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 […]

Independence. What does that word really mean? After all, none of us become successful on our own. It’s always a team effort. We all have mentors, or someone that gave us a hand along the way. Sure, you can invent something or create something or even be first. But seldom is it ONLY you that was responsible for that success. Intra-dependence, I believe, is a more accurate word. The idea is that independence is born with the need to depend on others, the need to have others on your team. The alchemy comes when we trust someone else and know that they […]

Here is an actual quote from Business Insider a few weeks ago: “Recession indicator ends as cardboard box demand, prices rise: B of A.” Yes, that was an actual headline. It’s no wonder why people don’t know what the heck to believe anymore! If cardboard box prices are a recession indicator, please save us all! Disinformation and misinformation are a profound problem today. With AI, this problem will likely get worse. Everything is a spin. Everything is clickbait. The goal is attention, not truth. And yet, consumers and voters need facts more than ever. How sad is it that we […]

Table steaks. I heard that term recently, and it means “What everybody already has or is doing.” The low-hanging fruit. Busy work is not work. Never having that difficult conversation. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Cardio burns the same amounts of calories as lifting weights BUT it depends on the time of day, workout, and body type… or you can just sweat. This is all the easy stuff. I have heard the statement “Get the low hanging fruit,” so often in business. “Go after that,” some would say. I would submit that the easy stuff, the “low hanging fruit,” […]

While on vacation this week, I received a text message from a friend. “Jack died. Can you call me?” Megan’s husband, Jack, had passed away. Jack was a client of mine, but he was a friend first. We’ve known his family for quite some time, and he was the father of one of my son’s closest friends. Jack was only 40 years old, successful. Obviously, he had some demons, as do many of us. But, overall, he was a good man. As I began to process this news, I started thinking more about my own mortality. What does this all mean? As […]

It is said that anger, joy, and fear are some of the most powerful human emotions. I have been thinking about these emotions for some time, and it has become clear that anger has been what has fueled me since I was a child. Whether it was not having all that I wanted and going to work at age 12, Or when I moved to a new school and town for 10th-12th grade and did not know anyone, a new place, and new people, and I had to assimilate to that. Or, while in high school, never being quite good […]

This week, I had the pleasure of seeing a client I had not seen in some time. They moved to Australia a few years ago, and while I continue to manage their money, we have not really connected in a while. While at lunch, Mike shared a recent story while visiting with one of his friends back here in the states. “You should move your money to a bigger firm. Like a bank,” Mike’s friend suggested. “With all the money you have, a bank or a Merrill Lynch would take great care of you.” Mike then looked at me and said, “Jeremy, […]