What Is Wealth? Wooden Leadership
Andy Hill with Ms Morrison
I was delighted to hear Andy Hill speak at the NAPFA—National Association of Personal Financial Advisors—National Conference in Chicago yesterday. He played guard for John Wooden’s UCLA Basketball team. Andy had the courage to call Coach Wooden decades later, to reconnect, and Coach Wooden warmly invited him to visit. Andy would grow close to Coach Wooden, listening to hours of conversation, and accompanying Coach Wooden on several dozen speaking engagements, such that he regaled us with an hour of Coach Wooden’s principles.
Curious to me, that despite the magnificent winning record during those glory years, Andy said that Coach Wooden didn’t talk about winning. He focused on EFFORT, not winning; focused on process, not outcomes.
Coach Wooden apparently had an 8 principle mantra:
- demonstration,
- imitation,
- correction and
- repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition.
(I think the parallels to creating an effective investment portfolio are similar: I demonstrate that index-like investments have performed admirably over history, we imitate the various “indexes”, we re-balance the proportions as necessary, and effectively continue that process until we achieve our financial and personal goals.)
Coach Wooden admonished athletes, “Be quick, but don’t hurry”. Again, we women investors can learn from that saying; we need to be in the investing game–save quickly, yet not be in a hurry to reap medium-to-long-term rewards in the short term. It’s common sense, yet worthy of stating, for sure. That concept–be quick, but don’t hurry–so intrigued Andy, that he decided to write a book with that title. He called Coach Wooden asking him if he’d agree to have his name associated with him and the book, and Coach Wooden denied his request twice, before Andy persistently called yet a third time, and was finally granted the request. Fast forward, Andy wrote the book, and the rest is history.
I, too, think that if we focus on the “right” things, we can win, without being obsessed with winning. We can then lose and instead of evoking a tirade, we can think hard about what we might have done differently, so the next time we face a similar situation, we can produce a better result.
Time’s Take On Women As The Richer Sex
The March 26, 2012 Time Magazine cover depicts a figure in a skirt aside the feature article entitled The Richer Sex; Women are overtaking men as America’s breadwinners. I found myself staring at the figure, not realizing immediately why it appeared so dissonant with me until it hit me; double barreled.
First of all, the head of the woman is pictured with a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, whereas the article stated that even today a significant “wage gap persists: women working full time earn a median wage that is 81% of what men make.” So, while the women’s wages have indeed risen from 59% to 81% of what men make for the same exact job with the same exact qualifications, the question remains, how much juggling is really required for women breadwinners to indeed support their families in the lifestyle in which they are accustomed when they’re only earning a fraction of what men are earning for those very same jobs? I’m thinking a LOT!
The second incongruity was that the $1.00 dollar bills are folded into the shape of a woman wearing a skirt. How yesteryear is that? I mean women have fought long and hard to get to the 81% level of males’ wages, and for the most part, they didn’t do it in a skirt; they did it in construction, engineering, as well as teaching and executive management, yet they were not hindered by the confines of a skirt. Was that depiction of a skirt, to intentionally avert the comparison that more “women now wear the pants” in families? Hmmmm.
Regardless of the cover picture, the article brings to light a remarkable sea change, insomuch as the fact that we’ve not seen this kind of seismic shift—whereby if the trends continue by the next generation, more families will be supported by women than by men–since women entered the workforce en masse after World War II, led by none other than Rosie the Riveter.
The US Bureau of Labor’s 2009 study shows that nearly 4 in 10 working wives outearn their husbands; an increase of more than 50% from 20 years hence.¹
¹ Mundy, Liza. “The Richer Sex.” Time Magazine 26 March 2012:30.
The old “deal” of women being subordinate to their husbands providing domestic services and sexual fidelity is officially off. Simone de Beauvoir, the famous French philosopher stated that women were poorer in every sense for ever accepting that “deal”, yet:
1) I don’t think there was ever a choice since society pegged the salaries of women significantly lower and gender-restricted several lucrative industries, and
2) I think that society at large was poorer in forcing individuals into gender-restricted roles that in most cases, didn’t work well, or at all. One wonders how much of this contributed/contributes to the over 51% of first marriage divorces today?
Interesting to me, as a Certified Financial Planner who advocates that couples routinely discuss their money, and major spending decisions, a Pew Research Center study found that when men were the dominant breadwinner, the major decisions were made jointly. Conversely where the woman was the dominant breadwinner, she made twice as many major buying decisions.²
While buying decisions are said to include financial services, it has been my experience over the past 33 years, that women still lag woefully behind in making the investment decisions. And when they do invest, they do so without proper education or training about how to create and monitor a portfolio, but rather with a mantra and investment discipline that matches, of “I don’t want to lose ANY money”. This results in women, even higher earning (and major breadwinner) women still invest more heavily in Interest Only and Bond investments, rather than stock investments. Why does this make a difference you ask? Well, first of all, historically speaking, no other asset class other than stocks has kept pace with the ravages of inflation; no other asset class has produced a return that would not only survive one’s tax bracket bite, yet also outperform whatever the CPI (measurement of inflation) rate was that year in order to buy the goods and services in that and future years. So, why have women eschewed stocks? They have succumbed to their own fear-filled emotions in pulling out of
² Mundy, Liza. “The Richer Sex.” Time Magazine 26 March 2012:31.
the stock market when it ebbs–as the stock market inevitably does in the normal cycle of investing—and then staying on the sidelines for fear of losing more.
Women need to think differently about money, and about investing. And when that happens, women will at least have a fighting chance to build retirement nest eggs, all the while supporting themselves, and perhaps a family as well. Until then, women’s financial needs will largely go unmet, and they will inevitably face a much longer working life than would otherwise be necessary.
The article speaks about men having “no map for the wilderness” of suddenly forsaking everything they’ve been conditioned and socialized to believe about their role in their families and in the larger society. Well while that is a concern, it is certainly LESS of a concern than my concern for women, who will NEED to invest wisely, as they generally take multiple year respites from the work force to have and/or raise children, and whose very retirement plans will need to provide many more years, to match their extended longevity—that is, unless their health declines as has been the case with men dealing with breadwinner stress, which will ultimately shorten women’s lives as well.
Let’s hope we women can use the men’s experience as a warning, and seek medical check- ups on a routine basis, so that we can nip any medical ailment in the bud, and continue to pursue our dreams—whether that’s as a stay-at-home mom, a mom in a breadwinning career, or a single woman in either or both capacities—as I also learned that 41% of babies are born to single women.³
The statistics of the last year have increasingly drawn our awareness to the sea change of women’s roles, and responsibilities; one of which is to attend to their/our finances—even if it is to delegate the core responsibility to a fee-only (objective) financial planner, as if our lives depended upon it, because they do.
We Can Do It Women!
³ Mundy, Liza. “The Richer Sex.” Time Magazine 26 March 2012:34.
“Put A Spoon In Your Underwear”
Ok, admittedly this is the ultimate tease; a headline grabber. Yet this is the advice given a young British girl, who’d overheard her parents discussing putting her on a plane to Pakistan for a forced marriage. Yes, in THIS day and age! The girl’s confidant told her to put a spoon in her underwear so that when she went through airport security, the alarm would sound, and she would be able to tell her story to the guard who would pat her down. WOW! These are truly words of wisdom, that are clearly strategic for this woman’s safety and hopefully, freedom from tyranny.
Imagine living in a society where choice is not an option. Choice about whom to marry seems so automatic to us United States’ citizens, it’s a real eye opener to read of those whom lack such basic choices.
So, the Women in the World conference this past weekend in New York, highlighted our need to support such women with our finances and time, to liberate themselves and their families and villages.
I’m quoting from this link, http://www.thedailybeast.com/women-in-the-world.html
Newsweek and The Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown, who organized the event, said,
‘What’s exciting about this event is that these women come here and get energized by the freedoms that we have here. I think that by showing these women that we care about them, that we support them, either financially or with time, it fortifies them in their struggle.’
So, this calls us into further responsibility to Master our Money now. We’ve no more time to waste on our excuses that “money is complicated”, or that we’re “not inclined to care about our money”. That last quote kills me when I hear US Boomer women say that. Well, I AM inclined to think about our money, as that will be our ‘ticket’ to greater freedoms and ultimately choices of how we mature, how we age, where we will live, how much we can travel, and, of course, how much we can loan or give women with far less than our (privileged) selves.
Join me to learn the basics of money and investing, and then strategies to Master your Money; it’s doable, and easier with an experienced money coach, so let’s get started, shall we?
Wealth Is Springing Ahead!
For those of us who do change our clocks twice a year, today begins Daylight Savings Time. Yet, what are we “springing” ahead for? Yes, we set our clocks one hour in advance; thus the axiom “spring ahead” followed by “fall behind”—for the one hour backwards adjustment which occurs each fall.
Might I suggest that we all take just 3 minutes each morning to reflect on our upcoming day…musing about what COULD happen today, and begin to amass a list of possibilities—ones which would enhance our mood, enhance our friends and family’s moods, enhance our bodies and general health, enhance our financial balance sheet, or simply enhance a stranger’s life. I find some of the greatest pleasure in performing what some call a simple act of kindness to complete strangers. Flashing a smile at just the right moment, connecting glances to convey you are not alone, high fiving someone to celebrate a “small” achievement, or something “gone right”. As a matter of fact, when I am feeling down, the quickest way to pull me back into myself–which is Love, as everyone’s self is–is to extend love to someone else, which always seems infinitely easier than expressing love to myself, dah! It is up to each of us, however, to bring Love home, within our Selves.
Being raised Christian fundamentalist, I heard over and over again, “love your neighbor as thyself” and it stymied me, cause I didn’t have a very good opinion of myself. Well I’ve grown to understand that it is perhaps our utmost responsibility to God and the Universe to enhance our opinion of ourselves…we ARE created by God, after all, and “God didn’t make junk!”
So I suggest that we “spring past” each and every incident, word or phrase that appears, or feels, like it is self-denigrating, in order to reclaim Love, reclaim our BEST being(s)—today and each new day. You know there is NO guarantee that you will finish today, let alone be granted a tomorrow. 98% of the people in each day’s obituaries didn’t expect to be THERE!
Let no more time be wasted on negative thoughts, especially those directed towards ourselves. Let’s SPRING into positive, SPRING into deep breathing to cleanse our souls, clearing out our lungs, enabling them to work at full tilt to energize us to reach new heights. Let’s SPRING into ideas, some of them, Big, Hairy, Audacious ones…why not? What have we to lose? Let’s rediscover the curiosity of a 2 year old, contemplating a flight of stairs, with the human urge to crawl up those stairs; absent the “what if the other kids at my play day see me slip? Will they make fun of me?” notions, that we adults often are limited by. Let’s dance like no one is watching, sing like no one is hearing, and act like we’ve only the stars to catch (or perhaps the moon), cause guess what, that’s all that matters. Surely, that’s living in wealth?
Women, join me in SPRINGING AHEAD– into our own POSSIBILITIES—those in our heads and those not yet dreamed of, and ultimately AHEAD into our own GREATNESS, in which God is already WELL pleased.
Wall Street Journal: Mistakes That Can Wreck A Retirement
Debra Quoted in is WSJ article.
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Mistakes That Can Wreck A Retirement
By Veronica Dagher
A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN
3 May 2011NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Some retirees are making avoidable mistakes, damaging both their personal and financial lives.
Not having a game plan in retirement, botching up their investments and making hasty housing decisions are just a few of the pitfalls advisers are seeing clients fall into.
Greensboro, N.C.-based certified financial planner Dennis Stearns had a client who “sailed into retirement with plenty of money and good health.” But the client became bored within a couple of years of playing golf and sitting around the house.
The client had an affair, left his wife and married his girlfriend. The divorce, remarriage, and subsequent divorce wrecked his finances and alienated him from his entire family.
While Stearns says this is an extreme example, it demonstrates the need for retirees to have a game plan. “Too much time can lead to overspending and some other major personal and financial mistakes,” he says.
If an adviser notices a client is foundering with their new found free time or not thinking through the consequences of their decisions, Stearns says they can “gently nudge” the clients to stay active, engaged and set goals. Then can also lay out the financial implications of bad decisions.
Quitting work cold turkey can be a big mistake for some soon-to-be retirees, says Peg Eddy, a San Diego-based certified financial planner. One of Eddy’s clients resigned from his role as corporate executive but then struggled to find his identity. “It took him a while to get used to the idea he was no longer ‘John Smith, CEO of ABC Co.,’” she says.
To make the transition easier, and if it’s possible, Eddy advises clients to ratchet down their work schedule step-by-step, a year or 18 months before retiring. She recommends clients work four days a week and then eventually stop working completely.
Eddy also says clients who wish to do consulting work after they retire should cultivate potential business while they are still employed. “It’s too tough to reconnect after you are out of the corporate world/womb,” she says.
Abigail Rosen, a Madison, N.J.-based certified financial planner, has seen too many clients assume that because they are retired they should make their investments significantly more conservative.
That’s usually not a good idea, she says. “What some retirees don’t understand is that they could live another 20 to 30 years,” says Rosen. Instead, she encourages clients to maintain a well-diversified portfolio to ensure the growth they’ll need in their late 80′s or 90′s.
Retirees often plan on downsizing their home, says Alan Moore, a Rapid City, S.D., certified financial planner. “Most figure they will sell the two-story, 2,500 square-foot house and downsize to a quaint, one-story house that is easier to maintain,” he says. And while they often assume the one-story house will be cheaper since it’s smaller, they often buy where other retirees live and the housing prices are a bit higher than a normal neighborhood, he says. As a result, they may end up spending all of the sale proceeds from their home on the new, smaller home.
Moore says while it generally makes sense to downsize, retirees should make sure they run the numbers with their adviser to ensure they’ll end up spending less and not more.
Retirees should also spend at least four to six months in the area they are thinking of relocating to before they buy a property in that area, says Debra Morrison, a Roseland, N.J.-based certified financial planner. “It’s best to experience the summer heat in Florida and Arizona first-hand, for example, before pounding in stakes permanently,” she says.
