Ronda Rousey Gives Investors A Lesson In The Power of Perspective

by: Brendan Magee

With Ronda Rousey you have a remarkable young woman. She has accomplished more than a lot of people could ever dream of, and after losing her championship match against Holly Holm she said she was considering ending her life. Granted, no one expected her to lose her championship much less get knocked out, and few people go to work on such a large stage as she does. It's not difficult to imagine the despair she was feeling.

However, lets take a look at what Rousey had before the fight. She was powerful  and in better shape than most people walking the planet. She was famous, had wealth, was young, admired, respected, had a world of opportunities before her, was in a committed relationship, and was the champion of a sport that didn't even exist before she breathed life into it. Now except for the championship, after the fight she still had all of those things, and was considering taking her life. How powerful is perspective?

The same trap lies hidden for many investors mainly because it is never spoken about when it. There is plenty of talk about which stocks will be the winners and losers, and plenty of talk about whether the market will tank or not. You hear plenty about how the American way of life and the security your grandparents enjoyed is long gone. You never once hear a word about how quickly your perspective can get a hold of you and lead you down the path of destruction.

In a time of despair, Rousey's conclusion (story word be a better word for it) is that she is nothing if she is not the champ and no one gives a blank about her. Hence, pull the plug seems like the thing to do. Fortunately, she had people in the room with her and let her know that she was loved and had a lot to live for. Investors in their moments of despair are , usually, alone and have no one to come to their rescue.

The thing investors need to get is how vulnerable they are to their own perspective and how quickly it can overtake them. When your perspective has them in a hot state of mind is when they need the most help.

A five minute phone conversation might be the five minutes that saves a life and your portfolio. During that phone call, let the person know exactly how you feel (Do not sugar coat it.). Let them know exactly what you are thinking about doing and then ask "Am I seeing this right? Am I right to feel this way?" Odds are they will have a very different spin on what you are going through and the solutions you are considering. Make sure you are not calling to hear what you want to hear. Check your ego at the door. Could you imagine anyone agreeing with Rousey that thing to do after losing the fight was to take a bunch of pills and end it?

It would work pretty similarly in investing.

Unexpectedly an investor's portfolio goes down and a portfolio designed to fulfill on that person's true purpose for money if given the proper amount of time, is on the chopping block.

Investor-"I keep looking at my statements and am scared to death my portfolio will fade away to nothing if I don't do something. I keep watching the news and every one is telling me the market is way to shaky to have my investments there. I heard good things about these accounts that guarantee my investments against any stock market losses. I don't care that I will be selling low and locking in my losses forever. I have to do something."

Adviser-"Hi Mary. It's your money and can do what ever you want to do with it. Yes, the market is down and you are down about five percent at this point."

Investor-"Given what I was hearing on the television I thought I was down way more than that."

Adviser-"Don't you remember when we opened the account we only had about five percent of your money in U.S. Large Company Stocks. What the news is reporting is only on U.S. Large Company Stocks. You have your money in 39 countries around the world and in over 12,000 different companies.

"Remember we said that when  the parts of your portfolio went down we would sell off a portion of what stayed even or went up a little and what went down we would put a little money in those investments that were down so we were selling high buying low all the time?"

Investor-"I do remember that conversation. I also remember I said when that happened I wouldn't panic and pull the plug on this. You know what, I am feeling better about this. I just got so scared. Lets keep things as they are."

Perspective held in check. Investor saved and true purpose for money is still on track.

Good luck Ronda.

Brendan Magee is the founder and president of Inevitable Wealth Coaching. With comments or questions e-mail brendan@coachgee.com or call 610-446-4322.

I Have Done The Work, But Know I'm Not Finished-Do You?

I Know I Am Not Finished, Do You?

by: Brendan Magee

Two meetings I attended had a lot to do with a compliment I received last week. First the compliment: I was getting ready to ref a basketball game and my partner who I hadn't worked with in a while said, "Wow! You have lost a lot of weight." I got to tell you the compliment and the fact that I was not expecting it had me feeling pretty good about myself. For the past two years, I have been getting up at five in the morning and engaged in a pretty rigorous boxing and kick boxing class. The compliment was a sort of validation that others could see the difference the hard work has made.

Now the two meetings I mentioned. The first took place some 13 to 14 years ago. I was relatively new to reffing basketball games and the man in charge of giving out the assignments said, "The kids whose games you are going to be reffing are going to stay any where from 14 to 21 years old, but you are going to get older. If you want to keep doing this, you better stay in good shape."

The second meeting took place with my cardiologist. Going into a routine check up with my doctor, I felt confident I was in decent shape. I had been running, going to the gym, plus reffing games four nights a week. He showed me my cholesterol numbers and asked me if I wanted to be around to see my kids graduate college. I said yes, and he said, "Stop eating all the potato chips, soda and cheese steaks."

Two bits of advice directed towards helping me live the kind of life I wanted, but doing the work was pretty much all up to me. I could get some help like joining U.F.C. Gym and following their program (Truth be told, on my own, no way in the world would I be doing the workouts I am doing now. I am a walking endorsement for coaching in just about any thing that is important enough to you in your life).

I could sit down and talk to a nutritionist and learn how to read food labels and do a better job of understanding what I was putting in my mouth, but doing the work was up to me. Going from 214lbs to 192lbs and keeping it off for two years now wasn't going to happen unless I did the work. I also know that I am not finished. If I want to get to 185lbs, ref well in to my fifties (maybe even my sixties, if I can), and live to see my kids kids, I have to keep going.

I don't know if investors realize that their success with money and all the possibilities successful investing creates for their lives depends on their doing the work, work that isn't always easy and can't be done by any one else but them.

There is coming to an understanding of how markets work so that they can choose to invest their money the way they believe it should be invested. There is coming to an understanding of the illusions created by the brokerage industry to sell them products they don't need and will do more harm than the good they are promising. There is understanding that diversification is more than  than owning stocks, bonds, and cash.
There is coming to understand all the costs involved in investing and being able to account all of them and get rid of the ones that make the brokerage companies wealthy at the investor's expense.

The most difficult and maybe the most valuable lesson to learn is the vulnerabilities we as human beings have when it comes to investing. Learning what is behind our decisions and behaviors as investors and seeing how quickly we can start working in conflict with ourselves takes work. It also takes checking your ego at the door.

Creating a network of safeguards to make sure neither ourselves or the investment industry get the better of us is not easy. Clearing our schedules and giving the time to make sure our minds have the right kind of focus can be a little taxing. These issues require your time, effort, and energy. Nothing can replace doing the work only we can do. You are either going to be the solution or the problem.



Brendan Magee is the founder and president of Inevitable Wealth Coaching. With questions and comments, e-mail brendan@coachgee.com or call 610-446-4322.

Crash Proof Retirment Has Investors Speculating, Not Protecting

Crash Proof Retirement Has Investors Speculating, Not Protecting

by: Brendan Magee

Early 2016 has been trying indeed for investors. China has been imploding. The Dow has seen one hundred point drop after another. Low gas and oil prices, which you would think are good for the consumer and give people more money to spend on other things, apparently, are being linked to the turbulent stock market. It's enough to make your head spin.

With all that, the question is what do you do with your retirement accounts? Do you leave your money in the stock market and ride it out or get out before it gets really bad? It's hard to block out the foot steps of 2008's crash. Add to all that, the 24 hour news cycle of doom and gloom and you have got a recipe for panic. All you want to know is, where is a safe place to invest your money and get rid of the knot in your stomach?

To the rescue comes a "Crash Proof Retirement." The mantra of Crash Proof is that Wall Street is stacked against you, the investor. The stock market is way to risky especially for seniors to have their money in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. They can educate you on safe alternatives to the stock market where your principle is guaranteed and no matter what happens with the stock market, you will always earn a rate of return. You will be off the roller coaster ride.

Sounds great and what could be wrong with a guarantee of principle and a guarantee of some kind of return, especially for senior citizens? The answer is plenty, but we will just focus in on faultiest of its arguments.

In one of its t.v. ads Crash Proof is getting a testimonial from one of its clients and the woman goes on to say that she knows there's going to be a crash. She has seen it happen before. Now here's the reality. She is right.  There have been stock market crashes before and there is no reason to think there will not be several in the future. The most important questions and what this testimonial leaves out is:

 Does she know when the next crash will take place? Does she or any one else know how bad the crash will be? Unless you know the answer to these questions you are speculating and another word for speculating is gambling. No one in their right mind believes that going into a casino is a profitable place to go.

The problem for investors, especially ones who are in a panic about what the stock market is doing to their retirement accounts is, they are not in their right mind. They are scared, nervous, and worried. This is their life savings that is taking a beating. Everything they have been working a life time for is on shaky ground and it is serious business.Under those circumstances, desperately looking for solutions, the wrong thing to do can easily seem like the right thing to do.Worst of all, there are those who profit off of investors behaving in a dysfunctional manner. They are very convincing and can seem like what you have been waiting for all your life.

If along with the testimonials for crash proofing your retirement was the equivalent of the surgeon general's warning against smoking and using tobacco, maybe investors would think twice before having their retirement accounts "crash proofed." Frankly, there is one. In the Prudent Investor Law, the law governing the investing of qualified retirement accounts in this country written in 1990, there is a finding that every investor should be familiar with, "Bargain shopping in an attempt to separate the winners from losers through forecasting and analysis is deemed wasteful."

In plain language if you base your decisions on what you believe will happen in the future you will lose money. No one, and I mean no one, can predict the future, and if they even begin to hint at what the future will bring, run do not walk away from that person, making sure you have your money with you.

Ask yourself, If you knew what was going to happen in the stock market tomorrow and you stood to make a fortune, how likely are you to share that information with the public for free?  How likely would you be to share the information if you knew that giving it away was going to cost you the fortune you stood to make?

There is plenty more wrong with the idea of crash proofing your retirement, but at the top of the list is the notion that investors can predict the future. People can no more predict a crash than they can predict a massive surge in the stock market, and frankly, you do not have to in order to be a successful investor.

The rules are simple. Own equities, diversify, buy low/sell high. They are simple to understand, but not the easiest follow all the time. If anything, make sure you know what it looks like to appropriately apply these rules to your money, and then enlist the help of a coach in following them with discipline under and all circumstances. More than any thing your behavior, and nothing else that will determine your success as an investor.

Brendan Magee is the founder and president of Inevitable Wealth Coaching. With comments or questions e-mail brendan@coachgee.com or call 610-446-4322.

Investors: The Price For Success Isn't Your Money

Investors: The Price For Success Isn't Your Money

by: Brendan Magee

A short time ago I met for a review with a client, a very nice hard working young woman. When I say hard working I mean 60 hours a week, and with her schedule she is not able to make a lot of the group coaching sessions I hold because she is usually on the train or trolley coming home. Since we haven't had as much coach/client interaction as we would like I have arranged to meet with her from time to time on Saturday mornings.

At our last one on one session she blurted out, "Why do I have to meet with you and engage in these coaching sessions? You have all my money. I am not involved in the day to day management of the money. Why do I need to engage in something I am not interested in?"

Good questions. Why does an investor have to be engaged past the point that they have decided to give their money to an adviser? After all, isn't that exactly why you hire an adviser in the first place? Isn't the agreement that the investor pays the adviser to handle their investments? Plus, wouldn't it be great if all you had to do to guarantee your success was hire the right adviser? Then you would be free to go about the rest of your life unfettered by any investing or financial concerns.

Unfortunately, this point of view is a little short sighted and if the investor doesn't deal with this misconception their failure as an investor is pretty much guaranteed.  Yes, money has to be invested prudently and managed according to the rules (Own equities, diversify, buy low/ sell high), but that is not what is going to make or break your success as an investor. Your behaviors-what you do, what you don't do, what you allow to be done with your money, and what you don't allow to be done with your money- from the day you open an account til the day you leave this Earth will more than any thing determine your success as an investor.

I am reminded of a documentary that I saw on health clubs like Bally's and Planet Fitness. The gentleman being interviewed had come up from the fitness industry to own his own chain of gyms and he said one of the things that struck him was when a former gym owner talked about a gym's most prized group of members. Those being, the members who signed up but never show up. Every month they debited those members checking accounts for their membership dues of $10 to $20 per month, but never had to cover the expense of providing those members any services.

Now I am sure that like investors who opened investment accounts with the intention of attaining wealth, those same gym members joined the gym with every intention of losing weight and becoming healthier. Unfortunately, their membership dues were the least of what it was going to take to lose weight and get healthier. They actually had to show up and engage in the exercises and eat right.In and of itself these activities are not fun and enjoyable. The great idea of losing weight can easily become less of a priority the further and further you move away from the conversation.

Rather than getting up when the alarm goes off, a few more hours of sleep can be the better option. A cheese steak rather than the salad can be easily justified when you promise yourself you will stay on the treadmill 15 minutes longer the "next" time you go to the gym.

As their are distractions with working out, there are just as many with investing. The behaviors that assure long-term investment success can easily become one great big inconvenience and set aside for another day.

"I know I shouldn't put so much money in one stock, but I'll just do it this once. I know track records are worthless, but man this guy's been on fire for the past five years. I'll just ride with him for a little while and get out after a year or two." Be it exercise or investing, there is always someone who is more than happy to profit from your dysfunctional behavior. 

Prudent investing and healthy life styles are conversations that are too easy on our own to disengage from. Unfortunately, the cost of disengaging from either isn't felt right away. Eventually, they are way higher and more permanent then any of us ever bargained for.

Take a look at some of the anti smoking ads on television. They show people having had limbs amputated, losing all their teeth, etc. If they don't scare the bejesus out of you and disuade you from smoking, nothing will. For investors go to Youtube and watch an episode from PBS's documentary series Frontline titled "The Retirement Gamble." See what some of those people are dealing with as a result of their imprudent investor behavior. It will send a few chills down your spine. Money cannot ever protect you from your own dysfunctional behavior.

The ideal solution is to start with a purpose, something that is big enough and means enough to you for you to engage in a different set of behaviors. You also need to revisit that purpose form time to time. Out of sight means out of mind.

Wanting to be around for my children's graduations was a big enough reason for me to get up the past two years at 5:00 a.m. four days a week and engage in a very intense workout at the UFC Gym (Have lost 20 pounds and kept it off is my endorsement of their services).

For investing you need to have just as strong and meaningful purpose. Then realize it will be easy to walk away from it and that on your own you will not be able to maintain the discipline necessary to fulfill on your ultimate purpose. Get a coach and make sure his or her purpose isn't money. Yes, you will pay for their services, but it has to be about way more than money. Be it money, exercise, or anything worthwhile unless your heart and soul is engaged, ultimately you will fail.

Brendan Magee is the founder and president of Inevitable Wealth Coaching. With questions or comments go e-mail brendan@coachgee.com or call 610-446-4322.