Swimming with the Sharks in Florida

Created by: Lorie Jones

My daughter recently graduated from high school. She decided to celebrate this achievement by taking herself and three of her best friends to Florida, and I was invited along as the chaperone.

This is a gig you want—trust me on this one. They planned their own menus, cooked food for themselves and me (mostly pizza and ramen), and delivered it to my door. I sat by the pool, sipping icy concoctions filled with chocolate or coconut, and waited to be called upon in case of an emergency. I did get invited to a few of the activities, and one of them was “swimming with the sharks.” Okay—I’ll admit it was actually called snorkeling, and they were nurse sharks that couldn’t open their mouths wide enough to bite me (trust me, I asked), but my version sounds way more exciting and adventurous.

There is only one very tiny problem with me and snorkeling—putting my head underwater terrifies me. I’m scared water will get into my snorkel tube, or salt will get in my eyes, and I literally hyperventilate whenever I try submerging my face. “Lorie,” you are asking yourself, “why the heck do you keep going snorkeling then?” Well, I have one trick that always works: I hold someone’s hand, and I can put my face under the water. If I just know someone is there watching out for me, I can do it.

This reminds me so much of finance. It is scary, daunting, and sometimes you feel like you are swimming with the sharks. If you can just find someone you trust to “hold your hand” financially so you can dunk your head under the surface, what you experience is amazing. Beautiful, colorful fish and aquatic life—or realizing your dreams because you were a little brave and took that chance on investing.

I can be that person who is there holding your hand while you bravely try to see the magic out there below the surface. Imagine the world you miss out on by not taking that first step.

Image by freepik

Why your best is good enough

Created by: Lorie Jones

I decided the other day that I was pretty sure I had a world-class cookie decorator inside of me.

You have all seen the fancy cookies that look like works of art and taste like tiny sugar cookie pieces of heaven. All that stood between me and cookie decorating fame and fortune was any clue how to actually decorate cookies. Luckily, Andi Kirkegaard over at Kirkie Cookies was putting on a Valentine’s decorating class, so I gathered up my friend and immediately signed up. Goodbye Wealth Manager, hello cookie artist.

When I showed up to the 4-hour cookie class, I was greeted with four cooked but undecorated cookies and various tubes of frosting.

“How in the world could this task possibly take four hours?” I wondered. Andi proceeded to guide us through the different techniques of decorating with a running commentary on the chemistry behind her cookie recipe, which basically made my eyes glaze over and left me thinking, “This is probably what people feel like when I start talking about bond yields” which are utterly fascinating to me but downright boring to everyone else I meet.

Over the next several hours I proceed to systematically make every mistake the lovely cookie lady told me not to. One time I even had to use the “shovel of life” to fix something, which is the equivalent of giving up and starting over. It took me four hours to finish four cookies (a fact I mentioned to David no less than nine times before I presented him with them as his Valentine’s gift). Spoiler alert – there is not a cookie Diva waiting to emerge from somewhere deep inside me; I was made for Sharpe ratios and benchmark analysis.

But despite every flaw in my cookies compared to Andi’s masterpieces, mine were good enough. David thought I was a cookie genius and didn’t notice the glaring imperfections.

This brings me back to my one true love—finance.

Often, we meet clients who want to craft the “perfect” financial plan. Nothing but a flawless execution will do. Then, as the realities of life set in and unexpected illness or job loss happens, and their financial plan is no longer the perfection they had envisioned, they are tempted to throw their hands in the air and just give up. They aren’t good at this, so why even try?

That is where we come in. We get out the “shovel of life,” scrape it off, adjust, and try again. We consider contingencies and examine potential future probabilities of unexpected events. Although the final product is never flawless, to others, it looks fantastic. It is dynamic and moves with the client as their circumstances change and unexpected events appear to blindside their best-laid plans.

So, keep trying. Life happens, and we make bad financial choices sometimes.

Come in and let us guide you towards better financial decisions. Your end result will look splendid to everyone else, even if you could point out every single mistake you made. Your best is good enough.

What if I look stupid?

Created by: Lorie Jones

My youngest daughter, Sammie, likes to play this new game. She rushes into my room just before she heads out for the day and ask “Mom, should I wear the ankle length blue sock with the ruffle, straight leg jeans and periwinkle top, or this fuchsia off the shoulder, top with leggings and mid length sock with my Converse?“

Now if any of you know me, I spent about a year transitioning to a minimalist wardrobe. This is for one reason only, I do not even know how to match an outfit.

The thing I like about minimalism, is that I have three colors in my wardrobe, white, black, and navy blue. I wear a button down top and a pair of black pants and everything matches.

I had stopped listening by the time Sammie mentioned the word, periwinkle, which I didn’t understand. Most of the rest of it could’ve been Greek.

I’ve seriously considered asking Skye, my senior administrative assistant , if she would volunteer to adopt Samantha and maybe they could answer these all important questions, because Skye always looks put together, matching, beautiful and accessorized, and I look very black-and-white. The difference between an ankle length and mid-length sock is completely beyond my comprehension.

In Samantha‘s world though, the absolute worst possible outcome is that she might “look stupid.” I haven’t bothered mentioning, that if she takes my advice, she probably will look stupid, but that’s mostly because she doesn’t actually listen to my answer and makes up her own mind anyway regarding these fashion emergencies.

I’m struck by the similarity between Sammie’s fear and my clients. So many people sitting across from me get the same slightly confused look when I am talking about a balanced allocation as I do when Sammie asks me to choose between Periwinkle and Fusica. They think probably everyone knows and they are afraid to “look stupid” so they don’t ask. So here are my suggestions.

1. Ask even if you are scared.

I love nothing more than explaining a financial topic and please remember I came into this job years ago with no idea what an IRA was – I have learned and I’ve done it mostly by asking questions.

2. Look it up.

I will say that there are not a lot of financial concepts that are explained in simple terms. A lot of times they go with the concept that many words with lots of syllables are better than plain English but usually you get enough of the idea behind the explanation that you can pivot to #1 and ask for a more in depth answer with some knowledge behind your question so you don’t feel awkward.

3. If you really want to learn something – read a book.

I’m not an expert on everything but if I read a book I usually can find enough context to know what questions I should be asking. I will say today you can also usually find a YouTube video or a podcast that explains what you are looking for, and I just heard that the average person read less than two books last year, which makes me sad.

4. Find an expert!!

I will freely admit that I know nothing about the latest fashion trends (a fact that is completely obvious when looking at my wardrobe) but I know someone who can talk for an hour on the colors, cut, lines, and don’t even get her started on shoes. A lot of times I just hand over my credit card, explain my event, and tell her I want to look “fabulous”

I encourage clients to know enough to be informed financially, but you don’t have to spend your days pouring over the latest market updates, that is my happy place, not yours. Ask someone who knows, and can explain the concept in English without looking at you as if “doesn’t everyone know this?”

I was asked just recently to go through an activity to describe my ideal client – and mine always has questions, is curious and wants to know more. Finance isn’t a super secret world that makes no sense, it is understandable and most concepts are simple at their core, you just need to ask. This doesn’t mean you have to be a finance geek like me, that is why you hire someone to manage your portfolio, but it does mean you have all the tools and resources to have a basic understanding of how your money is being managed, and you won’t look stupid.

How I got my nickname "The Fun Killer

Created by: Lorie Jones

One of my close friends unexpectedly found herself in charge of her family’s finances for the first time and asked me for some help with budgeting and financial planning.

I adore all things financial so this sounded like a lot of fun to me, but my friend “Emily” pretty much thought it was the worst drudgery life could have dreamed up. (Coincidentally, that is exactly the same way I felt about shoe shopping, which is one of her favorite things.)

So we embarked on our journey and I tried to make it less painful with the help of technology and Pinterest but I found that I missed the mark a bit when she told me that whenever they ran out of money in one of their budgeted categories for the month, she would tell her kids that she would like to let them go to the movies or get ice cream but her financial planner would be mad, and thus I came to be known as the “fun killer” by all of the kids. I needed to up my game a bit and try harder, so I came up with three ideas to lose my hated nickname.

1. If you budget for fun things, it doesn’t seem like such a chore. I love traveling, and one year we were taking a trip and we instituted “house of darkness” for the three months prior. We turned off all unnecessary lights and took shorter showers, so we had extra fun money for our trip. It didn’t seem so hard when we were saving for something we all really wanted to do.
2. There are things you “love” spending money on and things you could really care less about. Emily loves shoes and new outfits, but couldn’t care less about the brand of yogurt she eats or the speed of the internet. So if she is frugal in areas she doesn’t care about, she has more to spend on those she does.
3. Gamify your budget. If I turn on the miles per gallon indicator on the car, and challenge my husband by bragging I can get better gas mileage then he can, game on! I will admit that I do sometimes tell one of my kids, “Well your brother is maxing out his Roth IRA this year, are you sure you can’t contribute $20 more per month?” The idea of “winning” is a powerful motivator.

So I won’t say that I have lost my status as “fun killer” but maybe I have downgraded to “not the most fun but still okay to be around”

Lories Monthly Minute

By Lorie Jones

My husband loves cars.

He spends much time talking about engine sizes, displacements, and torque. I spend a lot of time nodding as if I care. This isn’t so bad; I can see his eyes glaze over when I start discussing the merits of various alternative investments or the implications of an inverted yield curve (I just put some of you to sleep, didn’t I ).

My point is, he has always wanted the epitome of the cool car, he wants to drive a 69 Camaro. Whenever we have to replace a vehicle, David comes up with a list of the virtues of the 69 Camaro, and the top of the list is “it just sounds sexy,” – which I struggle to see as a selling point.

After he makes his case (and I have had to do this more than once), I very patiently explain, without using any words like “crazy” or “what are you thinking,” that a Camaro just isn’t a practical choice for a family of 7, and that I don’t think Samantha riding in the trunk is an optimal solution to our vehicle issue.

The point is that the 69 Camaro may have a million horsepower and 5000 torque (see how good I listen?), but it just isn’t the right vehicle for our situation; it isn’t appropriate.

I run into this same situation with clients. They often ask me about some “awesome” new financial product they heard about, and like my husband, it sounds so cool. They want to buy it immediately, but it isn’t right for their situation.

A young couple with one small child had very little cash because their net worth was mostly tied up in a house. They were sold a variable life insurance policy on the child for $15,000 yearly premiums, with severe penalties for canceling early. That doesn’t mean variable life insurance is bad, but it just wasn’t right for that family, in that situation, at that time. It ate up all their extra cash and left them with nothing when they couldn’t afford the next year’s premium.

You will think that “YOU” wouldn’t be taken in by these smooth talkers, but if the person advising you is more interested in selling you a product than finding out what is right for your situation and what your goals and objectives are, then anyone can be distracted by the pretty, shiny new thing.

1. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Get another opinion or two, do some research on the internet, and look for a Certified Financial Planner – CFP because they are obligated to look out for your needs first, it is part of our ethical code.
2. Be informed about what you are trying to accomplish. If it is getting 5 kids to soccer practice and ballet, a Camaro will not be right for you. Talk about your goals and write them down so you can remember your plan when the shiny, pretty things start being presented.
3. I get suspicious whenever someone uses high-pressure and must-buy sales tactics right now. Gather your information and think about your decision. Don’t give in to “must sign today” tactics. If you are ready to move forward and have been considering it for a while, I would always say start saving and investing today and not tomorrow, but if you need some time to mull over and think of the questions you forgot to ask, please don’t get pressured into signing in the next 5 minutes or you lose your chance sort of tactics.

One day, when it makes sense, and it is just the two of us, David will probably talk me into owning his dream car. At that point, our goals and needs will have changed, and the vehicle will fit in our plan.

For now, I’m happy driving my reliable Toyota but don’t ask me how much horsepower it has. I keep looking for where the horses live in the car, and I just haven’t found them yet.

Lories Monthly Minute

By Lorie Jones

On our way to church the other morning, my daughter was listening to her usual medley of Disney songs. This is probably somewhat common for you who have 6-year-olds, but my baby is 17-years-old, and we listen to this selection every week. If I’m honest, I usually don’t pay much attention to the music, but this week, for some reason, I was listening.

In my day, the princess in these movies, usually waited for her prince to rescue her. She was stuck in a tower and needed a kiss, or some witch was trying to feed her a poisoned apple, and coincidentally, she needed a kiss.

There was something different about the princesses in my daughter’s world. They were chopping off their hair, heading to war, pulling out bows and arrows, and fighting for their own hand in marriage. Far from waiting for a prince to rescue them, oftentimes, they rescued themselves, the prince and the rest of the kingdom.

This makes me think of some of the clients that I have had over the years. Sometimes, they came to me at the worst moments of their lives, when circumstances changed, and they faced the daunting task of dealing with their financial future alone. They were often uncertain and worried if they could understand financial concepts and make good decisions independently. A lot of times, honestly, they didn’t really want to learn about cash flows or net worth; it was big and scary (and most of them said boring, but I promise you that isn’t true)

We could all take a lesson from some of these more modern princesses. We are more than capable of taking our future into our own hands. We don’t need to wait for rescue from the complex monster of the financial world. We are smart, brave, and perfectly capable of understanding complicated things. And if the answer is, “I’m sure I could slay the dragon, but I would rather play with molecules in my lab,” there are financial geeks like me around to help.

So, in the words of Rapunzel, “Venture outside your comfort zone. The rewards are worth it.” – Rapunzel (Tangled)
“Be your own Hero.”