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.
Saving And Investing
Here is a sample audio from Debra L. Morrison where she shares how to:-
– Distinguish saving as earmarking funds for short-term purchases, and investing as creating medium to long term wealth.
– The goal is to write down last 2 days of expenses, then track next 5 days of expenses, noticing that simply being conscious of the future 5 days of expenses typically reduces those.
– Take control of what we CAN control.
– The NEED to send money ahead for expenses in our future, given that inflation will surely cause those future costs to soar by comparison to today’s costs.
– Deploy the analogy of football and basketball games having time limits–realizing that people/athletes get creative and motivated to “WIN” when the clock is running out…let’s us WIN by writing down our expenses.
Part 1 (13 minutes)
Part 2 (the last 4 minutes of a different presentation on a similar topic)
Annual Cocoa Beach Aunts & Cousins Reunion
Well I was informed this Christmas that last year’s Cocoa Beach reunion of my aunts and my cousin would definitely be an annual affair! No problem, we had a blast together, so why not create and cherish great memories while we can? We slept in the 3 beds in my small condo, & also on blow-up beds, yet no one complained about there only being 2 bathrooms. Yes, some of you will remember my 88-year old aunt Janet riding the waves last year, and at 89 she did go swimming in the ocean with me this year, yet for the most part, we just relaxed on the beach and took in some discount store shopping, as well as enjoyed local seafood. Here’s our gang at a waterfront restaurant called Jack Baker’s Lobster Shanty in Cocoa Beach, FL, which I highly recommend!
Why is this so special? My aunts were formative influences in my early years, and each provided me with wise guidance and counsel. We are a God-fearing and a musical family, so we delighted in singing hymns in 4 part harmony together once again.
Two of my aunts are widowed, and another one is taking care of her incapacitated husband, plus my cousin is widowed. Each of these women have learned to manage their money in a way that allows them a comfortable retirement. My cousin’s husband died suddenly so she is a perfect example of a woman who when she needed, pulled herself together, and provided comfort to her 2 children. None of these women started out knowing much about money–let’s remember the horrible socialization women who are now in their 70s and 80s received in their youth and early adulthood–yet they have put one foot in front of the other to forge ahead in uncharted waters, investing for their future. They pray for God’s guidance and they act. I’m happy to be related to them, and to hold them out as “everyday folks” who could serve as examples of empowered women to any woman who needs a role model. We Can Do It Women!
Tax Day Reliefs!
Well the only good thing about a stock market decline is that we owe LESS taxes on the earnings…ahem, I mean on the lack-of-earnings. In fact, it gets better. We can (and should) take up to $3,000 of losses over and above those which offset our capital gains, as a tax loss.
For example, that means that if you had $1,000 in capital gains in 2008, and you also happened to have $1,000 in capital losses last year, that loss counterbalanced that gain, resulting in no taxes owed. If you had that same $1,000 in capital gains and $5,000, for example, in capital losses (you needed to have sold out your loss positions which in investment speak is “realized losses”, versus just seeing the value go down on paper) you could have offset the $1,000 in capital gains and then taken an additional $3,000 in capital losses against both your Federal and State income tax returns, thereby offsetting even ordinary income.
Currently the annual limit that one can take over and above offsetting equal dollar gains, is $3,000., yet if you had more than that, like $1,000 more in our example above, you can carry those unused losses forward on your Federal Income Tax return for use in future years. (I don’t know of any states that allow unlimited capital loss carryforward though, so any 2008 unused losses do expire, relative to your state income tax return.) So, that’s a bit of tax trivia; i.e., salve perhaps on the wounds of recent portfolio losses.
While some of you will as a matter of principle, wait till tonight, and then begrudgingly deliver your income tax returns to the post office that stays open the latest, others of us will file at least one extension, if not two. Yet, April 15th typically evokes some emotion, not much of it pleasant.
Well, all the more reason to treat yourself to something for nothin’. Yes, here are some links to a couple sites’ advertisements for today’s freebies:
http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/106920/18-Deals-That-Offer-Some-Tax-Day-Relief
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-04-13-restaurants-tax-day-discounts_N.htm
What mature woman doesn’t love a deal. Now we can feel good again, even for a day, right? No, as you all know, I say we can feel good every day, despite the chaos that swirls around us. It’s up to us what we focus on. I’ll leave you today with this Winston Churchhill quote, which I really find fitting:
“We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.”
With so much piracy present today–literally off the coasts of Africa, and metaphorically with our news media preying on our minds–it is indeed incumbent upon us to captain our minds to focus on our well-being, and on the well-being of our family and friends–both those we’ve met and those we have yet to meet.
Let’s all practice random acts of kindness, starting with ourselves. We Can Do It Women!
Fighting Fears Of Becoming A Bag Lady In A Failing Economy
Many women fear becoming a bag lady in this troubled economy and are searching for ways to spend less to better ensure their money lasts as long as they do.Because we cannot control the economy or the stock and bond markets’ rise or fall, we may be tempted to live our lives as if this current state of contraction would last our lifetimes. Surely it will not.
What we can control then is how we respond to our fears and how we take care of ourselves during times of economic turmoil. Becoming more vigilant about how we invest and what we spend our money on can help us build prosperity or at least conserve principal, even in times of uncertainty. Additionally, we can also choose to control how we react to negative financial news and stories of economic distress that are reported hourly on the major news networks and radio. For one, we can stop tuning in. Removing this negativity from our lives will allow us to concentrate on our hobbies and activities and our relationships–all of which can bring us joy and peace.
Having a positive outlook is not the same as ignoring the problems going on around you. It is simply a tool that you can use to limit the paralyzing grip that fear may otherwise exert over you.
When you stop allowing fear to control you and start managing your fear by 1) putting it into proper context, and 2) remembering how resourceful you’ve been and how resourceful you are as a mature woman, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. You’ve already overcome many fears and seemingly unsurmountable odds, and yes, you can do it again.
I invite you to ask HOW questions to formulate a strategy of living amidst fear. How will I handle my fear at 2pm; how will I handle fear if it occurs at 2am, how will I manage my mind and emotions when faced with uncertainty. The best source for these answers, of course, is to reflect back on how we’ve done this in the past. Yes, we’ve all had successes in the past, and we can learn from ourselves, as well as those around us who have shared their victories.
Remember my past posts on risk, reward, trust, and fear and use the information I’ve shared to stop your fear in its tracks. We’ve all done it before, and we can all do it again. Yes, We Can Do It Women!
