The Wealth Consigliere

Tiger Woods' Tour Championship victory has been deemed the greatest comeback story in golf history.   The record TV ratings prove we agree and our love hate meter with Tiger is now firmly in the love camp .   Tiger had not won a professional golf tournament since 2013.   Investors have a love hate relationship with hedge funds that has remained on the hate side since 2009.   This week’s blog will examine what Tiger can teach hedge fund managers and their investors. Don’t read the press The press and blogs have a large case of schadenfreude.   Most of their stories have a failure bias not just a political bias.   Athletes and money managers make a lot more money than reporters and the average American.    Our jealous dark side would like to see them come down to our zip code.   Athletes and hedge fund managers need to focus on their successes and not be brought down by the naysayers.   Comebacks are 90% mental. ...

The litany of departing White House officials and their tell - all books made me ask why do people leak secrets?   This week we will examine that question and see that it is not just politicians who leak.    The term is different in the private and business domain but it still packs an emotional punch. Friends and Family I vividly remember the first lie I told my parents.   I was terrified that they would find out, but as time passed my anxiety declined.   Eventually my parents caught me and lectured me on telling the truth and I would nod and say I’m sorry. Lesson learned – lie/leak and just apologize.   Life goes on. Secrets Secrets are a euphemism for little white lies.   We kid ourselves that broken secrets are not as bad as lies.   I would ask the people that trusted us with their secrets if they agree.   Listen to how people rationalize telling secrets.   They usually start their statement with d...

We love to read chronologies about traumatic events.   This last week was overloaded with two such events – 9/11 and the closure of Lehman Brothers, both traumatic events that we continue to revisit.   This blog will examine the power of traumatic events and how they can be like a light to moths.   Don’t misunderstand me, we need to continue to remember like   Cats and Barbara  so we won’t forget and repeat past mistakes.   Tragedy Tragedy has a stronger lasting impact than success.   We need to be aware of this reality and do our best to remember our successes and try to learn from our failures.   Unfortunately businesses promote success and fire failures.   This reality causes us to promote the top salesperson into a management position so they can teach strategies that are out dated and ineffective in today’s environment.   Clients and shareholders should demand proof of recent success rather than listen...

There is a risk when a 56 year old writer attempts to use Digital Native terms.   My Millennial children laugh at me when I overuse LOL and FOMO.   Laugh if you must but my feeling after listening to a recent call by Morgan Creek Capital Management on Crypto Capitalism was I’m Woke .   This blog will summarize other groups that should be Woke. Banks Banks hold most of our Fiat currency.   W e pay them a significant amount of fees for this mundane service.   Why do we continue to pay these exorbitant rents? Is it inertia or are we just not aware of better alternatives?   My opinion is that we aren’t aware of a better alternative.   Banks are acquiring brokerage firms for their deposits that continue to grow after the advent of the CMA .   Deposits are king , but how much rent should we pay for this service? Banks need to wake up. Wealth Management Independent wealth management firms have thrived over the last fiv...