What do you think of when you hear that someone “paid a debt to society?” My argument is that the expression has gotten a bad rap and that more of us should be THRILLED to acknowledge and pay our own “debt to society”.
Read MoreA look at how we think, and how that thinking translates into a unique value to you.
The following three pieces of advice all came from licensed investment brokers (perhaps we need to make the Series 7 exam a bit more difficult). I wish that I had never heard them, but now that I have, I feel duty-bound to expose the flaws in their logic.
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In the sequel to his hit documentary film “Supersize Me,” Morgan Spurlock opened a fast-food chicken restaurant. On one interior wall, one can read phrases such as “all-natural,” “artisanal,” and “handcrafted”. Beneath those terms, there is text reading, “Not sure what all these words actually mean? Great! Because, legally speaking, they don’t mean much.” Even labeling something as “free-range” only means that an animal has an “option” to go outdoors for “some part” of a day.
Such words have been extensively market-tested to ensure that they successfully send misleading signals to consumers. The convenient truth for businesses is that they need to do very little (or nothing) to earn the right to use such terminology.
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It is an age-old question: “What to get for the woman/man who has everything?”
A clue to the answer can be found in the question itself. After all, this person already has every “thing” and wants for nothing (no “thing”). The best gift could not be a “thing” at all. So how could I give something more meaningful than a thing? Could I give someone an experience? Could I give them a feeling?
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Saying: “Better the devil you know.”
Explanation: Something bad but known is better than something unknown. This proverb describes how to deal with something unpleasant. The “devil” could be any bad person, place, or thing.
This is an Irish proverb that has been in use since the 1300s. While I’m sure that it has proven itself useful from time to time, it strikes me as quite defeatest and potentially harmful in the modern era. Let me explain to you why.
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Understand that you do not have to defeat this threat at this moment. You need only to ensure that you will survive this charge. Your ability to attack later depends on your ability to still be upright and breathing.
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It’s happening again right now. The financial media is cranking out headlines about how many “points” have dropped from “The Dow”. Not only is this information just about worthless, but I would argue it is only doing harm to the investing public.
As a service to you, I offer this three-step guide to staying sane in the face of a financial media frenzy…
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I have seen people fail to make it to retirement. I have seen people forced to go back to work, after they thought they were done. The most common causes of these outcomes has nothing to do with portfolio returns, costs, or taxes. The most common causes can’t be found among the rows and columns of any spreadsheet, but rather in the space between our ears.
People often fail to recognize how many intangible benefits they receive from their work. I am not talking about your dental plan or your vision benefits.
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Some 15 or 20 years ago, I wrote some advice for my nieces as they entered their late teens. A few years later, I wrote to them again as the oldest one was entering college. I didn’t think much of it at the time, I was just trying to be a good uncle and share what I had learned with the 11-12 year head start that I had on them in life. A few months ago, one of them had reminded me of those communications and told me that she felt she could use a booster shot of my dimestore wisdom.
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Talking to Strangers is the latest in a mountain of content that I have consumed on the topic of trust. I have met my share of untrustworthy individuals over my career, and I admit that they can be very difficult to distinguish from honest and caring professionals. In the investment industry, where trust is foundational to every relationship, it is critical that a client chooses the right people to trust.
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Martin Scorcese gave a recent interview where he stated his belief that the superhero movies of recent years do not qualify as “cinema”. Does this matter? Why people do what they do is a crucial consideration when evaluating their success.
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…investing (and life) is not a direct route from the bottom to the top. Every investor slips. Everyone falls. The secret to keeping your fall from becoming a failure is to have safety measures in place to make sure that if you do fall, then the distance isn’t so far that you’ll be seriously injured.
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A young magician wrote a piece of fan mail to Penn & Teller. The reply he received is wonderful! You should read this letter. In fact, if I had to choose between you reading the rest of this logbook entry or reading the letter, I might recommend the letter (but please keep reading anyway)…
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It turns out that dogs see more than black, white, and shades of grey. It is true that they are able to perceive a range of colors that is more limited than what we humans can distinguish. I say that if a dog is “colorblind” because it has a limited range of observation, then maybe we all are.
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This is a story about a specific day in the fall of 2012 that has been on my mind lately. Amy (now my wife) was visiting me in Denver and we were enjoying a stroll through the heavily foot-trafficked streets of downtown. As we paused in a public square, I began to get the feeling that something was wrong.
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Upleft exists completely independent of the “Big Banks” and brokerage firms that control so much of the investment landscape, and this adds a great deal of value to our clients.
Rest assured that you are not alone…forget about the past, and ask yourself this one question…
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I’ll give you the bad news first. As much as we like to think that people “get what they deserve”, be that outcome good or bad, it is often not the case. The good news is that you can do something about it. The steps are simple, but not necessarily easy.
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“If you feel like a student sitting in the principal's office, it is not an accident. A scene has been carefully constructed so that you will be influenced, if not intimidated, by a sense that you are not the most powerful or important person in the room.”
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There is a question that we find ourselves answering all the time. It seems like a simple one, and yet we so often get the answer wrong. An inaccurate reply may have consequences that influence our ability to plan for and fully enjoy our lives.
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