You're the hero
Good morning!
Back when I started working as a financial advisor in the early 90s, things were MUCH different.
There was no internet.
No mobile phones.
No social media.
And a whole lot less noise.
As a result, there was information asymmetry between financial advisors and their clients.
There wasn't the constant, 24-hour flow of data and information that we all live with today.
For better or worse, at the time this generally meant that I had access to more (and more timely) information than my clients.
About investments.
About financial planning strategies.
About new trends in retirement.
Today, not so much.
Armed with the power of Google and near-instantaneous access to virtually everything, this information asymmetry has vanished.
And that's a good thing in my book.
Now, I'm no longer an information broker.
I'm not a gatekeeper to mutual fund research.
You and I operate on a much more level playing field in terms of access to information.
But I also believe that there are some downsides to this "all the information, all the time" world we live in today.
Here's a Google search results page for "retirement planning."
Yep, in 0.72 seconds, Google returns about 378,000,000 results.
That's 378 MILLION.
Not sure about you, but I sure wouldn't want to wade through all that stuff and have to decipher what's helpful and what's just plain worthless. But I'm sure among 378 million results there's a healthy mix of both.
Recognizing all this, I've reached a conclusion:
You're the hero!
In the past - even the recent past - many financial advisors operate as if they believe they're the hero in YOUR life story.
Whether it's the portfolio or financial plan they help you with, they seem to think that you couldn't make it without them.
For example, some advisors will often use complexity and jargon as a "job security" tactic.
By making things seem more complex than they need to be and throwing around $3-dollar words that they might not even fully understand, they can often leave you feeling a little inadequate or untethered when it comes to your personal finances.
But with today's even playing field of information access, I think the true role of a trusted financial advisor is to be your guide.
Your thinking partner.
I know you're a smart cookie.
And you're supremely capable. And successful.
You're the hero in your own life story.
And as I've worked with women and families like yours over my career, I've come to approach financial advice as more and more collaborative.
You're the best equipped person in the world to make decisions about your life.
It's your responsibility.
And I try to honor that in my work. And in my approach to advice.
More and more, rather than telling you what I think you should do, I'll instead ask you what you think? And why?
And if I have something to add to the decision making process I will.
If I can guide you to what I think might be a better situation, that's a responsibility I take very seriously.
But it's your money and your life, and no one knows more about you that than you do.
And I think the financial advice you receive should reflect this as well.
Even though you might not wear a cape or star in the latest Marvel superhero movie, I genuinely believe that you're the hero of your life.
That's the way it should be.
And I'm just a humble guide / thinking partner trying to help you "save the day" by making the most of your one and only life.
Not someday...
But starting right now... today!
Links & things
I plan to share more on this in the future, but I'm fascinated by the idea of your Odyssey plan, which comes out of the Stanford Life Design Lab. Here's a quick taste, which has a ton of parallels to the planning work I do with my clients. Would love to know what you think:
In this recent Morgan Housel article, he writes about the idea of building wealth vs having wealth. And while I think he makes some interesting points in his piece, I also wonder if this might also account for the difficulty some people have as they transition into retirement... after a lifetime of accumulating wealth, the changeover to being spending that wealth can be a tough mental adjustment.
Though it's a couple of years old, this article from Our World in Data asks an interesting question:
Thank you, as always, for reading.
And if you have any questions or an idea for a future newsletter, blog post, or YouTube video, I'd love your input.
Just hit reply - I read (and appreciate) every email you send.
Until next Wednesday,
Russ