Folks, I am super pumped for 2018 to finally be here! During the Christmas and New Year holidays, I was able to take some much-needed time off and celebrate Christmas with my kiddos, while actually putting an “out of office” notice on my email. I tossed my cell phone in a box, stayed away from social media, didn’t check office or personal email, and actually managed to lose track of what the Kardashians are up to for a full seven days!
Remember when you were a kid and you learned to ride a bike by using training wheels? Or when you first went bowling and they put out the bumpers for you? Or maybe you’re helping your own kids and grandkids learn to bike and bowl with training wheels and bumpers. Here at Family Financial Partners, we believe training wheels and bumpers are important in your financial lives as well.
I don’t know about you, but here we are at the halfway point of December, in the crux of the Christmas season, and I feel like my head is on a swivel! Between preparing my home, taking my kiddos shopping for those perfect gifts for their loved ones, and the overwhelming number of boxes arriving in my office on a daily basis, well, it all tells me something is a afoot and it’s coming faster than any of realized.
For all conversational purposes, 2017 has been a cakewalk for most investors. All you had to do was buy an index fund, and, depending on which one you bought, your investment may be up. For me to suggest that you had a diversified portfolio that lost money is ludicrous. Except for the people who own just energy stocks. They’ve lost. But, energy was the big winner last year, so they’re fine over 24 months.
A couple weeks ago in this newsletter, I said we’d be back with some more information about the planning checklists we provide to our clients. When folks decide to come into our office for the first time, we’ve probably had a conversation about what to bring with you. We most likely rattled off a list, or sent you an email that spelled out all the parts of your financial life that we’d like to review. You may recall sitting in our conference room with all of those documents, and you might have thought, “what the heck am I doing?” This was, for many of you, probably the first time you’d brought your entire life into a meeting in a professional atmosphere.
Happy week-before-Thanksgiving everyone! As most of you know, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year – in addition to July 4th, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Cinco de Mayo and of course Groundhog Day. But I digress.
Yesterday was the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s election as US president, and I know many people who wanted to see the economy fail and the complete demise of America in the wake of that news. For those of you who still hope for that, personally, I view that as unfortunate. I’m an optimistic person by nature, and I want the best for the America that I love. I’ve also learned, in my very limited time on this earth, that some very surprising results can come from unprecedented situations.
Every quarter, our office receives about 10 phone calls from clients who are having trouble understanding their quarterly or monthly statements. The call usually goes something like this: “I got my Pershing statement in the mail, but I also received a statement from Reits/Atel/Business Development Company (BDC) (alternative investments), and I’m not sure if these extra statements are in addition to my Pershing account, or if they’re part of what’s reflected in my Pershing statement. Then, when I log into eMoney, the values don’t match up with what I’m seeing in my statements.”
Halloween is less than a week away, and if you’ve got young kids like I do, your house is probably well into the preparation of costumes, and all the excitement that comes with the prospect of free candy. Although Halloween costumes today aren’t as scary as they used to be, watching my kids get ready to dress up and scare away spooks has me thinking about some of the things that keep our clients up at night.
Here at Family Financial Partners, we are proud to be able to say that the majority – nine out of 10 – of new clients who come in to have initial conversations with us do end up choosing to work with us. To be perfectly honest however, we’d prefer to bat a thousand. We’ll always keep striving for perfection, even if we know we’ll never get there.
*Representatives are licensed to offer insurance and annuity products in AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, IN, KY, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, WV, VA, and WA and are licensed to offer investment products in AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NH, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, WA, Washington DC and WV. This website and its content are not intended for residents of other states. Securities offered through: The O.N. Equity Sales Company, Member FINRA/SIPC, One Financial Way, Cincinnati, OH 45242. 513.794.6794 Investment Advisory Services offered through The O.N. Investment Management Company. Estate Planning Services provided in conjunction with your licensed legal advisor.