“Don’t panic.  Sometimes . . . you’ll be caught in a market crash.  Don’t rush to sell the next day.” Sir John Templeton

When the market was crashing, in early 2009, I had a client who was extremely nervous.  He called me every couple of weeks to discuss the news as he became more terrified.  One day he dropped into my office unannounced and wanted to meet immediately.

He sat across my desk from me and started in, “I want to liquidate all my investments.  I am getting out of the market.  I think the whole economy is going to collapse.  I’m not sure the U.S. will even survive.”

“What are you going to invest in?” I asked. Read More→

“Aggressively monitor your investments.  Expect and react to change.  Remember, no investment is forever.” Sir John Templeton

A woman, referred to me because of her financial struggles, met with me one afternoon in my office a few years ago.  She was in her early 70’s and years before inherited from her father shares of stock in a small oil industry company.  He had told her, “This is a stock you can just put in a drawer and forget about it.”  At the time, she was working and didn’t need the money so she tucked it away for her retirement.

Years went by and the company was eventually bought by another energy company.  She sent in the shares as requested and received new shares tucking them away.  More years went by and she knew she’d be fine in retirement with her small pension, Social Security and nest egg.

She occasionally read about the company and was pleased with its spectacular growth.  In fact it became one of the superstars in the news.

Then one day she picked up the newspaper and there on the front page was a report on her company.  It had collapsed and was worth virtually nothing.  All of the assets, they supposedly owned, were fraudulent energy contracts.   The top executives were under criminal investigation. Read More→

“Do your homework or hire wise experts to help you.” Sir John Templeton

A parable:  A man who had a lot of money and no experience entered into a business partnership with a man who had a lot of experience and no money.  When it ended the man with the experience had the money and the man with the money had the experience.  Tough way to gain expertise!

I received a referral from a friend and so one afternoon in my office I met with an elderly woman and her two daughters to discuss her financial situation.  It was in the midst of the economic crisis last year and her account had gone down.  But even in the previous good years it had virtually gained nothing.  As we sat in my conference room with the late afternoon sun shining through the windows, she said, “And if that isn’t bad enough I’ve tried to get in touch with my adviser several times.  He never calls back.” Read More→