What Types of Insurance Are Critical for Your Financial Plan?

Have you ever noticed when you turn on the news, the media is either panicked because the markets are down or celebratory because the markets are up? This may make for fun entertainment, but it can also impact people’s emotions, which are dangerous when they affect investment choices and financial decisions.

While you shouldn’t hide your head in the sand when it comes to the news, there’s a fine balance between staying up-to-date and obsessively following every market change.

The Problem with the News

Many people think watching the news will help them decide what financial or investment decisions to make. The problem with this is that the news is late, especially in terms of investing.

Capital markets efficiently price in all widely known information. As soon as news is available to the public, it becomes reflected in share prices. Therefore, looking at the same things as everyone else doesn’t give you a leg-up on other investors.

Additionally, we know that most news stations have a bias or slant. Many major networks tend to lean either right or left, and this can actually impact the type of actions they suggest in terms of financial decisions. Furthermore, when their guest is the head of a bank or works for a credit card company, you’ll want to be aware that their advice may be biased.

The Information to Turn to Instead

One of the best solutions is to ignore the pundits and spend more time sticking to your personal financial strategies and investment plan. It may sound crazy for me to suggest this, but I’ve found that it helps my clients feel less stressed and less likely to make emotionally driven decisions.

It takes training to tune out the media noise levels and focus on your long term plan. It is tough to do, but with a little coaching, you can feel less stress from media influence and more focused on your plan.

Let Your Advisor Do the Heavy Lifting

While working with a financial advisor is a collaborative approach, requiring work on both ends, it can be helpful to rely on your advisor for staying up-to-date on financial news and investment trends. Part of an advisor’s job is to stay current with financial news and changes in the markets. Your advisor will then suggest changes, if needed, based on your personal goals and needs.

Stick to Financial Wellness Tips

While listening to the news and recommendations of pundits can lead to emotional decision-making, reading general articles and blogs about financial health and wellness can be beneficial, and even motivating. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs out there that share tips on sticking to a budget, savvy ways to save money at the grocery store, and how to find the best credit card rates. These sources of information can help you maintain a healthy outlook regarding money and keep you motivated to stick to your financial goals.

How I Can Help

As an independent advisor, my personal goal is to provide my clients with guidance that can help them understand and better define their financial goals. I stay up-to-date with the latest financial news, trends, and market shifts so my clients don’t have to. I hope to allow them the time to focus on their passions in life knowing I am here proactively monitoring their investments and financial strategies.

To learn more about how I can help you focus less on media noise and more on your passions in life, contact me for a no-strings-attached meeting. We can discuss your goals what strategies can help you pursue them. Call my office at (949) 221-8105 x 2128, or email me at michael.loo@lpl.com.

Recently, I followed up with a client after the client had been away on a family vacation for two weeks. Prior to that trip, the chaos of summer, work travel, and meetings had prevented the client from following up with me on a minor but impactful recommendation I had encouraged the client to consider in our last conversation. Before I had the opportunity to even say, “Hello,” the client apologized and communicated that I was owed a phone call. Yes, I had encouraged a decision knowing the impact would further strengthen the client’s financial situation, but in my diligence, I didn’t expect a phone call. The definition of diligence: careful and persistent work or effort. I love the simplicity of this definition and the use of the words persistent and effort. From knowing the client, I know the client is incredibly diligent in her own work and personal life. You see, when my client picked up this phone call, and the diligence of my follow up had just replaced the client’s call, eased the burden of the client having to call me back (amidst her intense work schedule), and ultimately resulted in the client making a best decision to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of her plan after re-clarifying the client’s priorities and current time frames.

An ongoing and sound financial plan requires an immense amount of diligence. If you are not ready to double down on this level of diligence on your own, why not hire a Decision Coach and Certified Financial PlannerTM professional to sprinkle the entirety of your plan with some diligence? Have you rebalanced your 401(k) lately? Have you increased your contribution percentage after your last raise? Did you update your life insurance planning after you moved into a new home after your second child was born? Are you planning on saving for that dream trip to Europe, or is that just going to magically happen in the next five years? What are the trading fees on your brokerage account? You have given thought to each of these questions. You have even discussed the answers with your spouse or close friends. Yet, you are busy and these action items are on the top of your priority list on a Tuesday. All of these questions require thoughtful planning with ongoing diligence, communication, and action. As soon as you settle into a plan with the right cash flow, life happens and you will need to adjust the game plan. My client didn’t forget to call me back. My client wanted me to call me back. Yet, my client didn’t call me back and didn’t make up her mind, until I called. Was I upset that I had to follow up several times? Was I frustrated my client seemed non-responsive? Of course not! It’s my career and joy as a Decision Coach. It’s part of my role as your financial planner to be diligent, to hold you accountable, to help you make qualitatively better decisions over time. Do I expect this to take a few follow up calls and three incredibly productive and ongoing quarterly progress checks between annual reviews? Of course! I love crafting a game plan for you. I love when you approach a financial decision and prior to making a decision, you reach out to me. I want your plan to be dialed in, so ultimately, you are living the life you want now, saving for the life you want in the future, as I provide the guard rails of diligence all along the way. A lot happens in a year and all of those little decisions have a significant impact over a long arch of time. Why I am so diligent with your financial plan? So, you don’t always have to be…don’t apologize, let’s just make the next best decision together and I’ll handle the follow up so we can one day celebrate together, not just because you are retiring, but because of the life you lived to get there.