Saturday, I woke up with incredible abdominal pain. I’ve never had pain like that before, and certainly not there. So, as any curious person would be apt to do, I opened up the computer and Googled my symptoms. Within the blink of a microprocessor, I found out the diagnosis: I’M DYING! I have diverticulitis. A bowel obstruction. Cancer. Maybe I’m suffering from all of the above at once! After all, Google had described my symptoms and spit out a diagnosis to a T. Or perhaps I simply had an oblique pull. “That can’t be it,” I said to myself. Too simple. […]

Nothing beats personal interaction. Nothing beats being together. Being with other people, live and face to face. Not over the phone or zoom. Phones put away and just real meaningful time together. This week, I had the pleasure of seeing clients that I had never met in person. They live in Texas. We flew out and spent five hours together. Uninterrupted. Real, authentic conversation. Talking about all things them. Just listening and learning. Not much of a discussion around the markets or the world. Just simply being and talking about what is going on with them. Then, I flew to Chicago for a […]

Entitled. The dictionary defines it as “Believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.” I’m sitting in the airport yesterday on my way back to Arizona. I look around and see sandwich wrappers left on tables and napkins crunched up. All within just a few steps of a trash can. I can hear that inner voice in the head of the perpetrator,” No, no, no, someone ELSE will take care of this. After all, I’m superior!” Where did this come from, and how did this happen? When did we become a society of “Someone else will do that for me?” […]

Does anyone really believe that when Steve Jobs created the iPhone, he intended for them to be used the way they are being used today? Did Jobs want 10-year-old kids (and younger) having such easy access to the internet and everything on it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a tech guy. I understand it and use it more than most. But our kids should simply not have this kind of access. Should our kids be able to see the horrors of war, assassination attempts, and other deeply concerning things online when their brains are not yet fully developed? Of course […]

Your clients become your best friends. “I need to take five minutes to talk business with you,” Tom said. “I’ve got this large amount of money coming in, as you know, in the next six months. We have talked about alternatives for this money, but I haven’t seen anything from you on it,” he continued. I listened intently. “Our relationship is a 9.5 out of 10. You are amazing. You introduced me to the flight service. The car leasing company. You have always delivered when I needed you on wires and done any analysis I have needed. But you know, JD, […]

I have tremendous guilt. A dear friend and client passed away three weeks ago. He was young, smart. Too young, died of a heart attack. As a good friend, I grieve the loss. But as his financial advisor, I feel the guilt of not doing enough. Maybe I didn’t push him enough to secure his family’s future and buy life insurance. His death has had a profound effect on me. It’s not just the feeling of mortality, but that I could have and should have done more, pushed more. But I didn’t. And I have never been known not to […]

What is it about aging that’s so scary? The idea that maturing is something we should fear? I know this concept is extremely frightening to me. I have so many reservations: Did I do enough? How have I spent my time? Did I reach my potential, or at least come close? And did I spend my life focusing on what’s most important? Most of the friends don’t live in the same city or even state as me. Even when I lived in California, my friends have always been in other places, spread out. This is due to my business background […]

Monday started out challenging. Cases were not moving along as fast as I would like, and clients were not moving or responding as quickly as one would hope. I found myself thinking how tough this business can be sometimes. Several years ago, on one of my many trips to Washington, D.C. for AALU, I went with a close personal friend, Paul. Paul had done two tours in Vietnam as a Ranger. He had become very successful and built an incredible business for himself and his family. He told me stories of his time in Vietnam and the many things he […]