It was a sad end. He sent a thoughtful note. The window had closed. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. The timing wasn’t right anymore. They weren’t going to become clients. Like all relationships, we spent a considerable amount of time getting to know each other. We talked about his savings accumulated over close to eight decades of living. He’s the millionaire next door. But no one in the neighborhood would know it. “I came from nothing,” he said. “I mean nothing. We had a roof over our heads. Sure. But that was about it.” When you grow up like that, it’s something you never forget. The … [Read more...]
Private Debt Funds: More Risk than Meets the Eye
Private debt funds seem to be the latest too-good-to-be-true asset class on Wall Street. Private debt funds claim to offer high returns with minimal risk. One fund even shows that its investors have earned ten units of return for each unit of risk. U.S. stocks have historically offered about a half unit to three-quarters of a unit of return for each unit of risk, so this private debt fund is off the charts in terms of return to risk ratio, or is it? Unlike public investments, private assets such as private debt do not trade in public markets, resulting in smoothed prices that do not … [Read more...]
#3 Habit of Highly Successful, Fairly Wealthy People
The third habit of highly successful, fairly wealthy people is this: They read Your Survival Guy every day. They make a habit of visiting daily to beat the Friday email rush. They like being in the know. They avoid crowds. Friends, I enjoy our daily visits and conversations. I enjoy the habit of thinking about your success. Your success and your generational wealth didn’t happen by accident. You saved ‘til it hurt. You made it. You respect it. You can’t afford to lose it. Investing is not the same as saving. When we talk, I listen. You tell me you’ve read Richard C. Young’s Intelligence … [Read more...]
Kim Kardashian Was Paid a Million to Appear Here
Where can you get independent research from an advisor who is a fiduciary by law? Where your advisor focuses on you, your money, and not every other cause in the world? It’s not as easy as you think. Take a random walk through the big players’ websites, and you might not like what you see. Your Survival Guy got a call from one of the bigger players the other day. It was the first time I’d heard from them in years. It’s as if I suddenly existed. Where’s the personal relationship they all flog? If I wasn’t interested in seeing how they’re doing, I’d be out of there. Anyway. Not cool. And … [Read more...]
“One Prepares for Old Age While One is Young”
Life comes at you fast. It doesn’t slow down, even in retirement. That’s why it’s nice to have a team working for you. People you can trust. We’re in this together. We’re not that different from each other. Your Survival Guy had another eventful week of conversations with you. This is a message from a client I’ve been working with since the early 90s, when he was in his fifties. Here’s the caption to a picture he sent me: EJ, Not to be outdone. Our 50th anniversary at the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico. Our son in white, our daughter in black, son-in-law in blue, and our two … [Read more...]
We’d Never Spoken Before, but He Knew Me
“How often do we speak?” he asked. “That depends,” I said. “The firm I’m with now sets up an annual meeting,” he told me. “That doesn’t sound like enough,” I responded. “They’re responsive. If I have a problem or question, they get right back to me,” he said. How Much is Enough? That was just one conversation I had yesterday with a prospective client. He’s a frequent reader. He feels like he knows us. But it doesn’t seem like he knows his current team so well—the one handling his life’s savings. Until yesterday, he and I had never spoken before, but even so, he felt like he … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy is Hopelessly Devoted to You
Your Survival Guy’s been prepping like any other crazed parent of college-aged children: for the day when school’s out for summer. This, unlike any other summer when the kids were little and lived upstairs full time, is different. A lot different. They’ve been away, living on their own, for eight months or so. During that time, Your Survival Guy and Your Survival Gal did the light lifting of dishes for two, enjoyed quiet evenings streaming what our little hearts desired, walked our dog like the spoiled child he’s become. And it was all rather nice. And then, two cars full of stuff arrived … [Read more...]
Flocks of Mopeds, Living Well, Houston We Have Starlink
You speak. Your Survival Guy listens. Because there are plenty of you out there—the fairly wealthy and highly successful—who’ve won the war. You’ve saved ‘til it hurt. Now you have something to show for it. And it’s time to have some fun. In my meetings with you and in our regular talks, I hear about the wonderful careers you had or are wrapping up (note to self: work for as long as you can). You know the names of customers, patients, clients, and co-workers, many of whom you helped along the way. You helped educate them, for example, about the road less traveled. The path of living well … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy and Warren Buffett Love Dividends
Your Survival Guy loves dividends, as does Mr. Buffett. The key divergence from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock is that Your Survival Guy likes getting paid on a regular basis with a tax-favored dividend payout. Berkshire, though, doesn’t pay out a dividend to shareholders. Akane Otani writes in The Wall Street Journal: What has made Warren Buffett’s stock portfolio so successful over time? One answer is an uncanny knack for picking good businesses. Another, according to Mr. Buffett, is something more understated: an appreciation of dividend-paying stocks. Dividend stocks … [Read more...]
10 Qualities of Fairly Wealthy, Highly Successful People
Here’s Your Survival Guy’s list of ten qualities of fairly wealthy, highly successful people: They’re millionaires. They put family first. They live within their means. They’re not flashy. They’ve got enough money to last them for the rest of their lives as long as they’re careful and don’t lose it. They know when to take advice. They know when they need advice. They don’t like Mr. Know-it-All. They don’t trust experts. Trust is earned. You can’t put a price tag on it. Actually, you can. It’s under a percentage point per year to work with Your Survival Guy. They’re … [Read more...]
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