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The Advantage of Video Conferencing for IT Oriented Companies

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Work for a company that doesn’t video conference? Here’s a way to save time and money….

Companies often fail to consider the potential applications of video conferencing aside from using it as a means of enabling multiple people from different regions to communicate with one another at the same time. There are actually new uses for the technology that have been developed which enables better service, internal IT assistance as well as new work-from-home opportunities for employees.

Use in Customer Support

Video has considerable potential in its use in customer support. CSRs (Customer Support Representatives) often encounter situations where they are having problems identifying an issue simply because the descriptions given by the client are very vague. To counteract such a situation, IT oriented companies such as Nvidia or AMD could utilize web chatting as a potential solution to the problem. All the enterprise would need to do is create an online support portal that enables consumers to contact a support representative. If the CSR is having issues with what the client is describing, a link can be sent that would create a video conference between the client and the CSR. This is possible so long as the client has a desktop, laptop or mobile phone that has a camera. This process could expedite a customer’s issues and lead to fewer instances where a client is dissatisfied with the customer service provided by a company.

Working From Home

Working from home is not a relatively new concept and has been around for quite some time. Its application though in mainstream corporate operations is somewhat doubtful. People work from home when they are sick or when the weather does not allow them to get out of their homes. Using it as an effective alternative to actually being in the premises of the company is at times not feasible since there are aspects to a job that require you to talk to one of your colleagues or bosses directly to get it done. This is one of the reasons why using visio conférence for IT companies through providers like Blue Jeans has become popular since it enables people to easily talk to their colleagues face-to-face while they work from home. While it is no replacement for actually being in the office, it does help in situations where a person is too sick to go to work or cannot reach the company due to snow, floods, or a wide assortment of weather conditions.

Use When Hiring New Personnel

Another potential way in which IT oriented organizations can use online discussions is for their various hiring practices. With IT departments often being located in different regions due to better tax deductions and hiring incentives, organizations often find themselves in a situation where the employees they want to hire are located in places where they do not have a recruitment center. One way of addressing this problem is to utilize web chats to have online interviews with their desired candidates. The advantage of this method is that this allows them reach talented individuals that they otherwise would not have been able to bring to the recruitment table. Not only that, it also allows HR departments to schedule interviews in such a way that it is convenient for all the parties involved.

Enabling Better Inter-Departmental Collaboration

The most obvious application of online discussions is helping companies develop better inter-departmental communication and collaborations. People like talking to one another face-to-face and this is an aspect that emails and phone calls cannot replace. We all like seeing reactions, facial expressions and the various subtleties of a person’s body language. It is what we have grown used to and expect when it comes to talking to other people. By using this technology, people become more at ease when it comes to talking to one another and this makes the process of communication and collaboration easier in the long run.

Increasing Responsiveness to Operational Issues within the Company

The last potential application of this technology is its use in improving an IT department’s response to software or hardware issues within the enterprise. Many businesses provide smartphones to their employees as both an incentive as well as a means of enabling the company to contact them through installed applications. One of the possible uses of these devices is to install an alert application that allows an employee to connect to someone within the IT department via a video call. Through this application, the employee in question can show the IT department what sort of issue they are having and get an immediate response regarding a potential solution that can be applied by the employee. This saves both parties a considerable amount of time and effort when it comes to resolving minor IT related concerns that can be fixed with a few instructions.

All in all, the use of video conferencing in IT-oriented companies holds a lot of promise given its versatility and potential applications.

Get Inspired: Business Successes

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There’s no two ways about it, business can be hard work, whether you’re focusing on progressing up that proverbial career ladder or you’re looking at breaking away from the norm and starting something for yourself.

At times, it can feel like your business plan is going nowhere – but don’t despair! Instead, it’s important to get yourself re-inspired. Whether that’s by enrolling onto a course that can help train your business acumen – something that London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) can help you with – or taking a look at some of those that have already realised their business dreams, there’s no reason why you, too, can’t join the ranks of business successes.

Here, we’ve put together some short case studies on some of the business people that we’re inspired by in the hopes that they’ll inspire you, too.

Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish

Few can say that they’ve not heard of notonthehighstreet.com. The site is a digital marketplace for sellers of crafts, fashion, accessories, homewares and more – but everything is unique in that it’s been handmade or created by someone with passion. Essentially, it’s a global village fete with only the best stalls, and it was created in 2006 by Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish.

Not only has the unique site won them prestigious technology awards (the retail platform they work on simply didn’t exist before they had it built) both Tucker and Cornish scored an MBE each for their services to small businesses. 2013 saw notonthehighstreet.com turn over £83 million, but it was by no means always this way.

In fact, neither founder took a salary for the first couple of years because they were so adamant on keeping the quality of sellers on the site as high as possible – meaning that they were rejecting a huge amount of potential cash in the bank for the brand’s integrity.

Palmer Luckey

Few might have heard of Palmer Luckey, but anyone interested in the world of technology will be familiar with the invention of the Oculus Rift. Aged just 22, Luckey developed the Oculus Rift and sought funding through Kickstarter.

This publicly funded campaign brought nearly $2.5 million in pledges, and Luckey was able recreate his invention for the masses.  From this, his business Oculus VR was formed; a business which continues to grow thanks to the ever increasing interest in immersive virtual reality.

Though the technology is solely utilized by video games for now, Luckey believes that a digital world parallel to ours is the future for Oculus tech – an unsurprising view considering that Facebook recently bought Oculus Rift for a reported $2 billion.

 

Palmer Luckey

As the above stories prove, success comes from many different kinds of backgrounds – but a specialised business education will only ever be a help. From understanding basic management principles to developing a solid business plan and knowing how to put it into action, a background in business practice could be the difference between creating something amazing, or just having a good idea that nothing ever comes from.

University courses like the qualifications available at LSBF are best equipped to help you take your idea where you want it to go – who knows, you could make our inspiration list this time next year!

Photo: D Coetzee

The 5 Dumbest New Year’s Resolutions of All Time

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New Years.

A time of overeating, watching football or old movies, and resolving to do better, maybe a week or two in the future…..

Are we at that point yet? Is anyone “doing better” yet?

Resolving and actually “doing” better are two totally different things, aren’t they? New Year’s resolutions are usually bound to fail….especially if you try any of these silly tactics:

5 Dumbest New Year’s Resolutions Phrases

1)   Losing weight “on your own”: Yeah, I know. You’re going to lose weight or build savings without any help from your friends. This resolution is like putting a bunch of French fries in front of you and saying you won’t eat them. Of course you’ll eat them….willpower is baloney. Don’t count on any goal that you’ll do “without help.”

Who needs to reinvent the wheel?

 

Better solution: find someone who’s done it before and ask them for help.

 

2)   Joining a gym so you’ll work out. Back when I belonged to a gym (before I began working out with friends), my least favorite time of year was the first two weeks of January. The gym was packed with people I’d never seen before….and wouldn’t see again the rest of the year.

Don’t convince yourself that by joining ANYTHING you’ll actually make the commitment to change. Instead, build systems to change. For workouts, force yourself out of bed at a certain time. Join chat groups on working out.  Read magazines. Track your progress.

Create goals that begin with “How can I learn about this now and then spend money when I prove I’ll stick with it?…..”

 

Better solution: create surround sound environment so you succeed in your goals….and spend money later, once you know you’re serious.

 

5 dumbest resolutions ever_FFA

3)   Deciding to save more every month by “writing a check.” Nobody….and I mean nobody…..writes a check toward their goals. If we want to get all 2010 about it, nobody even presses buttons to transfer money from one account to another. Do you know how the ballers do it? They save automatically. If you have to think for only a minute about your goals, you’re toast.


Better solution: Set up a system of saving that doesn’t require you to think.

 

4)   “I’ll try and…..” 

Best. Solution. Ever.: Repeat after Yoda. There is no try. Only do.

5)   I’ll cut back on smoking. Making a change halfway is a sign that you really aren’t commited to the goal. Want to achieve something? You can’t be half pregnant. Go for it. Don’t cut back on smoking: stop completely. Don’t save “a little more” toward your goals: find out what they cost and create a plan. Don’t try and budget this year: set up an account at Mint or Yodlee and track every penny automatically.

 

Better solution: Create automatic systems that will change your behavior completely.

Photo: Jeff_Golden

Surprising Mother’s Day Facts

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Mother’s Day is almost here. Did you buy flowers? Plan something special? Remember that Mother’s Day doesn’t have to be expensive to be fun…it needs to be personal and warm. If you think that expensive equals expensive and warm, I’d say that….yes…..you’ve drank the consumerism Kool-Aid.

This was too good to pass up. Here are some surprising Mother’s Day facts that you can share with the family (I recommend the ones about sex….follow up that conversation with religion and politics…..).

Enjoy!

mothers_day_2013

Infographic brought to you by: Rather-Be-Shopping.com

 

What’s your favorite Mother’s Day memory?

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We Gave Frugal the Finger

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Let’s get philosophical before I tell you how I’m about to blow $4,000 on things people may think are “trivial.” What’s the purpose of money?

As some of you know, the Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship is winding up right now.  Last weekend, the top 8 teams played to whittle the field down to only the top 4.  (Various copyrights prevent us from actually calling the top 4 teams what they truly are – and the “ultimate four” doesn’t quite have the same ring-J).  For those that watch or follow college basketball, there are four great teams left – one of whom I’ve followed since birth and still watch religiously. They haven’t been this far in a long, long, time and may not make it again for a long, long time.

As my wife and I were watching the glorious victory of our favorite team I had (what I thought at the time was) a brilliant idea: let’s go watch the semi-final games!

 

Planning a Last Minute Trip

 

So we talked about it Sunday night and began looking at ticket prices – holy sticker shock batman!  Apparently, we weren’t the only two people thinking about these games!  Total ticket cost for three games of basketball: $1,500.

Now, we have to find a hotel – again sticker shock – there goes another $1,500.  We decided to drive, to save some costs (also gives us some flexibility), but after food and gas our total cost is probably around $4,000 or so.

Some would call this quick, unplanned, and certainly unbudgeted for trip, excessive or irresponsible – I call it freedom.  My job before this was to build a reserve…and I did. What’s your reserve for? Emergencies and opportunities. If I have a cash reserve of $30,000 or $26,000 once this is over, is it really that big of a difference?  I don’t think so.

 

Money’s purpose isn’t to buy things – it’s to have experiences.

 

This is a question I rarely am asked in client meetings, but try to ask to clients as much as possible:  What’s the purpose of money?  Is it goal attainment or is to make your life better?  Perhaps it’s to make another persons life better, or maybe even to help a whole bunch of people, say through an endowment or something similar.

I think it’s much simpler than that.  Money equals happiness.  Happiness is freedom.  Freedom to do what you please with whom you please when you please.  I’m not talking about being pompous, flashy, or flamboyant, but rather just having the ultimate freedom to do whatever you want.

…and after this, I’ll have the obligation to my freedom to build my reserve back up so (hopefully) I can do this again next year!

 

When Is It Time to Call in the Professional?

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A serious question here…without an answer. Does anyone have the mathematical equation?

Over the last few weeks, my garage door opener has been acting up.  Door goes up…won’t come down.  Goes up half way…won’t open at all.  In my expert “garage door opener” opinion, I decide it’s probably the opener. I’ve used the door before, so I’m pretty sure this is a no brainer.
I drove down to Home Depot, purchased the latest-and-greatest Genie model and began screwing it together.  Never mind that I know nothing about the difference between a “screw drive” and “chain drive” opener. I figured I could get this thing done easily.  Since I had installed my previous garage door opener, I though, “Hey, I can do this!”

After six hours of tinkering, I was ready for the test run:  Hit the button…drum roll please…and viola!  It opened!

Press the button again…it’s going down, down, aaannndddd….stopped.  Half way down.  Six hours of work (or rather six hours of not working) and it’s still as broken as it was before I began on this project.

 

Advice From a Friend: Call the Professional

 

A friend happened to stop by and while we were playing around with it, suggested I call a professional.  I had been convinced I could do this without help!  I really wanted to be able to do it right!  But, alas, I finally had to wave the white flag and admit: I have no clue what I’m doing.  So I sheepishly make the call.  The door guy came by right away and strode like John Wayne into my garage. You should’ve seen his face and head shake as he saw each and every tool I owned spread across the garage floor helter-skelter.

I began to explain the problem, what it would and wouldn’t do, blah, blah, and he’s not even listening.  He grabbed the door, shook it, lifted it, and it slammed down.

Without even asking if I would stop talking he cut me off and said, “The spring is broken.  Gonna be $289 plus $35 per ½ hour labor.  Oh, and your garage door opener is broken.  That’s another $450, but that includes labor…and it’s the best opener on the market.  We take check or credit card and I can be out of here in under an hour.  OK?”

 

What’s the Cost of Pride?

 

I now know the cost of my pride:

$250 for the “new” but now broken garage door opener,

$450 for the new one I now have to buy.

Oh, and here’s the best part:  The old one hadn’t even been broken.

I can only laugh at the irony:  I plead with people every day to outsource their crucial financial decisions to a professional: and sometimes I can’t even take my own advice.

 

When’s the Right Time?

 

Is a broken garage door the right thing to call a pro over? When is it time to call in experts?  What’s the ultimate cost?  In my case I would have saved the cost of the two new openers and just replaced the spring for $289.  But our financial lives are much more complex, aren’t they?

The truth is, a lot of people can do their own simple financial planning and investment work, but statistically, most don’t.  Sometimes we hire professionals to do work because we don’t want to do it (mowing the lawn, house cleaning, etc.) and other times we hire a pro because we don’t know how (taxes, mortgages, etc.) and then there are times we need to hire a pro so we don’t screw it up (garage door openers).  Don’t let pride get in the way of accomplishing the goal:  a fee or commission is a small price to pay for goal attainment.

…but I still think I would have been happier if I’d been able to fix the door myself.

When do you call in the pros? When do you DIY?

On Celebrating Wins, Arkansas, Carnegie Mellon and Budgets-to-Nowhere

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This post was supposed to be yesterday, but we’d just returned from Fayetteville, Arkansas, full of good feeling, late and tired. Rather than run the piece I’d planned, let’s hit the pause button.

 

My daughter is going to run track for the Arkansas Razorbacks. It’s a top notch track program (four Olympians) with a wonderful coach. She’ll be in the honor’s college at the school. Three weeks ago we thought her running career might be over. Then she ran a 2:18 half mile. We called the Arkansas coach. Surprisingly, he agreed to meet with us. The entire time we sat in his office I was in shock. My daughter might be on a big-time track team. Now it’s real. She’s on her way to run in the SEC.

We found a restaurant called Hugo’s to celebrate when my son called from home (he had a major project due and couldn’t miss school for the trip). He’d received early word that he’s “probably” been accepted at Carnegie Mellon. The real process isn’t official until April 1, so we don’t know for sure, but someone we know told Nick he’s in. This person would definitely be in “the know.” At this point I’d be surprised if he wasn’t accepted.

It took lots of long workouts and study sessions for these two kids, so it’s a well deserved high five. Both of these “wins” mean more long workouts and studying  on the horizon. My daughter will have to train harder and run faster than she ever has previously. My son will be in one of the more rigorous programs in the country (assuming he accepts…which isn’t a certainty. He’s applied to NYU and has been accepted into the engineering program at the University of Texas). No matter. All of them are top notch schools with some brutal requirements.

But now the doors are open. It’s time for them to pause only briefly before they walk through. But we’re definitely in pause mode. Rest. Celebrate.

 

What is Money?

 

What is money? What’s it all about? Does it beat these moments? Does it create these moments? Is it just fuel? If it’s fuel, why the hell don’t we work hard to accumulate fuel for these big moments? Why do we waste them on irrelevant moments, like the time you’re at the supermarket and just “decide” to buy the more expensive cereal?

I think money exists for these times. I don’t care about spending a shitload of money on college for two of the people in my life that mean the most to me. Period. It’s why I saved. It’s what I sweated for. If I’m good for retirement (and I am) the one gift I can give my kids is education. I don’t want to rant on education here….this is about celebrating. I want to make sure we take a little pause.

Sometimes we work so hard to achieve so much that we just skip by these times. We cut the grocery bill and dinners out so often that when these big moments come we forget why we cut in the first place. We don’t mark them before moving on, or we make the event so “frugal” that it ruins the fun. Clearly, it’s important to save money, but these times….these captured dreams shouldn’t be trivialized. Every day is a new chance to create a new “glory day” so we shouldn’t sit in park forever….but I’m happy we celebrated. We took a ton of pictures. My kids are in a good place today, back in “move forward” gear. I think they’re in an even better place because we stopped to survey the mountain we’ve climbed so far.

Photo: twicepix

Rethink Your To-Do List: Throw Out Your Problem Tasks

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Your life is too short to work on tasks you aren’t good at or don’t like. Remove unnecessary tasks and I’ll bet you’re happier AND have more money.

Recently, I was reading an article from Edmunds, Stop Changing Your Oil, where its author, Phillip Reed, contends that the vast majority of people mindlessly change their oil every 3,000 miles – and not because it’s needed. Today’s cars can drive further, sometimes twice as far, between oil changes – but because we’ve been conditioned and trained by our parents, grandparents, peers, and service mechanics for years to do so, we change it more quickly than necessary.  Reed suggests that not only is this a waste of money and oil (replacing good oil before it’s ‘used up’ is bad for the environment) but it is part of a much larger ‘plot’ (my word not his) between the oil industry and consumers to up-sell and cross sell us into thousands of needless expenditures over our car’s lifetime.  Interesting read, to be sure.

 

Stop wasting time

 

But this made me think: What are some other things in our lives that we should stop doing?  Or maybe stop doing so frequently?  I’ve written many times about my thoughts on the purpose of money; money can and should be used to provide for oneself later in life, but needlessly sacrificing pleasurable things today so that my great-great-grandkids can inherit sixty-four million dollars is ridiculous.  So, in my life there are things I don’t do, not because I can’t, but because I can trade an hour of my time working in the yard for an hour prospecting for new clients or perfecting my putting stroke – both things I like doing immensely more than weeding the garden, fixing the power or mowing my grass.  And I’m perfectly comfortable with that exchange.

Part of my goal when giving something up is to exchange that freed up time with something else that provides me increased marginal utility (my economic professors are smiling ear-to-ear).  Notice how I didn’t say, “provides me with more money” or “more free time,” but rather increased utility.  To me, that can be any number of things: spending time with family and friends, watching a great basketball game, playing golf, acquiring a new client, marketing, or maybe even just reading a good book.  But, if I can eliminate something that I’m not terribly good at or like to do with something I do like to do or am good at doing – I’ve increased my utility.

Said another way, utility = happiness.

 

Remove the “Junk”

 

Eliminating things from one’s life becomes a liberating experience and frankly, it doesn’t have to be anything as big as changing a job or selling a couple kids (although the thought has crossed my mind).  It can be as simple as cleaning out a closet or even organizing that dreaded kitchen junk drawer.  Ask anyone who’s started selling stuff on eBay and you’ll likely find that they found the experience quite addictive – cleaning up or eliminating things from one’s life is addicting and you cannot wait to find something else to clean up.  Just last week, I asked my team whether there was one particular client who we should fire – just so we’d remove that headache from our lives.

The same can be said for reducing the frequency of useless or draining activities.  In the Edmund’s article, Reed doesn’t say we shouldn’t ever get our oil changed or car serviced, but rather reduce the frequency of doing those activities.  Ask yourself the question: What things should you reduce?  In the money/finance world that could be something like frequency of dining out or dare I even say, trading in your stock account!  Maybe I’ll write an article titled: Stop Trading in Your Stock Account.  Nah, that’ll never pass the review board.

Take a second, oh dearest reader, and ponder this question:  What’s the one thing you could eliminate in your life right this second that would measurably increase your utility?  The logical follow-up to that is: What would your life be like, if you did it…today?

Photo by: The Next Web

When I Was a New Financial Advisor

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when-i-was-a-new-financial-advisor
Every once in awhile, we like to take a break from the six areas of financial planning and give you a look into the life of a financial advisor. Here’s another story from my early years in the biz. Well….my earliest days….

I was lucky.  I’d been warned about the hours.

The time away from my young family was a bitch, even in my last years as an advisor and sadly, many of those years are a blur (for those reading my stuff for the first time, I worked 16 years as an advisor for nearly 200 families at a time, and managed about $60M in-house, plus helped people w/ their outside portfolios of over $110M more). I spent so much time with my head buried on the task at hand that much of the “now” passed me by.

It went smoothly for me. The friend who’d referred me set me up with his boss and walked me through the entire hiring process. As a courtesy, he set up a dinner with the firm’s two top area managers at one of the nicest restaurants in town. I was sure it was to dazzle Cheryl and I.

The district manager, Jeff, was blunt that dazzling ME wasn’t the point.

“This meeting isn’t for Joe, because he’s going to be with me and we’ll take care of teaching him the ropes. This meeting is for Cheryl.”

“Oh?” she asked, wondering exactly where this was going.

“I want to answer your questions. This job is going to absolutely suck…and there’s no guarantee Joe will succeed. He’s going to be gone from home a ton. You should just kiss his ass goodbye for the next two years. When he is home, he won’t really be there mentally. Are you ready to be alone that long without him?”

Cheryl seemed like she’d been hit with a brick. We hadn’t been married six months. “Yeah, if that’s what he wants.”

“…and,” Jeff continued. “He’s going to work long weekends and may have to travel. Sometimes it’ll seem like he’s doing glamorous things, like golfing or taking clients to nice dinners at places like this one. Sometimes that makes spouses jealous. It isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. Frankly, he really won’t enjoy it like he should because it’ll be all about business…and that business is just money.”

What a sales pitch, huh? At the time I thought he was exaggerating for effect, but he wasn’t. I still believe that dinner is why I lasted as long as I did. To this day I still believe that being completely blunt when something is going to suck is the best course of action. I was the same with my clients. No sense mincing the truth. People perform better under pressure when they know just how hot the fire is going to be.

He turned to me. “You ready to completely launch at this? You can’t be half pregnant.”

“Sure,” I said. I was excited.

I Got Lucky: New Financial Advisor With a Clue

Years later, I found out that my introduction to the financial advising business wasn’t anywhere close to the standard practice. I still can’t figure out why it isn’t. Over the years I dealt with young advisors who were coping with working late into Saturday afternoon while their young spouses, girl/boyfriends, and families were out enjoying the weekend. It turned out, most of them had been told a pack of lies:

–       This is a job where you can come and go as you wish.

While this is true for successful advisors, that’s because they were already bringing home the bacon. The management team watched new advisors like a hawk to make sure they were internalizing the practices it would take to be successful.

Everyone resented being watched over, but I get that part. Like those movies where you watch guys turn into werewolves, it takes time to morph into the mentality of a self employed business person. I felt especially bad for the kids just out of college who’d had a few part time cushy jobs. They had no clue what hit them. Within a few months, I got it. If I was leaving the office for any reason, you can bet that it was because I was meeting a client, a contact, or had some important money making task on the line.

–       We don’t cold call.

Luckily, I started when we COULD cold call and DID cold call. I know. I hated making cold calls as much as you hate receiving them. But, it was better than what later people had to do. They’d participate in “fishbowls.” In this marketing device, you leave a fishbowl at the counter in popular restaurants around the area, offering a free meal for you and your friends if you place your card in the bowl and it’s pulled out as a lucky winner.

Guess what happened? Every single person was a lucky winner. The meal was free, but it was shared with the advisor, who would talk shop the entire meal. Sound like less fun than a 10 minute call? It was SO much more painful for all involved.

Another trick was the “friends and family” seminar. This was even more disgusting. The advisor would give a financial planning seminar for friends and family, to “get feedback about the best ways to find new clients.” Yeah….it wasn’t about finding new clients at all, except the people in that room. By the end, family members realized that it was a sales pitch aimed squarely at getting them to sign on the dotted line.

Family members were nearly always my worst clients. They knew me before I was an advisor (shit, some knew me when I was in diapers!). They didn’t value my advice. They were just nice enough to help Joe succeed in his new venture. When it came time for real strategies that worked (refinancing, paying down debt, serious budget changes…God forbid if they were underinsured and we had to talk insurance…), many balked. They were hoping they could just buy a couple mutual funds from Joe and everyone would walk away feeling happy.

–       You can kind of dip your toe and see how you like being an advisor.

Several young advisors were told this. I still laugh at people I meet who are “part time” advisors. To be blunt, there’s no way to be great at financial planning and be part time, UNLESS you’ve been practicing many years and already have systems built to deal with all the client issues that arise. There’s just far too much to do. If you’re hiring an advisor, do you want someone who lives it all day or someone with just enough time to meet with a few people you don’t know and sell them some stuff? It sounds good, but like “passive income” and other “something for nothing” schemes, if it sounds too good to be true, guess what?

It still is.

For more on financial advisors and how to pick the right one for you check out these great articles.

What is the Role of a Financial Advisor?
Afraid To Meet With a Financial Advisor? Here’s How the First Meeting Goes
Hiring a Financial Advisor: Clues from the Receptionist

Photo Credit: vmiramontes.

Average Joe vs. Upside Down Teacups and Other Nonsense

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Stop focusing on bullshit and address your goals. It’s time to rock in your life. 

Early in my career a guy walked into my office and wanted to talk about day trading. This was in the late 1990’s when the hot new thing was buying a bunch of positions in the morning and selling them all by the market close. If you score a 1% return every session, you’ll pad your net worth significantly by the end of the year.

It sounds great in theory, doesn’t it?

Anyway, this guy comes into my office and says, “Check out this chart.”

Me: “What about it?”

Him: “Upside down teacup. This sucker’s goin’ to the moon!”

Me: “What’s an upside down teacup?”

I thought he was going to laugh me out of my own office. His face was all red, like I’d just insulted his mother. “Upside down teacup? See how on this day the stock makes a quick move up and then pulls back? That’s the handle. Now look. It’s heading up again but this time it’s gonna break through the resistance.”

Me: How much money do you need to retire?

Him: Huh? Retire? Crap, I’m gonna retire next year, using this! How the hell can you call yourself a financial advisor when you don’t know basics like the upside down teacup? Don’t you do any chart reading?”

Me: “No, not really. You have any debt?”

Him: “Debt? Who cares about debt? I’m not sure how you can help me. You don’t know the first thing about making money.”

Me: “How much money are we actually talking about here? What have you done with your stock chart strategy?”

Him: “What are you talking about? This is ridiculous. I can’t believe you don’t know this stuff.”

Me: “I’m just curious. How much money are we talking about?

Him: “I’m getting ready to start.”

Me: “You haven’t saved any money yet? How old are you?”

Him: “32.”

Me: “And you haven’t started yet?”

Him: “This will help me catch up.”

That wasn’t all. It turned out he had about $29,000 in credit card debt, too.

He didn’t want to talk about goals, the debt or tax shelters. It was all about the quick return.

People like you and I should have laughed him out of my office, shouldn’t we?

It’s sad how many people get stuck on irrelevant concepts or in fruitless arguments. We waste time and energy in places we shouldn’t be involved. Upside down teacups mean zip to someone with debt and no savings, don’t they? You and I will stick to the real issues:

– Torch your debt.

– Start building wealth NOW!

– Build defensive strategies to avoid getting burned.

…or we can use this guy’s approach and buy a lottery ticket.

 

Whatever. Just Focus On the Right Tree In Your Forest

 

I bring this up because a popular blog recently debated the semantics of early retirement. Apparently, Mr. Blogger has his panties in a bunch because somebody on the internet said he really wasn’t retired. Then follows a 1,000+ word piece retorting that, yes, in fact, Mr. Blogger really is retired. There are tons of comments and righteous outrage on the piece….comments like, “You tell them, Mr. Blogger!” People are oh, so, so angry.

…and about what?

I think the blogger’s brilliant, by the way. It’s not that he has a smart argument. It’s more that he’s built a whole blog post (and in many ways a whole blog) on an irrelevant argument (in this case his big “proof” that he’s right is because he has “the biggest blog about early retirement on the internet” … proving what again????) and the villagers are following with pitchforks and fires, ready to kill the heretics who dare cross Mr. Blogger.

It’s funny, and totally upside down teacup. It’s another play for the pedestal for Mr. Blogger. Yawn. He already has that pedestal. What about your own pedestal? What about your own dreams? Who gives a shit about whether you can live in the woods making your own furniture and still be called “retired.”

I’m going to start calling myself Superman. Does it matter what I’m called?

I hope you don’t see this as a Control Your Cash-style rant against any blogger. It isn’t. As I mentioned, I really like the dude’s considerable writing talent. If you’re striving for independence, though, let’s look at the forest and see the right tree. The correct tree has more to do with you and your goals than it has to do with anything else.

Whether Mr. Blogger wins a war about early retirement means nothing to you. Upside down teacups and ruby slippers won’t help you reach anything. Determining the steps to find and reach your own finish line is the right thing to focus on today and tomorrow.

You deserve to rock in life. Don’t get stuck holding the torch in a fight that has nothing to do with reaching your goals.

Love, Superman