Fraud


A recent podcast with screenwriter Ed Solomon made me think if this guy is insecure I should stop beating myself up.  Ed wrote two blockbuster movies – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Men in Black and he still doesn’t feel confident when he writes a new screenplay.  This blog will examine why I feel his pain when I write this blog and why advisors have insecurities when they make client recommendations. 

Expectations
This is where the rubber meets the road.  Our expectations are often too optimistic.  Unfortunately the 100 year flood occurs every 7 – 9 years.   An essential characteristic of successful advisors is their optimism, many advisors hope to double their revenues every three years.  Clients add to the challenge by making the mistake to expect the returns that their “friends” boast about at cocktail parties.  The current environment where the return of FANG stocks dominates the financial press doesn’t help.  My optimism has caused me to make a lot of mistakes with my family’s portfolio.  Do as I say NOT as I do.


Blame
When things go differently than planned in our financial and personal life we seek out someone to blame.  In our personal life we blame our parents and in our investment life we blame our advisors.  Both might share some of the blame but we have to take some of the responsibility too.  We can’t appreciate the difficulty of being a parent until we become one too.  We also need to educate ourselves on the investment recommendations our advisors are making rather than blindly taking their advice.  Scott Peck had it nailed – “Life is difficult”.  The Wealth Consigliere drafted off of Dr. Peck with the statement that investing is difficult.  I wish all investment advisors would add the TV disclaimer of “don’t try this at home” to their brochures.

Mr. Rogers
I’m still scared and uncertain.  Recently I've been finding finding solace in an old TV friend, Mr. Rogers who loves me just the way I am.  If you don’t remember Mr. Rogers I recommend you watch two powerful documentaries to remind you. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Mr. Rogers and Me . It is a beautiful day in our neighborhood if we step back and appreciate all we have.

Our lack of confidence is a universal scourge.  We need to loop Mr. Roger’s welcoming message in our head.  I love ME just the way I am!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inorganic

Image
Our industry has always looked down on Wall Street’s recruiting checks.  Last week there were numerous announcements that independent firms were offering advisors money to purchase their practice.  The term for these transactions is inorganic growth.  This week we will look at why these transactions are the new rage and examine if they are better than the old Wall Street checks. Wempy Popeye and financial advisors fall for the “I’ll gladly pay pay you tomorrow for a Hamburger today” pitch.  Unfortunately Popeye and and most financial advisors provide their hamburger but seldomly get paid what the firms and Wimpy promise .  Why?  The advisors need the cash and Popeye is gullible.  On Wall Street the deals adjusted when the advisors changed firms looking for a new deal every five to eight years.  The recent Luminous departure shows that the advisory contracts need to be adjusted.  The new contracts are written by experienced firms and lawyers to prevent serial departures. 
Read more

Stop Judging

Image
I have known that I have MS for over four years.  My doctors believe I have had MS for over twenty years.  Initially, When I received this diagnosis  I was very opinionated when I saw disable people. I assumed the worst. As a currently disabled person I can educate and warn you regarding things you shouldn’t say to me or disabled people..  This blog will educate on my disability. The places it manifests itself and how you can react and support me and other disabled people. The three items are: 1.) Needing a walker 2.) Government disability  3.) Falling MS causes me to loose my balance and fall.  The walker prevents this reality  I look at walkers as being as sign of old age,  I was incorrect and a good walker is an aid!  With a walker I fall less often.  I might look old, but I am OLD! Our government provides support to the millions of MS patients in the US.  Support is through Social Security and must be approved.  I am approved. The service can be cancelled if i get a full time job.
Read more

Summer Changes

Image
  Our summer is almost over,  What did we learn during all of our downtime?   I will summarize all of my observations and share my plans on what I will implement when I return to my office.  I discovered/ learned 6 items on my beech lounging, morning walks and social media tolling that I’ll share.  Hope they help.  My first and easiest change was my eye glasses.  Many of my friend asked it was trying to look like Elton.  I wasn’t…. The next three changes were business related. The changes will be voted on by my colleagues.  Steve Jobs of solving client problems the client didn’t know they had will be our guiding light.  I tried to change a few items. The obvious item what I changed was my eye  glasses.  The other areas were business related and I wanted wanted to be in control of my changes. The first change s our business’s model.  It has taken years to realize that I can’t beat thr market index.  Growing up on Wall Street this change was difficult.   Alpha is difficult to achieve an
Read more