seeking the bargains

Reviewing the Essentials: What’s in the Kit?
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I’m in my line of work to talk all day. I love spending time getting to know you, getting down to the essence of your financial situation. With new clients, it’s a bit like jumping on the train with you and asking, “So where are we headed?”

Clients, you know it takes some trust and some time to get down to the essence of your situation. And the exciting thing is that the essentials can change on us.

“Wait, wait, wait,” you might be wondering, “Aren’t the essentials essential for a reason?” Yes. The fundamentals are always in style… but the circumstances can (and do!) change. And so we revisit our systems, our assumptions, and our resources.

Any seasoned traveler will recognize the ways “the essentials” can shift over time. Taking inventory of first-aid kit, for instance, you notice that some supplies can expire, wear out, or become obsolete as your life and your activities change.

So it goes with the companies we screen, too. As we search for potential investment opportunities, some of our favorite qualities help us identify what resonates with us. But a bargain doesn’t keep its bargain status forever: that label is useful to us, but we actively monitor our holdings as things change.

It’s a dynamic line of work we’re in. There is no “set it and forget it,” really. We’re all about the fundamentals, those values that guide us, but keeping our practice geared on the essentials—and only the essentials—is quite an active process.

And a lot of fun for us, to boot.

Clients, what are we missing? Is it time to take a closer look at something together? Write or call, anytime.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

Reviewing the Essentials: What’s in the Kit? – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE
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The secrets to success aren’t locked in the past, but they also aren’t waiting to be revealed in some crystal ball. History and context have plenty to teach us, and we ought to prepare as best we can for the future.

But success depends on our ability to move among the past, present, and future. That’s the key.

Imagine if we relied solely on the past. Human tendency leads us to believe current trends will continue. We are masters at spotting patterns and weaving details into coherent tapestries. (Those are the moves that kept us alive when our main job was to avoid predators and find sustenance.)

Today our brains try to do the same thing—to a fault, sometimes. Economic information surrounds us, and we want to find the story in it quickly. The brain wants to spot the pattern and react. When we learn that a company is finding some early success, for example, we want to conclude, “It’s a rocket ship, look at it go!”

Understanding the current trajectory is important, but the patterns of history are especially useful. Every age has fallen prey to some sort of mania. Tulips in 16th century Holland? Tech stocks in the 1990s? Not such different moments. There’s an edge in both knowing the history and being able to apply its lessons.

But what if that’s all we have, the wisdom of history? Well, we miss the big turning points, those moments of departure. We have to understand why and when a change might occur. The future will not be like the past: a proactive approach may keep us ahead of the pack.

In business, even when our past methods and processes have served you and us well, the world keeps spinning: we can expect change, which means we’d do well to keep an eye on potential opportunities, bargains, and possibilities.

My education includes a degree in history. When I was in college and developed a growing interest in business, I spent time on my own in the campus library with The Wall Street Journal and The Journal of Commerce. Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s tough to say which has been more valuable to clients—the history studies or the business reading.

How we got here and where we’re going are two different conversations. So the secrets to success are neither here nor there—literally. They’re in the wisdom in between, and we have to keep perspective.

Clients, if you would like to discuss this or any other topic, please email us or call.

Expensive Lessons Threaten Teacher Retirements

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An amazing tale of mistakes and worse in the Omaha Public School (OPS) pension fund has been uncovered by the Omaha World-Herald. According to the paper, the fund went from being one of the best-performing funds in the nation to one of the worst.

The most surprising thing? The same issues you and we face in managing our own investments caused a lot of the grief.

• The fund sold stocks heavily at the bottom of the financial crisis, in 2008 and 2009, dramatically reducing its holdings at the wrong time.

• Decision makers sought ways to achieve above average returns without market volatility—almost always a tale too good to be true.

• The risks of alternative investments were poorly understood, not surprisingly. Mumbai real estate, international shipping, Kazakhstan oil companies and distressed housing in Florida? (At least they didn’t buy swampland, as far as we know.)

• When stocks rebounded, the fund missed out—while suffering with poor results from its new strategies.

We endlessly encourage staying the course, hanging in there, living with volatility, avoiding the stampedes, seeking the bargains… in fact, aiming to do the exact opposite of what the OPS fund managers did. It is not easy to do the right thing, but you, the best clients in the world, have shown perseverance and patience when needed.

It is unfortunate that the people responsible for management of the fund lacked the basic good sense that you possess. Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.

All investing, including stocks, involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

International investing involves special risks such as currency fluctuation and political instability and may not be suitable for all investors. These risks are often heightened for investments in emerging markets.