Angst

As I write our client quarterly letter, I always try and be remindful as to what the world is going through and what we as occupants of this little blue ball circling the sun can do to get through our day.

I have therefore broken it down to two schools of thought. The first is that we simply enjoy the ride knowing that we have little control as to what the world does, so why worry about it anyway. The second is to sit and worry and try to armchair quarterback each and every piece of news we hear or read and try and manage our lives accordingly, as to not lose control. It is in our nature that human beings desire structure and a known outcome, yet we live in a world that does not provide us that luxury.

So, I would like to provide a third school of thought. What if we listened or read the news (dare I say noise?) of the day and instead of immediately reacting, took a few moments to further research and, using multiple sources and differentiating opinions, then reflected on how it may or may not impact your life. Once your research has been completed, take another pensive moment, and see if there is anything you can do or change about this news/noise to arrive at a better outcome for you and your family. In other words, if there is something you can do that is in your total control, worry about it. If not in your control, don’t!

I truly believe the world is in great “angst” right now worrying about things that are totally out of their control. The worries of the day are geo-political, domestic political, social, economic, spiritual and to many, personal health related. No wonder it makes a sane person start to go mad. We are trying to manage the world’s problems on top of our own. Funny thing is, very little of this is in our control and according to my third school of thought, not worth wasting our time. Knowledge is power, unfortunately, biased-research based news/noise is loss of that power and simply a control mechanism. When you truly understand the motives for media companies as well as politicians and big businesses, you will begin to realize how much in control they really want to be. Don’t let them win. Don’t give up your control. Educate yourself as to the topics of the day and do as we do here at the High Net Worth Advisory Group – separate the news from the noise. Having been a financial professional for the last 39 years, I can confidently tell you that the large majority of drivel you may hear or read is not news but just noise. Ignore the noise of the day, manage your lives as to the news with the understanding that even then I am not totally in control.

Since this is the beginning of spring, and baseball season has begun, I will leave you with a message of hope. Learn how to hit the slider, curveball and fastball and maybe, just maybe your team will end up in the World Series. If not, have fun playing the game along the way. Yes, the score of a game and winning matters to a professional baseball team. Winning or losing has no place in our personal lives as the true joy is just getting out and playing with those that we love most. That we can control. Batter up!