The Stuff They Don’t Teach You In Books

Posted July 27, 2021 by Joshua M Brown

Once upon a time, when I knew nothing, I called myself a financial advisor. It’s true, I was giving financial advice. But when I look back to the caliber and quality of that advice from back then to now, it’s astonishing how much I didn’t know.

I was raised in this business to believe that stock and bond and fund selection was the most important aspect of helping investors succeed. We weren’t given a benchmark in terms of what a client succeeding even meant. Was it beating the S&P 500? Looking smarter than the client’s other broker?

Hitting a grand slam in a technology stock? Generating the highest interest and dividend income? I don’t know. The client doesn’t know. “Lets emphasize whichever of these things went well in the next conversation.”

Twenty years have gone by and now I know a lot. At least compared to the original version of me as a financial advisor. I’ve surrounded myself with Certified Financial Planners. I’ve attended hundreds of industry conferences. I’ve written three books and ten thousand blog posts. I’ve done fifteen hundred hours of financial television. I’ve read a million words on the profession.

I’ve sat in a thousand client meetings. Drank coffee, wine, beer and tequila with hundreds of financial advisors when their guards were down. I’ve been in the green rooms at all the events. I’ve seen the notes from the pre-interviews with producers. The private parties. The dinners (so many dinners).

I’ve met the chief marketing officers and the PR people for every trillion dollar asset manager in America. I’ve been there for the bell ringings, the product pushes, the service launches, the beta tests, the branding exercises.

I know some stuff.

Like finding my way up in the clocktower behind Big Ben, watching the gears turn. Everyone in London can look up and observe time going by from the outside. I can see how the big hand and the little hand got that way from the inside.

And some of the things I’ve come to learn have never been taught in any textbook or on any exam given industry-wide. These unwritten things are the key to everything. I’ll share a few today…

1. Every thousand dollars you help a client save on taxes is the equivalent of earning that client ten thousand dollars in returns, based on how grateful people are. I don’t know why it is that way. There’s something about “I saved you money” that’s ten times more emotionally satisfying than “I made you some money.” Probably because money made in the market usually continues to remain at risk in a portfolio, while money saved on taxes feels more kept and permanent.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://thereformedbroker.com/2021/07/27/the-stuff-they-dont-teach-you-in-books/