risk awareness

Here Be Dragons!
graphic shows a map of an island in a sea and a dragon in the water

It is hard to imagine embarking on a long trip these days without the use of technology. Hours spent studying an atlas have been replaced by seconds of typing in your destination. An additional quick search alerts you to nearby fueling stations, rest stops, lodging—all the known resources along the way! 

Long before GPS and atlases (and even truck stop chili dogs!), explorers had no choice but to set off toward destinations unknown. Cartographers would sketch the journey as they went, creating a compounding resource of information. 

If the destination proved fruitful, the voyagers would have a way to return with their bounty. If nothing of interest materialized, well, at least they knew to no longer waste their time in that direction. 

Looking over some of the earliest explorers’ maps, you’ll see intricate details of the paths traveled. You’ll also find, in some of the unmarked terrain, the words, “Here be dragons!” 

Two possibilities might explain the drama of such labels. There’s fear, and there’s greed. 

The fear: the harrowing journey brought such new and challenging experiences that they convinced themselves dragons are indeed real and are probably lurking in those unexplored pockets of the world. Thus, shouting ensues… “Here be dragons! Stay away!” 

The greed: there could still be interesting stuff out there, so it was worth trying to scare off those other explorers. 

Clients, we’re in the business of uncharted territory: the future isn’t mapped out for us. You can hear the shouts of other supposed explorers all day, every day. Dragons, treachery, treasure… It’s enough to throw anyone off course. 

But luckily for us, we have our guiding lights—our principles, our goals—to keep us on track. Dragons be darned! 

Clients, questions or concerns? Reach out anytime. It’s our pleasure to explore alongside you.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

Here Be Dragons! – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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

A 100% Chance of Weather
photo shows a misty landscape, partly in light rain, partly in blue sky

Understanding the risks involved is an important part of decision-making. Most would agree, I think, because how can we make informed decisions without weighing the consequences?

What makes it tough, however, is that a lot of financial planning literature uses the word “risk” when they’re actually talking about volatility. It’s about as helpful as the local news personality letting us know that weather is ahead: “There’s a risk of weather today! Heads up, everyone.”

How would that possibly help us make informed decisions?

Instead of railing against the presence of weather—or gravity, or any other to-be-expected force!—we like to spend our energy paying attention to risks that can actually affect our long-term goals.

Recall that in our shop, risk assessment takes place with a long time horizon in mind. We believe that you should have the money you’ll require for the next 3–5 years invested outside of the market. (Short-term volatility is a risk during the short term.) If you’re parking your money with us for a longer time horizon (3+ years), here are some risks you can expect we will factor into our strategy:

  • Concentration risk. Too many eggs in one basket could spell trouble if the basket upsets.
  • Inflation risk. Over time, what’s the likelihood this investment can outpace inflation? Put another way, what’s the risk of losing purchasing power over time?
  • Investment risk. What’s the likelihood that this investment will substantially change for the worse as time goes on or that the players could go out of business?

How much risk a portfolio might endure depends on a number of factors—your investing time horizon being just about the biggest one. There are other types of course, but these are some of the main examples of the risks we’re attuned to.

Volatility isn’t one of them. We don’t “mitigate” weather by hiding in a burrow forever; we don’t react to short-term swings by pulling out. As if we could spell it out any plainer, here’s our periodic reminder: we live with volatility in the pursuit of long-term gains.

Clients, when you want to talk risks, time horizons, and goals, email or call.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

A 100% Chance of Weather – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

© Can Stock Photo / alphaspirit

In 2002 Donald Rumsfeld made headlines when he stood up during a press conference on the case for war against Iraq and proclaimed “there are known unknowns.” At first, this phrase sounds like a silly oxymoron. However, it actually makes a very important distinction. Whenever we are considering our planning, it is important to acknowledge both the risks that we know—the “known unknowns”—and the risks that we don’t—the “unknown unknowns.”

For example, suppose you are thinking about investing in an airline company. You are probably aware of a number of possible risks to an airline: natural disasters, plane crashes, or spikes in fuel prices, to name a few. These are your known unknowns.

Now imagine what happens to your investment if you buy airline stocks and the next day a scientist announces that they’ve built a teleporter that can safely and instantaneously transport people across the globe. Nobody could have foreseen such an outlandish invention—it would be something straight out of science fiction. This would be an unknown unknown, a risk that is so far off your radar you probably would not even think it was worth thinking about.

And you may be right. These risks are by nature rare and unpredictable, so it is practically impossible to plan around them. But it is important to remember that they can and do happen, and to be ready for the possibility. There was a point when heavier-than-air flying machines seemed like an impractical fantasy. Those who bet against the airplane wound up paying for it eventually.

Today, investors and advisor representatives have a wide range of tools to try to quantify the risks of a portfolio. These forecasts are only as good as the models behind them, though—they can only estimate based on the known unknowns, not the unknown unknowns. There is certainly some value in statistical risk analysis, but there is also a real danger in false confidence.

As humans we are pretty bad at understanding probability: a 5-10% chance sounds pretty unlikely, but in practice a 1 in 20 chance is not nearly as rare as we think it is. When we hear numbers like 95% we tend to think of them as being a safe bet. That’s not much comfort if you turn out to be the 1 in 20, though.

Here at Leibman Financial, we have a different approach to risk analysis. It goes something like this:

Everything we invest in has risks. Many of the investments we prefer are more volatile than average. You may lose money.

We do not make these statements because we are fishing for excuses. We are proud of our results and stand behind them. We want you to continue to do business with us, and believe the best way to ensure this happens is to make money for you.

We like to think we do a pretty good job. But we cannot guarantee our results, and we will not inspire false confidence by guessing numbers for you. If you have any concerns about investment risks, feel free to call or email us and we will discuss them to the full extent of our knowledge and understanding.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

The opinions expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of LPL Financial.

Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal.