Category: Behavioral

Common financial actions such as buying a house or investing in the stock market involve certain levels of calculated risk. While these might be common instances of financial risks people are willing to take with careful planning involved, not everyone is comfortable with risky behavior. According to one study, just over 72% of adults in the U.S. […]

In today’s world, developing expertise in our personal finances doesn’t mean trying to become experts in every market-related data point. That will only add to our confusion. No, the expertise we seek is about how changes in the world around us affect our unique decisions about money. “How wonderful that we have met with a […]

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Lewis Carroll I have had a few conversations with clients recently where they asked about market volatility and what we planned to do about it.  After discussing for a few minutes, the clients would then say something to the effect of, […]

This Veterans Day, I am thinking of the men and women who have served our country, but also the unique way in which we encounter them. With many of the veterans in our lives, their service occurred long before we met them. However, we have the privilege of seeing how that experience has helped to […]

In our Quarterly Market Brief last week, we focused on risk and market turbulence. Specifically, how to mentally prepare for when things don’t go our way. As is often the case with these conversations, investing is the jumping-off point for a broader discussion about peak performance informed by other disciplines. Market Turbulence and Risk Investors […]

Experience is not the same as expertise. Confusing the two creates the potential for mistakes as smart investors approach retirement. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to become an expert in a particular field. Smart investors spend thousands of hours saving and investing during their […]

…The most optimistic psychology is always applied when things are thought to be going well, compounding and exaggerating the positives, and the most depressed psychology is applied when things are going poorly, compounding the negatives. This guarantees that extreme highs and lows will always be the eventual result in cycles, not the exception. Howard Marks, […]

“Few if any of us have the courage to change from a finite mindset to a more infinite one alone. We must find others who share our sense of responsibility, who share our beliefs that it is time to change and who share our desire to work together to do it.”   Simon Sinek, The Infinite […]

“The three stages of a bull market: the first stage, when only a few unusually perceptive people believe things will get better, the second stage, when most investors realize that improvement is actually taking place, and the third stage, when everyone concludes things will get better forever.” Howard Marks, Mastering the Market Cycle The entire […]

We all feel caught off guard. The financial professional, the Do-It-Yourself investor, and the 401(k) participant three years from retiring. You might feel like only a few weeks ago you “coulda, woulda, shoulda” done something different with your investments. There is never enough safety when fear takes hold. If we had 10% in stocks a […]