Keep it simple

“Are you going to send us a bunch of market-related stuff each quarter?”

“No,” I replied.

“Ok good. Our current advisor does that. It’s confusing and stresses us out.”

A recent meeting with a prospective client was a good reminder of why I do things differently than many other financial planners and advisors. While I don’t believe many financial planners and advisors mean to make things more complex and confusing, it can often be the end result.

Some other things that make me go hmmmm about the traditional financial planners’ approach:

If you’re telling people to ignore the day-to-day moves of the markets, why is CNBC on in your lobby all day?

If you want folks to focus on the next 30 years of their life and not the next 3 months, how are quarterly economic updates helping them do that?

Why are their 43 different investments in your accounts when the same diversification might be achieved using only a few?

Instead of CNBC, I prefer to display Carl’s artwork in my office as it seems to create a more relaxed environment with better conversations. And email updates like this one seem more impactful for everyday living than my best guess “hot take” on GDP growth last quarter.

Care to take a guess on how many investments – stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, etc – my wife and I have in our personal accounts?

One mutual fund.

It’s a low-cost index fund that’s broadly diversified across stocks and bonds, international and domestic. It aligns well with our own financial plan, aiming to take on the least amount of risk that still gives us the best chance of achieving the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

So what’s the most underrated benefit – in my humble opinion – of implementing simplicity when it comes to your finances and investments?

The time you regain that you previously spent worrying about your finances and investments.

And when you can use that regained time to do more things you enjoy with the people you care about the most, well that’s the best return on your investment I think any of us can hope for.

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