Being Smart with $$ -- Vape or Have $1 Million. You Choose.

Vaping or $1 MILLION.  You choose.  Maybe your kids will ignore your health warnings and sneak off to vape behind the school when no one is looking.  But what if they knew the true long-term financial cost?  An average user may go through a pod per day at $4 each.  So let your kids know that if they throw that $4 per day into the stock market, instead of vaping, from their senior year of high school through all their working years, it will likely be worth almost $1 MILLION which they can spend in retirement.   Lighter users might be looking at less but still substantial money. Vaping or $1 million.  It seems like an easy choice. (Assumes 8.5% annual stock-market returns which are below long-term averages, over 50 years.  Past results may not be a predicter of future results.)

Larry Pike, CFA

Client Priority Financial Advisors LLC
www.clientpriority.com
Blog: clientpriority.blogspot.com

Being Smart With $$ - Don't Let Your Get Adviser Get Cute with Your Money

Does your financial adviser time the market? Many do believing they can avoid losses when the market is falling or grab profits right before the market will rise. The problem is that so much research shows that market timing fails more than it wins. A new client of mine showed me their portfolio before they moved from another adviser and I asked why their stock allocation was so low compared to an appropriate position for someone with their profile. The answer was that their soon-to-be former adviser was predicting a market decline. Well guess what? The market is now at all-time highs and substantially higher than when that adviser sold all their clients’ stocks and that decision has cost the clients a fortune. Can the market crash in the weeks or months ahead? It’s always possible. But what if it doesn’t? Over the long term, the market marches higher as companies keep generating new profits.  The adviser is hoping to pick up a few percentage points in the short term but instead may potentially be costing their clients a quadrupling of their stock values over the next couple of decades if they keep waiting for a crash that never comes. Don’t let your adviser get cute with your portfolio. A steady and consistent long-term plan is the path to success.

Larry Pike, CFA

Client Priority Financial Advisors LLC

www.clientpriority.com