I've been a member of Seville since 2011, and feel blessed to be a part of this wonderous place. Being a member of a club back in NY for over 15 years (until it got "trashed" to build houses) every time I drove onto the hallowed grounds of the club it was a feeling of letting the outside world slip away. I get the same feeling here at Seville, in part because of the beautiful surroundings, and of course, the friends I've made and the people I continue to meet. I've had some folks comment on my articles, and I thank you for reading. Seville is a truly great place to hang out...not without some downsides: not all in the world of Seville is perfect. But, if you have a problem with your drive or short game, you call Jon or Dexter or the other wise pro's we have here to straighten your game out. Can't swim: call Coach Phil. Feeling your age with a sore back? Call Jennifer, our massage therapist. But I wonder and I propose to you...do you do the same with your investment portfolio? Do you call in a professional when you find yourself in over your head? Even more, do you KNOW when you're in over your head?
Managing money and finances is a profession, not unlike most of you who either still go to work and do what you're trained to do, or did at one time. In my 30+ years in this field, I've met with and talked with thousands of people with problems- some bad, some good. If though I had to whittle those thousands of conversations down to the most often brought up topic, it is without question, "I (we) need to get all this stuff organized and understand it." How organized are your investments? Stripping ego out of the equation, do you understand the metrics and correlations between the markets and the ever-evolving changing economic conditions that ultimate affect the value of your portfolio?
We are in an impossibly predictable time in both the United States as well as the developed and emerging markets. With the current state of our administration and leadership, the upset in our ongoing relationship with North Korea, interest rates slowly rising after a stagnant 9 years or so, the brink of a massive overhaul of the domestic tax system, the overburdening reach of healthcare in our pockets and assorted and sundry other issues that relate and affect the value of your precious golden nest egg...what's a person to do? The key here is this: buying the positions in your portfolio are easy- most of it is on auto buy. Regarding your retirement fund, each paycheck a set amount is withdrawn, sent to the investment company, and invested into a pre-determined combination of accounts pre-selected by you...easy (and how long ago)? But what is your sell discipline? When and how do you decided it's time to sell or reposition? Re-allocate? Go to cash? Move from equities to fixed income? Take one from column A and move it to column B? Having a strong, well thought out sell-discipline is crucial to the success of a well thought out portfolio. While being profitable can never be guaranteed (I always have to say that!) ignoring and letting it run on auto-pilot can be devastating to a nest egg- just look back on how a buy and hold strategy did in 2008- as a general comment, it took years to just catch up from where you were before the crash.
So, it's your money. It's your golf swing. You can continue to get frustrated, throw an occasional club, keep posting those aggravatingly high scores, or call the pros and get your swing
straightened out- analogous to a sell discipline. There are no guarantees in life, golf or money...but knowing what you know and asking for help when you don't is usually in your best interest. Now...I'm off to the range to work on this wicked slice with the help of our wonderful Pro... see you on the tee!
