President’s Message – 2nd Quarter 2019
For more than a century after Charles Darwin first introduced his theory of evolution, most scientists following in his footsteps mistakenly believed that evolution had always been a slow, steady process that occurred at the same barely noticeable pace over hundreds of millions of years.
Then, in the early 1970s, two paleontologists named Steven Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge introduced a new theory that turned that long-held understanding on its ear. Based on their study of the fossil record, Gould and Eldredge observed that species had indeed gone through extended periods of gradual change.
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Inheritance Headache and Blossoming Trust: A Client Highlight
Over the course of our years serving clients, it has been our honor to walk alongside people in some of the most difficult and complex situations they face, guiding them in financial decisions and being present to ease their concerns.
These situations bring with them the full range of human emotion, as you can imagine. Especially at big transition points, clients often come to us with mixtures of hope, worry, insecurity, and vulnerability. After all, personal finances are among the most sensitive and intimate subjects imaginable.
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Money, Anxiety, and New Year’s Resolutions in June
Does anyone feel rich anymore? We meet with clients all the time who are wealthy by many standards. But they often say they do not live extravagantly and should not be considered rich.
A big factor in this phenomenon is that it is human nature to compare our lives “up” and not “down”. We are far more likely to point to someone who appears to have more of something than we do, and feel lacking in comparison, than we are to look at the many, many circumstances of people living with fewer resources and acknowledge just how wealthy we actually are. Rather than feeling grateful for the abundance in our lives, we’re left with a false, and nagging, sense of scarcity.
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Why “Enough Money” Isn’t Enough
Back in the old days, retirement wasn’t really a word, let alone an industry, or a lifestyle. You worked in agriculture and just gradually slowed down and then quit working and then you died. It sounds grim, but I like one idea from this. It was usually GRADUAL.
Most often in modern America, the retirement process is abrupt. You work at least 40 hours a week and boom, you retire, or you are forced to quit, and then you are done working. Some of this is driven by pensions.
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Reminiscing Reaps Reward
One of the job hazards of having been a financial advisor for 16 years is that my boundaries about talking about money are not in line with the rest of society. While I’m not that person who asks casual acquaintances how much they paid for their house (see also, Michael Scott in “The Office”), I have been known to ask my sister if she’s maxing out her 401(k), and to make sure my friends know
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You’re Not Getting Older, You’re Getting Better!
With age comes opportunities! If you turn 50 any time during 2019 (even the last day of the year), you can now increase your 401(k) contribution to $25,000. You don’t have to wait until your birthday. Call your advisor today to help you adjust your paychecks early this year. See the following chart for official numbers and limits for those age 50+.
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Priceless Wealth
During this Thanksgiving, talk to your family about your priceless wealth. No, I am not talking about the money or investments. I’m talking about the stories and the history and the childhood memories that define the core of who you are.
Every person’s life is interesting. As we get older the young people will be incredulous at the challenges we faced as children. Believe me, the 1970s might as well be
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Seven Excuses for Not Having a Will
Out of all the discussions I have with clients, the question: “Do you have a will?” brings up the most angst and the most excuses.
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Which Wolf Are You Feeding?
Years ago, I heard a story. The original version is long lost to me now, so I apologize for not giving appropriate credit to the original author here, but its message captured my attention. Ever since, it has shaped my thoughts about the importance of principled leadership, a courageous long-term perspective, and fostering shared values to overcome the internal struggles with which we all contend. For reasons that are becoming more urgent to me by the day, I feel compelled to recreate it here:
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Our Ultimate Resource
Over the years Lucien, Stirling & Gray has covered a wide variety of topics in our monthly enewsletter articles. Around the office you’ll often hear advisors say, “Didn’t we write about this once?” or, “I think we have a great article on that!” We thought it’d be great if we segmented our articles over the years into “classifications”, if you will. If you’ve been a long-time reader – thank you! We hope that it might be beneficial to revisit some of these. If you’ve only recently started receiving our enewsletter, you might find the references below helpful, depending on what life transitions you are either planning for or just completed. We’d love to know what other topics you would like us to cover. As always, thank you for reading!
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Making an Impact with Charitable Funds – A Client Story
At Lucien, Stirling & Gray, we’ve always believed that personal wealth is comprised of so much more than just your money and investments. We’ve talked about it time and time again (click to read more about our philosophy around defining wealth, personal wealth, and social wealth). As advisors, we enjoy helping our clients find a sense of fulfillment by showing them how to utilize their financial resources in meaningful ways. For some of our philanthropically-minded clients, charitable giving is an important part of the picture.
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Not Your “Typical” Millennial
“We thought if we lived like students for one more year, we could then go forward and have the life we wanted without the pressure of debt…” -Christin Vasquez
My wife, Christin, worked hard to pay off her $35,000 balance in law school student loans over the 13 months after passing the bar exam. When I walked the stage in 2010, I was debt-free. We are both millennials.
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Saying “No” in Order to Achieve Something Better
Every so often, especially at various transition points, it is smart to look at the whole picture and ask: are we being courageous in our business decisions? Are we looking at the broad perspective and doing what is best for clients and our team going forward?
In 2017, we celebrated our 25th anniversary, which provoked a lot of reflection. At the end of the year, we made the difficult decision to close the broker dealer portion of our business. For 25 years we had run two separate corporations.
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The Sandwich Generation
When my kids were teens we visited the LBJ ranch. During the tour, the docent talked about the huge philosophical gulf that existed between young people and adults during the Vietnam War. Later, my kids asked me more questions about the so-called “generation gap” and I was surprised they didn’t know more about this phenomenon that seemed so prevalent when I grew up.
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Money & Marriage – A Love Story
Some of the best money advice I’ve received was from a close friend after his 17-year marriage broke up. He said, “Don’t be cheap like me. Hire a babysitter. It is cheaper than a divorce.” Oh, the price of regret is so high. So how do we use money as a beneficial tool in marriage, instead of a source of conflict?
It is simple, but it isn’t easy. Try to think long term and work together.
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Financial Challenges of Divorce
Major life transitions almost always create stress – even the good transitions. Whether it’s leaving a career and transitioning to retirement, seeing children off to college after 18 years of nurturing and parenting them, or starting your own business after working for someone else, the stress can be great. Even events that are planned and positive can be filled with emotional and financial challenges. As a result, many people seek the guidance of a financial advisor during those times.
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Can Seasonal Spending (and Saving) Bring Comfort and Joy?
Although we are in the thick of the holiday shopping frenzy, it’s not too late to slow down and think about how, where and when we will spend our money and time this holiday season. The pressure is on to find the best deals on the “perfect” gifts. Each year it seems that our list to buy for grows. I’m here to say it’s okay to take a little pressure off. Here are some ideas to reduce your gift-giving anxiety and enjoy your holiday season.
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Faith In the Future
You’ve heard this from me before, but it’s always worth repeating: investing, in anything, is first and foremost an act of faith. Yes, there are many other factors that go into a great investment decision. But, whether you’re building a company, investing your hard-earned money in one, committing yourself to a marriage, starting a family, or writing massive checks for your child’s college tuition bills, you must
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Before You Kick the Habit…
You’ve heard this from me before, but it’s always worth repeating: investing, in anything, is first and foremost an act of faith. Yes, there are many other factors that go into a great investment decision. But, whether you’re building a company, investing your hard-earned money in one, committing yourself to a marriage, starting a family, or writing massive checks for your child’s college tuition bills, you must
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Reflections on Personal Wealth
If you’ve been a regular reader, you know that we introduced the idea of “Defining Wealth” in our July newsletter. First, we discussed financial wealth. Then, last month, we explored this topic a little deeper in “Stewarding Social Wealth.” We conclude this series here by introducing the notion of “personal wealth.”
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