I grew up in a family that played cards a lot – games like Euchre, Hearts, Spades, 500, Cribbage, Gin Rummy – all the standards. These days, when I play cards, it’s often a reminder to me that cards and investing – and for that matter life as a whole – have a lot in common.
I’m pretty analytical. That’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me. So I think I should almost always be able to figure out the right play when I’m playing cards based on math and probability. As a financial advisor I take much the same approach to recommending a planning strategy or an investment allocation. And it usually works well in most situations. But not always, right?
The reason for that is actually the same whether it’s cards, investing, or planning strategies – there are factors that are out of our control no matter how well thought out our own moves may be. With card games, it’s the other players. In investing and financial planning, it’s things like the Federal Reserve Bank, law changes by Congress, disruptive technology, and geopolitics.
That’s why no matter how well we think we can anticipate an outcome, we’re more focused on helping our clients reach their goals through the inevitable ups and downs than we are about outperforming a particular stock or bond index in any given quarter or year. And this is why we often use approaches like hedging, diversification, insurance, and other investing risk reduction strategies.
Despite my love of card play, when it comes to helping our clients adjust to the hands Life deals, I appreciate that the stakes are typically incredibly high, and this requires serious strategy on my part.
When we sit down to talk about your hopes, dreams, and life situations, I’m eager to lay all the proverbial cards on the table (yours and mine) to best help you understand and plan what I think your next best moves could be. Over multiple choices and outcomes, what I value most is helping you play the long game to your best advantage.
Financial Advisor