Darren Straniero
8 Lessons I Learned From My Dad

My father passed away on September 8, 2018. He was 70 years old. I find it somewhat ironic I'm publishing this post today, September 11. Social media is rightfully flooded with "Never Forget" posts.

This past Sunday marked the one year anniversary of my dad's passing. I was having my morning coffee when it hit me. I felt sad, again. I still vividly remember getting the call from my brother this time last year.

8 Lessons I Learned From My Dad
Investments
Darren Straniero
Wits & Wagers

Last week we were on vacation at my in laws house. Close family friends joined us for the trip and a couple of nights were spent around the table competing in the board game called Wits & Wagers. We paired up into teams of two with each team consisting of an adult and a kid. If you know anything about our family, we trend toward the "more competitive" side of the ledger. It was an intense couple of nights. Well, about as intense as a game of Wits & Wagers can get!

Wits & Wagers
Financial Planning
Darren Straniero
11 Years Later...

On Friday, Jill & I will celebrate 11 years of marriage. Hard to believe it’s been 11 years. Seems like just yesterday I was smashing wedding cake in her face.

We've been through a heckuva lot in those 11 years. Obviously we had our gaggle of kids in a short period of time and, I imagine like many other married couples, we've dealt with our share of challenges, too.

To quote my father-in-law, it's been the best 10.5 years of my life! Haha.

11 Years Later...
Financial Planning, Investments
Darren Straniero
Kaizen

Our youngest son, Sutton, is playing baseball again this season. The team is comprised mostly of 7 year olds. So far, we've had a few practices and two games. And let me tell you…they stink.

Seriously. They're not good. After our last game Jill said to me, "It's like watching The Bad News Bears."

And she's not wrong.

Before you start thinking "Wow that's horrible,” or “How can they say/think such things," hear me out.

Kaizen
Darren Straniero
Should I refinance?

Interest rates have gone down again. In fact, last week the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest point in over 13 months. I imagine you’ll be getting calls from your lender, banks, etc. about refinancing. This tends to happen when rates go down.

I have a confession: I think refinancing a mortgage is a bad idea.

Should I refinance?

Stay The Course

Jack Bogle passed away earlier this year. If you don't know who he is, no worries. You can read about him here. Basically, he was, is, and forever will be a legend in the investing world. He founded the mutual fund company, Vanguard. He also pioneered the index fund and impacted countless individual investors.

When it came to investing, Mr. Bogle had a famous quote: "stay the course." It was even the title of his book.

Simple, not easy.

But what if we don't have a course to begin with? How can we "stay the course" then?

Better Than Average

In one of my peer groups, a fun poll was posed to us and essentially it asked if our profession (financial advisors) would be more fun if we could reliably beat the market. I got a good chuckle out of it, because, obviously, who doesn't want to beat the market?!? You do. I do. And yes, it would certainly make client conversations a little easier. Maybe a lot. Lol.

But this question also got me thinking. Why are we so wrapped up with trying to beat the market?

What Would You Do?

We've all been in this situation before: "Should I do X or Y?" Financially, we are constantly faced with these dilemmas.

  • Should I save for retirement or my kid's college education?

  • Should I invest in the 401(k) or the Roth 401(k)?

  • Should I invest a lump sum or systematically?

This time I want to tackle an age old debate:

Should I pay off my mortgage early, or should I use the extra money and invest?

Adapt & Adjust

Last summer, Jill & I did the unthinkable. With the kids home from school in the middle of summer, we took all of their electronic devices away. Kindles, iPads, iPods, Xbox. Even the TV Remote. All. The. Devices.

Gone.

Disclaimer: no children were harmed by the removal of their electronic devices.

Were we nuts? Maybe. Were we fed up? Definitely. No doubt, the first few days were rough. Probably more for us than them. We stuck to our guns and hung tough.

Then something changed.

Give that Budget the Bird!

Budget. It's a dirty, dirty word. Go ahead and say it out loud. See how many people around you avoid eye contact with you or give you nasty looks. I'm telling you! It's right up there with the dirtiest of the dirty words. It conjures up feelings of anxiety, fear, and even downright disgust in many people. Why? I'll tell you why.

Budgets can feel constricting, suffocating, and demanding. They ask of you to stay within the confines of the box. They come with defined borders.

You must color within the lines!!!!

And we don't like them! For many reasons.

11 Years Later...

11 Years Later...

On Friday, Jill & I will celebrate 11 years of marriage. Hard to believe it’s been 11 years. Seems like just yesterday I was smashing wedding cake in her face.

We've been through a heckuva lot in those 11 years. Obviously we had our gaggle of kids in a short period of time and, I imagine like many other married couples, we've dealt with our share of challenges, too.

To quote my father-in-law, it's been the best 10.5 years of my life! Haha.

How Much Risk Should I Take?

Ahhhhhh, risk and reward. Always the teeter totter of investment conversations. When it comes to investing, we all want to have our cake and eat it too. Meaning we want the maximum return - all the upside in the market. And we want nothing to do with the risk - when the markets go down. Who wouldn't want that?!

Unfortunately that's not how the markets work. In order for our money to grow…

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Kaizen

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Kaizen

Our youngest son, Sutton, is playing baseball again this season. The team is comprised mostly of 7 year olds. So far, we've had a few practices and two games. And let me tell you…they stink.

Seriously. They're not good. After our last game Jill said to me, "It's like watching The Bad News Bears."

And she's not wrong.

Before you start thinking "Wow that's horrible,” or “How can they say/think such things," hear me out.

Persistence Pays Off

If you don't know about the Nintendo Switch - well I didn't know much about it, either. All I know is it was one of the hottest items for the holidays. As the kids ramped up for Christmas, all we heard about was the Nintendo Switch. And they put on the full court press. Like Nolan Richardson Arkansas basketball circa 1990’s full court press. Honestly, it was exhausting. Every list for Santa included it. And they must have made like 15 lists each.

Jill and I talked about it and ultimately the kids did not get a Nintendo Switch from Santa.

Before you go yelling “Bah Humbug!” and calling us Scrooges, hear me out.

2 + 2 = 5?

Last week’s blog post I talked about refinancing and used this analogy:

Math ≠ Money

According to Reuben Hersh, an American mathematician and academic, math can defined as follows:

"Mathematics is the subject where answers can definitely be marked right or wrong, either in the classroom or at the research level. Mathematics is the subject where statements are capable in principle of being proved or disproved, and where proof or disproof bring unanimous agreement by all qualified experts—all who understand the concepts and methods involved."

For example, if I told you 2 + 2 = 4, you could not dispute that. This is a fact. If I told you 2 + 2 = 5, you could…

Should I refinance?

Should I refinance?

Interest rates have gone down again. In fact, last week the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest point in over 13 months. I imagine you’ll be getting calls from your lender, banks, etc. about refinancing. This tends to happen when rates go down.

I have a confession: I think refinancing a mortgage is a bad idea.

Retiring on Accident

The other day I was talking with a couple. They were retired and, given the line of work I'm in, I asked if they minded a few questions about their journey to retirement. They chuckled and obliged. I wasted no time. First question right off the bat:

"Tell me, what was the biggest obstacle for you when it came to saving money for your retirement?"

They chuckled again. A handful of seconds later came their response:

Hey! That's personal!

To get started, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Don't worry, they're simple. Let's go:

  • when did you graduate from college?

  • when did you get married?

  • what's your address?

  • how many square feet is your condo/apartment/house?

I imagine the answers among all of you reading this are quite varied. I also imagine if you asked the same exact questions to your best friend, neighbor, or co-worker, you're most likely going to get answers totally different than yours.

Let's try a few more questions. Also very simple questions:

The Tooth Fairy Knows About Inflation

Our youngest son, Sutton, has lost 4 teeth in the last two months. Unfortunately for him, they are his top 4 front teeth. That's right, all of them in a row. So as you can imagine, the Tooth Fairy has been to our house at a pretty good clip.

Sutton has also been socking away some Tooth Fairy cheddar at a pretty good clip, too. Tooth Fairy in the StranClan house pays $2 per tooth. The Tooth Fairy has a stout collection of the very rare $2 bill as well as…

Pop Quiz!

Remember way back when you were in school? Maybe middle school or high school? You'd walk into one of your classes and the teacher would announce "POP QUIZ TIME!"

I always imagine these words were uttered in sheer delight. Or in a sadistic manner. Or sometimes with an evil villain laugh following the phrase. Like, "POP QUIZ TIME!! Mwah-hah-hah-haaaaaaaa!!!"

And then, bum-bum-BUMMMM. A collective groan from the class.

Shadow, or no?

On February 2, 2019 good ol' Punxatawny Phil did not see his shadow. And for those of you keeping score at home, it's only the 10th time in 123 recorded instance he did not see his shadow. So will we have an early spring, as legend suggests we will? According to this USA Today story, Punxatawny Phil doesn't have a very stellar track record.

Yet for those of us that don't care for…

Just Be You - A New Chapter

I still remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was still very new to the business, not even a year under my belt and I was trusted by two good friends to help them with their financial life. I'd been coached by others who'd been in the business longer than me as to how I should conduct my meetings, set expectations, so forth.

Prior to our meeting, I sent an email to confirm our meeting and set expectations. I thought this was how you did things. In hindsight, it wasn't.

After our my meeting, my friend called me and said…

5 Years = 33%

Time really is flying by in our household. And I imagine many of you are experiencing the same phenomenon. Only it's not a phenomenon. This is what happens. Time waits for no man or woman. It just keeps going.

So today I want to talk about the importance of saving, and the impact of delaying our long term savings. We never really feel this impact, but it happens silently. And it happens over time. Oh yeah, and it's real.

Gearing Up For The Next Market Crash

I recently received an email from a colleague. In his email he asked if I was ready for the impending market crash (his words, not mine). Perhaps not ironically, he sent this email just before history was made on August 22, 2018. This date marked when the bull market that started roaring after the Global Financial Crisis became the longest running in US history.

In addition to my colleague's inquiry, I've been asked many times this year (and years prior), about the "impending market crash." My answer was and remains the same. Here it is:

Stuck In a Rut

This summer I've been in a bit of a slump when it comes to writing. The creative juices haven't been flowing the way I'd like them to. I've gone through the same process I typically do when I write…and then I can't seem to keep the momentum going. The result? I have a lot of unfinished blog posts.

Since I like to get my posts out to you guys on a fairly regular basis, I started to panic. WHAT AM I GOING TO WRITE ABOUT? I told Jill recently I thought I had writer's block.

And then it hit me