We believe in saving for the future, but the present is where we live. Your retirement flow might go toward any mix of spending: cash for bills, a stash for unexpected events, or maybe it’s for that adventure in the Florida Keys! None of it takes a pile of money: instead, we tend the orchard for the fruit crop.
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Clients, we love hearing from you about what you’re seeing. Life changes at such a clip, it’s helpful to hear about the patterns and evolutions that pop up in our everyday lives.
When someone pitches us an idea, we don’t start with the obvious question. The obvious question would be, “So, is this investable?”
The real question is, “What’s this mean?”
This happens to us in our own research process. We don’t start with the hottest investment headlines. Instead, maybe we read something about a new technology, then dive in and realize it’s a true innovation in its field.
Then the real question whispers, “Hmm… What does this mean?”
We follow that thread and wonder, “How could people use this in the future?” or “What would the world look like if this were normal?” or “What should companies be doing now to get ready for this?”
Little clues about the future might sprout from these questions. Dorie Clark talks about this idea in her book The Long Game. We don’t have to limit ourselves to one topic with laser focus. We don’t need perfect clarity.
Sometimes, we’ve got enough signals to work with. “Interesting” can be a good enough guide. “Interesting” can lead us to meaningful.
The research process is not a mission: it’s an experiment. Flexible, not rigid. Curious. Open.
We optimize for interesting.
We do the research, put the evidence in context, and go from there. Maybe it would be nice to be able to boil it down more than that, but then… if it were any simpler, everyone would be doing it, right?
It’s fun to be us, and it’s fun to be in it with you.
Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss.
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When The Jetsons first aired, the idea of a robot maid or a flying car seemed too good to be true. Today we have moving walkways, robot vacuums, and flying car prototypes. With the growth of green energy, could we live in Orbit City by 2062? Get more here.
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What a journey thus far!
I started at the kitchen table. Bought the office building at 228 Main when I could neither afford it nor afford to pass it up. Struggled and juggled for years. Fit a snowbird lifestyle into the middle of it. Survived personal tragedy, a cruel disease that slowly took the life of my high school sweetheart.
And through it all, we grew. More and more people entrusted more and more wealth to our care. More and more teammates helped me hold up my end of the deal.
They say it is not the strongest or the smartest who survive and thrive, but those who adapt and adjust to change.
But then there are the things that are not changing.
I recently heard second-hand the misperception that “Mark Leibman is not taking new clients.” But from a business sense, Mark Leibman became Leibman Financial Services, Inc. (LFS), a long time ago. And LFS is definitely working with anyone who contacts us with an interest in what we’re doing in here. Everyone gets access to the same set of services. One story, one philosophy, one book of business.
And still, anyone with an internet connection can know what I, Mark, am thinking. Every client gets the impact of my ongoing obsession with the markets. And they get a lot more brainpower working for them than I personally possess.
I have always asked myself, and you, and my teammates, and our mentors this question: “What could we be doing differently or better?” The underlying object has always been to try to grow the buckets—and help people connect their money to their lives. Some of you tell us we have done it differently and better.
In an industry seemingly focused on getting new clients and finding new money, we aim all of our intentional efforts entirely at you, our clients. Don’t have time to chase “new money.” Not me, not my teammates.
Eliminating sales activity enables us to put investment research, portfolio management, and communicating with you at the center of our work. Many other investment advisors outsource all of that into model portfolios managed by others and buy canned communications, all so that they can go look for new customers.
Paradoxically (or not), when we stopped pursuing prospects, we began attracting more clients. People tend to like it a lot when their buckets grow.
These distinctions empowered our evolution into a different and better organization. We have many teammates, and ownership and management is now a four-person collaboration. But we still have one story, one philosophy, and one book of business. Many “financial advisor” shops, however, are like a collection of sole proprietors, each on the prowl for new business all the time.
We believe we are organized differently—and better.
At the beginning, Colonel Sanders cooked all the chicken. At the beginning, I did everything, too. The business has grown into something that no single person could operate on their own—not me, not Sanders, not any one of my three partners. It takes all of us.
All three of my partners have the credentials and experience to consult with clients, to take the lead when they are the best fit. Each of us brings the same philosophy, the same investment offerings based on the same research, to every client. Any client can call any one of us. I am still here to talk—and so are my partners.
And the whole enterprise rests on the same values and principles, the same herbs and spices that we started with.
Wondering what any of this means for you? Call me, or any one of them, any time.
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