What We Try to Get Clients to Focus On
"I very frequently get the question, 'What's going to change in the next 10 years?' And that is an interesting question, it's a very common one. I almost never get the question, 'What's not going to change in the next 10 years?' And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two" - Jeff Bezos, of the House Amazon
Main Idea: By focusing on the goals, values, and pieces of your life that will not change, families can develop a much more fulfilling and fruitful life plan.
One of the biggest misconceptions of hiring a financial advisor, in my opinion, is that the bulk of the value we bring comes by way of investment returns.
True, investments are a core piece of hiring an advisor, but if you decided the only piece of your financial plan that was important to your family was investment returns, you may as well invest in one of the larger ETFs at Vanguard or Fidelity and crack open a cold one. Of sparkling water, of course.
What we try to get clients to focus on is not finding the greatest investment opportunities known to man (as I alluded to last Friday - this has historically been a waste of time), but rather developing a state of mind and a plan that will result in them achieving their goals regardless of how the market performs.
Put less politically correct: Keeping the main thing, the main thing.
What's not going to change in the next 10 years?
Although Bezos is a unique character, this is a quote I reflect on quite often, especially in the financial planning industry.
Life moves rapidly.
For instance, here is a list of things that have changed since I began writing these articles about a month and a half ago:
And the list could go on. Point is, there are a lot of important pieces in your life that will change fast and will change often.
Continually focusing on these can be tiring, and in the case of economic and political news, probably more damaging than anything.
Because of this, focusing on the things in life that will not change for you over the next 10 years will be significantly more helpful. I'll give you a brief example of my own:
You'll have your own that you come up with, but designing a 10-year list as we'll call it, can be much more helpful than seeing how you feel about the market or the economy in a given year.
CONCLUSION
Good follow up: Since I created this article based off of his quote, I'm going to link Bezos' conversation with Lex Fridman here. I've also been exploring a new program at Fidelity now that we're partners that further explores these topics. You can visit that here.
Action Items: These conversations and planning procedures typically require some pretty serious intentionality, so I'd invite you to sit down with your family or advisor to create a 10-year list of the things that will not change, allowing you to create a "north star" of what you can aim for with your financial plan.
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