FAMILY MEMBERS OFTEN look to me to “sort out” their financial problems. That’s no great surprise: I’m a fee-only financial planner. But I’ve resisted the “financial fixer” role.
Instead, I try to act more as an educator—by reframing the issue at hand and encouraging family members to take an active role in solving their problem. Consider three examples:
1. I have a relative who graduated from an expensive university. He was understandably concerned about his high level of student debt.
THREE YEARS AGO, I decided to write a book about money for my children, then ages 9 and 11. Raising Your Child’s Financial IQ: The Most Important Things is now finished. Here are six things I learned along the way—which apply not just to writing a book, but also to life more generally:
1. Yes, you can find the time
I’m a physician, working 50 to 60 hours a week.
IF YOU ASK MY WIFE what my favorite food is, she won’t hesitate to answer: It’s avocados. I make a large bowl of guacamole almost every week. Maybe that’s why I take offense when I read articles saying avocado toast is the reason millennials aren’t saving for retirement.
Avocado toast has a bad reputation with personal finance writers, because it’s an expensive and favorite brunch choice, especially among my generation, those born in the 1980s and ’90s.
ON APRIL 3, MY HUSBAND Jim and I were among 262 pilgrims who made our way into Santiago de Compostela to receive an official pilgrim’s certificate for completing the required distance along one of the famous El Camino’s several routes—the most popular of which is some 500 miles. We were now certified peregrinos, or pilgrims.
Because it was early in the season, ours was one of the slow days for Camino completion.
ON DEC. 7, 2005, a curious thing happened in a Harvard classroom. Prof. Michael D. Smith stood in front of a group of computer science students to introduce a guest speaker: entrepreneur and former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. What was curious was that the room was nearly empty. The class met in a huge lecture hall, but there were barely a dozen people in the room.
How could that be? Why was there so little interest in Zuckerberg’s presentation?
SIMON SINEK BROKE onto the scene in 2009, asking us to “start with why.” His TED Talk has been viewed millions of times and inspired countless articles. He commands attention and captivates audiences with his message. All good things. For both individuals and organizations, there’s immense value in asking, “What’s my why?”
But what about “who”? In all the enthusiasm over “why,” I don’t think “who” has gotten its due.
When I talk about “who,” I’m talking about your community and your sense of connection to others in that community.
“IS CBS PIPING FAKE birds into its Masters coverage?” That was the headline on a recent Slate article, which speculated that the television network might be adding “enhanced audio” of fake bird chirping to its coverage of the golf tournament.
This is not a scandal for the ages. But it serves as a timely reminder that we have fantasized notions of life that marketers and the media don’t hesitate to exploit.
Make no mistake: The PGA,
SINCE ENTERING THE workforce in late 2010, I’ve been giving advice to others on how to put their money to good use. There are few things I enjoy more than having a conversation with a couple about such a complex subject. Along the way, I’ve pushed myself to learn more about specific financial planning strategies, as well as about human behavior and psychology.
These readings have not only taught me how I can better help my clients,
SOCIALISM. IT’S A WORD that can make people on the far left swoon, as they imagine an egalitarian utopia, even while inciting those on the far right to mumble protective oaths like a medieval citizen seeing a sign of the devil. It’s also a word that Google Trends reports has had a surge in search-related interest since last December.
As competing visions of how to protect and enhance the American economic system vie for political popularity,
I DON’T WANT TO PAY for things that aren’t useful—and I’m not interested in wasting money. Nobody is.
For instance, over the past 15 years, 89% of actively managed U.S. stock funds failed to outperform the broad U.S. stock market, according to S&P Global. Why would people waste their money and continue to pay for something that isn’t useful? Turns out, people aren’t. We’ve seen money flooding into lower cost, passively managed index funds.
HAVE YOU EVER struggled with a financial decision? If you’re like most people, I suspect that the math wasn’t the hard part. Instead, more often than not, what makes financial decisions a challenge is the subjective element.
Financial decisions involve lots of variables—your future income, interest rates, housing prices, tax rates and more. We can make reasonable forecasts, but ultimately these decisions require us to make judgment calls without complete information, and that can be unnerving.
A WAR IS RAGING. On one side of this conflict is the individual and, on the other, society and culture. To the victor goes your attention and your money.
I submit you’ll win through intentionality—and you’ll lose if you let society determine what’s of greatest value to you. I was on the losing side for many years.
As an undergraduate, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. Why? Not because I had a deep passion for the law.
AS I DRIVE AROUND town these days, I notice a lot of cars with temporary license plates—an indication they were recently purchased. What’s the reason? When I turn on the TV, I see a commercial for a local car dealership that’s offering to accept your tax refund as the down payment on a new car. Now it starts to make sense.
The dealership knows consumers are about to receive an influx of cash.
YOU KNOW HOW certain things people say stick in your mind. Often, it’s a hurtful insult. But for me, the words I can’t forget are, “You’re wealthy.”
I live in a 90-year-old house on a small lot, my wife’s car is 12 years old, our television is 10 years old and the last time I bought a new suit was a dozen years ago. Okay, it’s true, I don’t wear suits very often these days.
WE CAN MEASURE OUR financial progress by the size of our net worth. But that’s hardly the only gauge. Equally important, I’d argue, is the evolution in how we think about money—and how we use it to improve our lives.
What does this journey look like? I picture it as having five stages:
1. Head above water. This is when you emerge from the primordial financial swamp and begin to walk upright.