Author: Leibman Financial Services

Flashback to the Future
Photo shows the Jetson family with their Robot Rosie in their flying car.
Universal Studios

Maybe you were there for the original episodes 60 years ago or saw them in syndication in the 80s, but The Jetsons cartoons remain iconic today. The show wasn’t the first to imagine jetpacks, flying cars, or moving sidewalks, but it gave Americans hope for the possibilities ahead.  

For those children from the 60s or the 80s, the idea of a robot maid like Rosie might have sounded too good to be true. (How great would that have been for tackling childhood chores?) But now we have our choice of Roombas to mop or vacuum the floors, self-propelled electric lawn mowers, and even self-cleaning litterboxes. 

How times have changed! Imagine what the next 60 years will bring. 

As we’re watching the developments, it’s clear that the futurists of our day are interested in making the best of the modern world less wasteful, less expensive, and more efficient. And both industry and government have established benchmarks and best practices for improving how “clean” our processes are. 

Sectors in renewable energy, efficient energy systems, and more sustainable forms of transportation continue to grow all the time. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, our country’s wind power capacity has increased 60% in the past five years, and solar capacity has grown a whopping 200% in that same span. The share of energy humans harness from these sources is likely to continue growing, especially given the U.S. goal for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050—a goal other nations also share. 

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to imagine more solar panels or wind turbines in our future. We believe there are opportunities that merit a place on our Buy List or at least deserve a closer look in the coming years. It makes sense to find positions that will help us invest in materials needed in the near future. 

For instance, we keep our eye on various raw materials: we won’t be building any Jetsons-style Skypad Apartments without them, right? We are also closely tracking the potential of electric vehicles. No personal jetpacks yet, but EVs are an innovation worth our attention. 

We don’t need our world to be hyper-futuristic to enjoy the benefits of technology, energy, or transportation. And we’d like this lovely planet to still be here for our children and grandchildren and the generations beyond. 

So where are the opportunities between where we live now and the Jetson home in Orbit City? We can strive to invest in the world we’d like to see. 

Clients, call or email if you would like to chat about this or anything else. 

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Flashback to the Future – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

Changing Your Story

Even heroes get knocked down a time or two when fighting their monsters. There may be a couple of bumps in the road, but what good plot doesn’t have some conflict?

With our passions in mind, a little bit of perseverance, and a good plan, we all get to be the hero of our own story.

Want to talk through what’s important in your story? Call or email to chat.

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The Road Not Taken Looks Real Good Now
Photo shows Taylor Swift in front of skyline.
Big Machine Records 

Taylor Swift has made a name for herself as a songwriter, pop star, and fashion icon, but now she’s making headlines for another role: as an effective investor. 

Recently, Taylor was featured in the news for making a wise financial decision. She had a chance to be a paid sponsor for a—let’s say—questionable product. Instead of diving into a high-risk, high-reward situation, she asked questions, did her research, and declined the offer. 

Whether or not Taylor’s music is for you, we admire her curiosity and commitment to herself. Her influence reaches all over the world, and she showed that she was not going to stand behind something she didn’t believe in. And every investor has the power to do that work. We do the research so that we know exactly what we own, why we own it, and how it fits into the big picture. 

We at 228Main.com might not have the cumulative reach of Taylor—yet 😊—but we know how important it is to act by our values, no matter who is watching. It’s our responsibility. 

Taylor seems to know hers, too, but it took determination to build the reputation she has. You don’t achieve that pop sensation status overnight! She has worked her entire adult life to build her empire, and she was not going to risk throwing it away based on someone else’s opinion or make a quick buck (or a hundred million). 

One rash decision can cause a huge ripple effect, and most of the time, the impulse to do the trendy thing is not worth it. There are always going to be temptations in life, but it doesn’t mean any opportunity that comes along will work for us. Only we are in charge of keeping an eye on our future. 

We don’t mind going against the crowd. At 228 Main, we consider all the angles of an opportunity, with our own critical eye. We don’t rely on others’ opinions. (When the cattle are all getting steered together, it rarely ends well for the cattle.) Certain products might be getting a lot of attention, but that does not mean they are necessarily great investments. 

Please do ask your questions when you have them, and we’ll think about the potential outcomes together. We try to make informed decisions, in the direction of our goals. 

So be your inquisitive, confident self. Like Taylor says in her song “The Lucky One,” “In the real world, if you have something that makes you different, you’re lucky.” 

Dare to be different? Call or email us, anytime. 

Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

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The Road Not Taken Looks Real Good Now – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/. Photo credit Big Machine Records.

In Which Numbers and Feelings Become Better Friends
photo shows a journal page with "I want..." written on it

“We figure out what we want with our feelings. We learn everything we can learn from the numbers.” — Me 

Sometimes new clients are surprised when most of our work together is conversation. There’s very little button-clicking on a computer that will do us any good while we’re meeting. And there’s no chart or binder just sitting in my office—or anywhere!—that can tell us what we need to know: 

  • What does money mean in your life? 
  • What are your goals? 
  • What’s working? What could be better? 

There are choices to make that do involve some math, of course. That’s a big part of our role. But your job? Figuring out what you want and how you feel about how to get there. 

In their book No Hard Feelings, Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy explain, “When people talk about decision making, they tend to assume that feeling something and doing something with those feelings are the same thing.” Some folks notice a feeling swell up in the process and try to shoo it away, thinking it will only gum things up. Surely, if we “open the floodgates, we’ll be bowled over by the crush of our emotions.” 

But that’s not giving ourselves much credit, is it? Gut feelings aren’t random signals. They can be clues to our self-knowledge. Ever bought a house, juggled job offers, or gone on a first date? 

Our feelings can help us figure out what we can live with and what we cannot. And as we’re fond of saying, “your money, your life.” No matter what happens in our conversations, clients, you’re still the one that has to live with your life—not us. 

We’re here as collaborators, coconspirators… you get the idea. Reach out when you’re ready.

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It's All About the Numbers and Feelings but Also Numbers and Don't Forget Feelings – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.

If All Your Friends Did It…
photo shows a pile of pigeons sitting on top of each other on a telephone wire in a partly cloudy sky

“If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” Does this line give you any childhood flashbacks? (Rhetorical questions abound in today’s reflection!) We’ve been noticing the number of headlines featuring the word “concern.” 

  • “Is this development a cause for concern?” 
  • “Top officials express ‘concern’” 
  • “Latest numbers raise concern” 

Whether it’s about the latest COVID-19 ripple effect, consumer prices, or bottlenecks in different industries, there seems to be plenty of concern still going around. 

We’d like to pause here, though, for an important distinction: “concern” is not the same as “panic.” Life is full of “troubling developments.” We get to choose which stimuli rev us up and which improve our view of reality. Aren’t we better for having a more accurate picture? 

On a recent morning, I noticed lots of action online and in the news that might have startled some investors. I decided to spend a few hours in the office that I hadn’t planned on, just in case there were calls to catch from you, clients. There wasn’t a single ring. 

I should’ve known better. 

“If all your friends jumped into a panic, would you?” Of course not. In fact, there’s that other classic line that makes a lot more sense: “This is no time to panic.” 

Panic rarely helps. Those bursts of energy may have served us when it was time to run from an animal of prey, but these days that’s not exactly a regular demand.

Soothe your system, then let’s get some perspective, gather the facts… and go from there. The leap to panic is a shorter—but way more costly—trip. Clients, want to talk through anything troubling? You know I’m here for that. Write or call, anytime, and we’ll sort it out together.

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If All Your Friends Did It… – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.

Beginnings and Endings

As the end of the year draws near, it makes sense to look back on where we have been—and to look forward at the path ahead.  

Our lives have threads; the life of our shared enterprise here at 228 Main does, too. One thread is talking with you, meeting you where you are, striving to connect your money to your life. Other threads pertain to finding worthy opportunities in which to invest, managing your portfolios to take advantage of that research, and communicating with you about what we are doing and why. 

It’s been an interesting year! The markets have been challenging; the economy is dealing with the aftermath of the shutdown and the restart relating to the pandemic. Disruptions continue to affect many aspects of our lives. 

Turmoil brings opportunity, of course, and we are always thinking about opportunities. Our underlying theory is that we survive, the economy recovers, and we end up sooner or later with record levels of GDP, income, and wealth. No guarantees, of course. 

In other words, a lot happened in 2022, but the big story has not changed. We are looking forward with anticipation to 2023. 

Our story may not have changed, but our structure is evolving to better reflect our work together. We have talked about the collaborative enterprise we’re becoming, and our regulatory structure will soon reflect that. I can’t work to age 92 by myself—and I would not want to! So the New Year will include a transition to a more sustainable form of organization. (More details will follow, and you can refer to our previous discussion on this process.) 

My sense is that we’re more capable than ever of taking care of business for you—with more time spent by more people searching for opportunities, managing portfolios, attending to the details of service, and communicating with you in more ways than ever. The new structure will be a better way to organize this reality. 

Clients, what are your plans and planning for the New Year? Any parts you’d like to talk about with us? Email or call, any time. 

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Beginnings and Endings – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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Do Health and Wealth Start with Gratitude?
photo shows a small heart pendant with the words "i am grateful"

The Harvard Medical School published an essay some time ago on the power of gratitude, explaining:

“Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

Relish, improve, deal, build… Those are verbs we can get behind! Gratitude can be about past blessings, current conditions, or reflect a hopeful and optimistic attitude about the future. One of the best things about an attitude toward gratitude is that it can be cultivated.

In one cited study, three groups of people were directed to write a few sentences each week. One group was instructed to write about irritations or things that had displeased them. The second was directed to write about things that had affected them. The third group was directed to focus on things that had happened for which they were grateful.

After ten weeks, one group was more optimistic about life, and had a greater sense of wellbeing. (That group also happened to exercise more and make fewer visits to the doctor.) You can guess which.

We believe there are interesting implications for the work we do together with you. Short-term fluctuations in the markets may cause irritation, but gratitude for long-term returns might give us a broader perspective. The economy and markets always seem to be a mixed bag, but gratitude for opportunities may help us avoid a focus on problems that might prevent us from investing effectively.

At the heart of all this is a simple truth, that we get to choose what gets our attention. Does choosing gratitude make us healthier, wealthier, and wiser? No guarantees, but we might have more fun while we find out together.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

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An Attitude of Gratitude: Get Yourself a Slice – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.