I don’t know how many of you are frequent travelers, but I fly quite a bit. As many of you, I’m sure you would agree it’s not as fun as it used to be.
Anyway, during one of my recent flights the seatbelt chime came on and the captain made an announcement to return to our seats because he expected turbulence ahead. Of course, because I never stop thinking about it, I immediately thought of the stock market and how the air turbulence couldn’t be any worse than what we’ve seen lately in the markets.
Mind you, up to that point it was a very smooth flight, even during his announcement, but just as the captain said, we hit turbulence a few moments later.
This got me thinking about a bunch of things like how did the captain know when none of the passengers knew? And why did the turbulence rattle some people while others didn’t even flinch? Once again it made me think about investing and the relationship between an advisor and their clients.
Clearly the captain didn’t have magical powers to predict the future, what he did have was data and information the passengers didn’t have, along with the type of knowledge that only professional experience can bring.
When you think about it, it’s not very different from working with a financial professional. I have access to data and information that you don’t and it allows us to look at trends and make correlations about: the economy, the markets, changing regulatory and tax codes and a whole host of issues that could impact your financial planning.
Just like the pilot, we can’t predict the future, but we should be able to point out areas of concern to be cautious about. It’s this type of relationship and guidance that is meant to protect you from unnecessary risk. There are times when you need your seatbelt firmly fastened and other times when you can loosen it up.
Is your portfolio built with too much unnecessary risk? Or, are you limiting your potential by outdated conservative investments that are hurting you in other ways like your ability to keep up with future inflation and health care costs?
Just as with flying, turbulence is a way of life; it’s not all smooth sailing. The difference is being prepared for it. That’s what we do at Madrona Financial Services. We want you to enjoy every smooth moment and have a plan to get you safely through any of the turbulent times.
Everyone reacts differently to turbulence. Some people on the flight gripped their seat handle and stiffened up, while others were relaxed and didn’t even pay attention to it. This is kind of like risk tolerance.
And just like the captain instills confidence to his passengers when announcing turbulence ahead, a good financial advisor shouldn’t be rattled by market fluctuations. Isn’t that really the difference between being reactive and proactive to changing market conditions?
Some people are very uncomfortable with turbulence and want the reassurance of safety while others may have a higher threshold of risk until they hit their level of discomfort. There’s no wrong answer here, we’re all unique and have our own experiences.
That’s why at Madrona Financial Services we don’t have a cookie cutter mentality. We approach all of our clients as unique individuals and get to know them. That’s the only way to truly create a custom retirement plan that accomplishes their goals.
