander on it. I feel it so deeply at times that I wonder whether I should just pack it in and get a job where I feel the consequences of failure are not so terrible.

I'm sharing this with you because I really want you to know that I'm always going to do everything I can to ensure your money is safe when you are learning about these investments through 4thWay's research and ratings. I'll do it because I care about people and I care about you and I care about those in the 4thWay community specifically.

And frankly I'm also doing it because I'm frightened about how I'd feel if I was responsible for hundreds or thousands of people suffering as a result of poor leadership here.

So for all those reasons I'm forever on your side.

Best wishes to you all.

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4thWay P2P And Direct Lending Index: December 2024.

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