I was recently asked to be on an hour long radio show / podcost talking about ethics in the workplace.
It was titled “Navigating the Demands of Business and Remaining True to Yourself”.
It was lot of fun, and the host was really engaged and enthusiastic. While he and I talk about the demands of business and how being ethical is so important, I share my life story with him, which many of you know. I am pretty open with him (as I am with everyone who is interested), sharing the ups and downs of my personal and business life.
If you want to learn more about your advisor, click on the link to listen to it within your browser, and I’ve also transcribed it and posted it for reading.
Are you a “lane changer”? In traffic, he’s the guy who’s constantly changing lanes, expending a lot of energy but doesn’t really get ahead.
We all know we’re supposed to “buy low and sell high”, but unfortunately your average investor doesn’t do that. When we look at the flows into and out of equity funds we find that people are pouring tons of money in when the markets are high and withdrawing at market bottoms.
Why? By the time people feel comfortable with the direction of the market (investor confidence is increasing), they’re looking at recent past data and many times the “upward movement” has already occurred. A little late. Same deal on market declines.
I happen to believe in active management, but you’ve got to be disciplined and unemotional, and that’s tough to do!
In this week’s video, I expand upon these thoughts and even have some pretty graphs imbedded for you. Watch it please, and don’t be a investment lane changer!!
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi there, Mike Brady with Generosity Wealth Management. And I this week I want to talk about staying the course, OK? About six months ago I did a video about conviction, in which really I asked the question “what do you really believe in?” “What do you really stand for?” What is that line in the stand? And that could be in your own life; that could be in your financial life. It’s really a question that I think could have lots of areas where it’s applicable but right now it’s really about investing.
I’m going to throw a chart up in just a few seconds here, but most people do the wrong thing at the wrong time. And I don’t want you to be that dumb money, I want you to be the smart money. And people always say, “Oh I buy low and sell high.” But frankly most people throw lots of money into funds when it’s at a high, when they feel comfortable, like, “oh, yeah man, the market did so well the last year or two, and I’m going to throw lots of money in…” because they expect it’s going to continue to go up. And they think that the market is actually linear; meaning if it’s gone up, it’s going to continue to go up, or if it’s gone down, it’s going to continue to go down- and that’s just not the case! It goes up, it goes down, it goes sideways! And real people also withdraw money, you know, usually at the bottom. And so this is a good indicator, frankly, when people are taking money out, the contrarian in me, I say, maybe I want to invest in that. That’s a good buying opportunity. Warren Buffet has a famous phrase, “be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.”
And the chart, I’m going to throw it up there right now. You’ll notice, at certain times, I’ve circled them, the market has gone up, that’s the line, and then the bars are the money flows, in and out. And you’ll notice that the bars are the highest when the market is at the highest, which is what you don’t want. And then the, (sorry about that, I just hit my microphone) and then when the market is at a low is when people are taking all their money out- which of course is the exact opposite.
So, have discipline, please. Be the smart money.
I’m happy to help you with that. I talk with my clients all the time and I do these videos and these newsletters to really have good communication, good education, so we can go through this with as little emotion as we can, but of course we’re human. We’re not a bunch of Vulcans running around! But, let’s have our course, we’re at Point A, where are we going to Point B? Let’s go there.
My wife said something the other day at breakfast that I just thought was wonderful, which is, “you know if you’re going down the road, and you’re in traffic, and have you ever noticed that person who’s jumping from one lane to the other, trying to get ahead of everybody else? Well, a lot of time’s they are expending an awful lot of effort and not getting any further.” And it’s so satisfying, frankly, when you’re just sitting there, staying the course, and you just keep passing this guy. Well, I want you to be that person.
So, anyway, 303-747-6455, Mike Brady is my name, I’m the President of Generosity Wealth Management. I serve the Boulder, Denver, Longmont area here in Colorado, but I’m in many different states. Perhaps I’m already registered in your state and have clients in your state, if not, let’s have that conversation. I’m looking to grow my business and I hope to do the best job that I can for you, I really care, I’ll treat you like my family. 303-747-6455. You have a wonderful, wonderful week, thank you, bye bye.
In the movie “City Slickers”, Curly is asked what the meaning of life is. He replies “One Thing”.
It’s my belief that your financial success is so much more than just investments. That’s why I named my company “Generosity Wealth Management” instead of “Generosity Investment Management”. I feel 80% of acquiring and preserving wealth is behavior, not chasing after the home run investment.
A colleague here at the office said “funny, the harder you work the luckier you seem to get”. I couldn’t agree more.
My video this week is about the importance of finding the “one thing” that you’re doing that is holding you back from financial success. It’s also about the “one thing” that you’ve done to make yourself successful–continue doing that!
Hi there, Mike Brady with Generosity Wealth Management, here in Boulder, Colorado. And I this week I want to talk about finding your one thing!
And I was inspired to do this video by a friend who writes a blog, which I think is just wonderful and I’ll post the link up on this video and in my newsletter. But he was quoting City Slickers, where Curley, who’s this kind of older cowboy, and he’s asked what the, you know, what the secret what is the secret of life is, of happiness, and he says, “it’s just one thing.” And the person says, “What is that one thing?” And he’s like, “that’s for you to figure out.”
And it’s my belief that so much of being successful in life and being successful financially is behavioral. You need to find out what you’re doing if you’re already successful, if you’re well on the way to saving for your retirement or you’ve retired, and there’s just, you know, you’re going to be fine for the rest of your life, and because you’ve accumulated a good amount of money for your retirement, then continue doing what it is that’s gotten you this far. If, on the other hand, you are hoping to retire, or you look at your finances and you say to yourself, “gosh, what am I doing wrong? Why is it that I’m making one hundred thousand dollars a year and I have a bunch of credit card debt and I have a piddly saving, and I just can’t seem to get ahead…” Well, you know what, it’s probably not that you’re making the wrong investments, which, that might be one of them. But really you have to ask, why are you spending too much money? OK? And so, inside your life there is probably one, maybe even two things that you’re doing that’s holding you back. You’ve got to figure out what it is.
And I can help you find that out, if you need some guidance. But what is that one thing that’s going to make you successful? What is that one thing that has made you successful? And it’s probably not this investment or that investment, but it was something that you did behaviorally. It was your attitude, it was the relationship that you had with money. It was something that was probably not that sexy. You know everyone likes to talk about this stock and that stock, you know, around the old barbeque, neighborhood barbeque, but you know what really makes you successful, many times, is something that you’re doing, consistently. And you’ve got to figure that out for yourself, and if you need some help, some guidance, in figuring out what that is, what could hopefully propel you towards reaching your goals, please give me a call and we can try to uncover that.
Mike Brady, Generosity Wealth Management, in Boulder. I’m serving the Boulder, Denver, Longmont area in Colorado- although I have clients in probably ten or elven different states. If you’re in another state and you’re wondering if I’m interested in having you as a client, the answer is, let’s have that conversation and I can always get registered in that state. 303.747.6455.
You have a wonderful, wonderful week! I’ll talk to you later, bye bye now.
It is common for there to be declines in the markets throughout the year, sometimes even double digits declines.
This is to be expected.
As an investor, one of the reasons we diversify and modify our allocations throughout the year is to try to minimize these fluctuations.
What should you do when there is one of these expected declines? It depends on the situation at that time.
Please click on the video below for a 4 minute discussion I give on this topic……
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi there, Mike Brady with Generosity Wealth Management, here in Boulder, Colorado. And I this week I want to talk about intra-year declines, and frankly, the correlation they have with the end of the year returns. Because, I talked about this just a little bit when I did my end of the year video (kind of beginning of the year video) where I said that on balance, I’m optimistic for 2012. And at that time I said, “listen, it’s common for there to be volatility,” but volatility has increased in the last couple of years and I believe that volatility will continue going forward.
It is common for there to be, within the year (intra-year), declines that we seem to forget after the year is over. Negative, kind of from the high to the bottom, within a year of you know, eight, nine, even double digits, but that doesn’t mean the year is going to be horrible. So as 2012 unfolds, we’re going to find some times where it’s not as high as it used to be, OK? That the market has declined, and that is part of the process, part of the journey and the travel. Now that being said, the reason why we diversify, and we adjust our allocations throughout the year is to try to minimize the impact that we have. But we know that it’s going to happen.
So the question that we ask ourselves at that time is, “why is this going down, you know, why is the market going down like that?” Is it event driven, where there’s a lot of emotion around it? Is it value driven? What’s the cause of it and at that time, do we believe it will continue to go down, or do we think that this is just going to be one of those normal, you know, fluctuations, and staying invested is the right thing to do? I don’t know what we’re going to do at that time, but I’m preparing you right now for that, you know, almost inevitability. OK?
I’m going to throw up on [screen] here… here are some intra-year returns and then declines and then the annual return. And you’ll notice even in the last two or three years, a twenty-eight percent decline in ’09, sixteen in 2010, and even last year there’s a nine-teen percent decline and it ended up the year, and that’s on the S & P 500, which is an unmanaged index, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the year ended on a decline.
So, you know, one thing I want to talk about is as well, that when I say that I’m more optimistic because I look at the value of the market and I believe that the prices are…, I believe it’s an underpriced market right now, that does not mean that I discount all of the negatives out there. The way I like to think of it is, there’s a scale, there’s all these things on the negative side, and all these things on the positive side, and which way is it going to tilt? And it is still acknowledging that there are negative things. And someone else, another analyst, might take the same data and say, “no, I’m going to weigh all the negatives a little bit more than the positives.” And so there are always positives, there’re always negatives out there and the question is- how do you weigh them? And which one is a little bit more than the other? And of course, you might adjust your opinion as the year unfolds.
So anyway, that’s one thing I wanted to talk about this week. I hope that you’re doing well. The Super Bowl was a couple of days ago, and frankly I’m recording this right as we’re going into the weekend so I don’t know who won but you do, so hopefully your team won.
Mike Brady, Generosity Wealth Management; I’m a comprehensive, holistic, wealth management firm, with tax planning, estate planning, investment management, retirement planning, I really try to do all of those in order to help my clients meet their goals. Mike Brady, Generosity Wealth Management-303.747.6455.
You have a wonderful week! I’ll talk to you later, bye bye now.
The 3rd Quarter 2011 is over and I have a slightly longer video this week because I want to address the current environment and how things may shape up going forward.
A big theme is my advice to assess your overall plan and risk tolerance, and also to ensure you’re looking at both positive and negative points of view on the markets instead of just one view over the other.
I send my newsletter and videos on a weekly basis, so if you watch only a few througout the year, at least watch my more comprehensive quarterly videos.
