Sometimes life’s big milestones arrive in a neat, straight line. And sometimes that’s just not what happens—or what we want to happen. How do we plan for a swoopy life?
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Tactics
“Fiduciaries” and You
You may have seen headlines in recent weeks about new financial regulations from the Department of Labor regarding retirement accounts.
Some parties affected by the rules are having a pretty sour reaction, but we are looking upon these changes a little more favorably—and believe they have been a long time coming.
A little background: our business is mostly managed on an advisory basis where we make investment decisions on clients’ behalf. That carries with it a fiduciary obligation to disclose and avoid possible conflicts of interest and to put clients’ interests ahead of our own. That’s what being a fiduciary is, upholding that standard.
We prefer this model for many reasons, not least because it aligns our goals with yours: growing your bucket is good for you and us.
So what’s new, now? The latest Department of Labor rule expands this fiduciary duty to almost everyone who services any retirement accounts, whether or not they meet the definition of an “investment advisor.” Now brokerage agents who sell on commission and have no ongoing obligations to clients now also must act in clients’ best interests any time they are dealing with retirement money.
You might be surprised to learn that some financial professionals were not required to act in their clients’ best interest before now. Obviously, fraud is fraud; agents were never legally allowed to lie about what they were selling.
But until now, in one-time brokerage relationships, there was nothing stopping agents from steering clients towards higher-commission products based solely on the peddler’s own benefit.
Owning stocks in individual companies is different than owning packaged investment products. Having equity ownership in companies we’re familiar with gives us transparency in our holdings and avoids adding a (usually hidden!) layer of “middleman” fees to investment product sponsors. That’s our preference, when it’s appropriate by client and situation.
The rules are in place to try and prevent agents from selling complex products with high commissions that are inappropriate for the client. Of course, regulations do have costs. Over the past 20 years, the amount of paperwork required to open accounts and do our jobs has more than doubled. Does practicing within the regulations take time and money? Yes. Will it always stop crooks? No.
But the spirit of the rules… Well, we do happen to believe that when you’re better off, we’re better off. So your best interest has to stay in the center.
Clients, if you have an advisory account with us, and are wondering what impact the new rules will have, the answer is: very little. This rule will bring more change in the world of commission-based agents, which is not what we are to our advisory clients.
When you do have any questions, we are always happy to talk.
Stock investing includes risks, including fluctuating prices and loss of principal.
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Play the audio version of this post below:
Fiduciaries and You – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services
This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.
What’s the Cake For?
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We Are All Authors
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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Welcome, Brenda! The Dream Works with Teamwork
Clients, you may have already spotted the new face or heard the new voice around the office. Let us take a moment to get everyone up to speed on some exciting developments.
You may remember that our dear friend Larry Wiederspan “retired” a couple years ago, but it didn’t stick. Then, the time came for certain: his last day in our employment came and went in April. While we miss seeing Larry so regularly, his retirement brought us a new opportunity. (Life’s all about beginnings and endings, isn’t it?)
With Larry’s departure, we were ready for some help on the Client Services team. Our Client Services Coordinator Whitney Engle has been with us full-time for more than a year now, and she’s been on top of everything we’ve been able to throw to her—and then some! She’s so proactive. And Client Services Associate Patsy Havenridge has been holding down the front office with grace and good humor since 2018. Where does the time go?
And now, joining as our newest Client Services Associate, we’re pleased to introduce Brenda Smith!
Brenda brings years of experience in financial services and administrative support, and we were so pleased to discover that her skills were a match for our needs. Her warm personality and easy-going spirit were evident from our first encounters.
Brenda is a Louisville native, and her son Isaac is a third-generation LHS student. When she’s not in the office at 228 Main, she enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, and spending time with friends and family. “I have a group of lifelong friends who still refer to ourselves as ‘the Louisville Girls,’ and we try to get together at least once a month to catch up,” Brenda says. “I’m a history nerd and can be found watching historical documentaries and historical shows and movies when I’m at home.”
Brenda may be the latest addition to the 228 Main team, but she is already caught up on the “history” of our work here. The mission is the same for the whole team: we strive to grow your buckets. And that project takes all of us, from research and trading to paperwork and communications—it happens when all of us are ready to be of service to each other.
Come in and say hello whenever you have a chance. Welcome, Brenda!
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Play the audio version of this post below:
Welcome, Brenda! – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services
This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.
Life Sentences
Sometimes I marvel at my brain. I might wake up from a vivid dream or be surprised by a random thought that pops into my mind while I’m innocently doing the dishes, and I’ll wonder, “Where did that come from?”
It’s a gift to be able to notice when thoughts come and go. Sometimes, our thoughts can start to feel so familiar, we don’t notice them anymore. They turn into wallpaper: we can be surrounded by them all day and never notice. We take them for granted as fact.
Maybe you’ve heard some of these sentences before, swirling around in your own mind or coming out of someone else’s mouth:
“Never go into business with family.” (Ha!)
“I’m not good with money.”
“I can’t do something that risky.”
Are these sentences—or life sentences? Are you serving time in the name of a belief? It’s not “the big house” we get trapped in: it’s a small life.
Our words can become cages when we take them more seriously than we need to. But a thought can just be a thought. Like a cloud we watch in the sky, can we allow it to do its thing, and then go on its way?
We can’t stop those stories from popping up any more than we can keep clouds out of the sky. But maybe we can sprinkle in some more helpful sentences, ones that won’t hold us back.
“What if this works out?”
“What if there was a different way?”
“What if I could?”
In any case, we’re glad to be here with you—for whatever comes our way.
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Play the audio version of this post below:
Life Sentences – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services
This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.
Looking Back from 68
Fifty-six years ago, I got my first paper route.
Forty-seven years ago, my first license to work with financial products.
Thirty years ago, the beginnings of what became the enterprise that serves you today.
Looking back from age 68, I realize that delivering something of value for money was at the heart of that first entrepreneurial endeavor—and remains core to our work at 228 Main.
I’ll never forget the speaker I once heard at a business conference, the one who began with a visualization exercise. Exactly how much money did we want to be making three years from now, he wanted to know. He told us to write the number down and to look at it morning, noon, and night.
His second point was about the importance of being client-centered.
I thought, “Hmm. You can only be ‘centered’ on one thing, and this fellow is centered on money.” Then I walked out.
From the vantage point of my 68th birthday, I see the compounding miracle of being focused on your outcomes. The better off you are, the better off we are—it is a win-win situation. And who knows how that arrangement might continue to build between now and my retirement at age 92? (Only 24 more years to go until that retirement party!)
Some financial types pander to people’s fears, so that they can “save” their clients with right “solutions” (which often happen to be their own products and services). We have always sought to build your confidence to invest successfully, to grow your buckets. Fear shuts down our ability to think—which is one of the reasons positivity pays, in our opinion. If we can keep our heads while all about us are losing theirs, we are in a contest of wits with unarmed opponents.
I still can’t envision walking away from the best clients in the world. If it doesn’t feel like work, is it really a job? And my associates are the best teammates in the world. We’ve built an enterprise; our capabilities as a team are vastly greater than what I had to work with at the kitchen table, back in the last century.
Thank you all, for everything, to this point. Here’s to the next 24 years. That retirement party will be in May 2048, details to follow.
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Play the audio version of this post below:
Looking Back from 68 – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services
This text can be found at https://www.228Main.com/.
Three People In One
There are at least three people involved in every decision you make: past you, present you, and future you! How well is the committee getting along? And who’s getting the final say?
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What Would It Take to Retire Early?
Wondering what it takes to retire early? It’s not a universal formula, but we can take the idea of accumulating a million dollars of invested capital as a decent proxy.
How might the numbers shake out?
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Sorting the Buckets and Cleaning the Kitchen
We’re not ones for putting on airs, but we came across an idea lately that has us thinking about fine dining.
In French, it’s mise en place. (To get kind of close, you can say it like “mee zon ploss.”) For those who aren’t in the know, mise en place is French for “sort the buckets.”
Just kidding.
It’s a culinary term for “gathering” or “putting in place.” It’s the practice of preparing the kitchen workspace before service begins. You organize the ingredients. You put together what you’ll need at arm’s reach, and you tidy away what you won’t need for a while.
It can refer to the time you put into the process, and it can refer to the state of mind you get into.
Sound familiar? When we work on your financial plans and planning, we have called this process “sorting the buckets.” (Now, say it again with a French accent!) We take stock of our resources and arrange by time horizon. What do I need now? What will I need later?
What am I low on? What could use some tidying up? Sometimes even a quick review and a few small moves can make a world of difference. More things become possible with a little organization—and a little space to work.
There’s a certain calm afforded us when we know how we’re going to pay the bills, where we would go in an emergency, and what we can turn toward for the future.
That’s “sorting the buckets.” That’s mise en place.
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Play the audio version of this post below:
Sorting the Buckets and Cleaning the Kitchen – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services
This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.
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