Here we are almost halfway through the year. It has been a rollercoaster first half and we still see a lot of twists and turns ahead on the track. To review what we have gone through this year so far here are a few things: We have had an all time market high, an interest rate hike, new regulatory policies, small terror attacks across the globe catching headlines and a political environment that has news headlines which are as uncertain as the next tweet on twitter. When I look at the major events marked for the next couple of weeks we have the FOMC meeting, the former FBI director gives testimony before the senate, the ECB makes rate and policy decisions, the U.K. has an election and in the NBA the Golden State Warriors are up 2-0 in the Finals against the defending champions the Cleveland Cavaliers. There are so many headlines and uncertainties in today's fast paced news cycle and in each of your lives. These news headlines do not even compare to the bigger and more important concerns of your personal lives. Your high school graduates will be starting college in the fall. How should you spend vacation time this summer? Maybe you have to move or change jobs in the near future. Will you still be able to retire in the coming years? Is my mortgage going to be paid off before I retire? These are the headlines that matter and these are the headlines you can control. None of the news headlines matter. These catchy and fear driven news headlines are no different than the static on a Radio channel that is out of range. It is just noise in life.
In life there are things we can control and things we cannot control. I don’t know about you but I sure appreciate a good night's sleep. If I’m worrying about all these things I can’t control I’m not going to be sleeping well. So what do I worry about and what should you worry about? Well I’m not sure “worry” is quite the right word. The things in life we can control are what we should be mindful of and concern ourselves with. What are those things? Well, Our emotional behavior to the market news, Planning ahead for life goals, Saving consistently into your investment accounts, and Patience. Lots and lots of patience. When we look at the great sports teams they don’t focus on the noise of what stands between them and a championship. They look at what they can control. They develop a plan at the beginning of the season, they practice, they make small adjustments throughout the season, they make acquisitions and layoffs. They will enhance the play book and adjust for the things that change. But they do it all while sticking to the plan they set out at the beginning of the season. They made that plan for the season not for the week. Its executing on the fundamentals like blocking and tackling that get them through the finish line. Worrying about what new rules might be instituted or which star player may be in their way does not benefit them. Our financial lives are not much different. If we listen to the noise we lose sight of the game plan. Let’s focus on the things that we can control. Let’s make small adjustments for things that change but stick to our fundamentals. Let’s keep saving, Let’s keep planning for major life events, Let’s keep reducing our household debt and let’s keep selecting quality companies to invest in that will assist in reaching our goals. If you want to review some of these things with us Just give us a call to set up a time to talk. We want to help you plan and advise you in making wise decisions to help you achieve what's important to you in your life.