What's in store for you:

1. Photo From My Life
2. Financial Thought: Job Responsibilities
3. Life Thought: Perspective
4. Good Sh*t: Google Shopping

Subscribe to this Newsletter

Photo From My Life:

Financial Thought:

Job Responsibilities: I believe a wealth manager has two core job responsibilities regardless if they're helping a client with investments, tax, estate or financial planning.

1. They need to clearly lay out the facts so their clients can actually understand them. This sounds simple, but it actually covers a few points. You need to understand the topics, do the research on their specific situation, and then display and communicate the facts in a way that your client can understand. That communication is different if your client works at a hedge fund or isn't sure what a stock is. If your client walks away confused, the advisor has failed.
2. They need to provide a recommendation on the best path forward for that individual. This is more nuanced. An advisor needs to bring in the facts and the emotional biases of their client. Doing the "best" thing isn't always the "right" thing.

Even doing #1 can be challenging when you're trying to cover a lot of topics, but I actually think #2 is a lot harder for the industry. Most advisors just don't know their client well enough to support them in that way. If all they think about is investments and manage 100-200+ clients, it's just challenging to do.

So, how do you get the best service from your advisor? Few things:

1. Never be afraid of telling them you're confused and don't understand a topic.
2. Ask them what a purely optimal decision would be in a situation. Then, ask them whether that makes sense for you based on what they know about you, your goals, and your emotional biases.

Life Thought:

Perspective: I'm guessing I can speak for everyone reading this when I say that we tend to get caught up in the moment and lose perspective. Living in the moment seems to be one of the hardest things to do. We live in complicated worlds, stressful jobs, families we want the best for, and friends we don't see enough. Life gets stressful, and all of a sudden we wake up and realize we aren't appreciating everyday moments.

Yes, maybe I think about this too much. My dad passed away when I was 15, and ever since then I've known just how short life can be. At the same time, I've struggled because knowing life is short makes me stressed about living each day to the fullest.

It's a somewhat never-ending cycle. You can now see why I married a therapist who legally cannot therapize me, but still tries her best :).

Well, I was catching up with a friend recently and we were talking about this topic. Yes, I'm sure you're very jealous you're not in our friend group. We talk about REALLY exciting topics like this. Anyway, he shared two strategies that help put life in perspective so you can enjoy the moment and appreciate more things. I thought I'd share them in case they help.

1. If you were to go back 10 years and tell your younger self about your current life, how amazed would they have been?
2. Remember that everything in life is fleeting, so when you're doing something, ask yourself: how many more times am I really going to get to do this?

I know you didn't sign up for this newsletter for my philosophical thoughts, but as I've always shared, I hope to provide value through my newsletter while also getting value from putting my thoughts onto paper. If everyone had the right perspective and understood that we're just lucky to be a speck in this crazy atmosphere, the world would be a better place.

Hope you appreciate your day.

Good Sh*t:

Google Shopping: I default to convenience way too often. My life is hectic and so simplifying one thing just feels nice. If I need something, I go straight to Amazon, click buy, and move on with my life. No thinking involved.

Well, my son recently needed new underwear. He's in the “I’m a big boy now” phase. So, I went to Amazon, found a Spiderman pack and was about to buy them. But, for whatever reason, I paused for 10 seconds and checked Walmart.

Literally half the price. Nothing groundbreaking here, but a good reminder for me. It takes 30 seconds to run a quick check on Google Shopping or another retailer.

Money doesn’t grow on trees folks.

Disclaimer: VDB Wealth is a registered investment adviser. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.

‍