Just Save Something

“Dad, will you help me change out my headlights?” My son is just days away from his birthday and getting his driver’s license.

He bought a truck in May with his own money and can hardly wait for the freedom and fun that comes with a driver’s license.

My wife and I could have bought him a truck, but he wouldn’t have learned anything.

So instead, like his older sister before him, he sold firewood, ran a gumball machine business, cut brush, and did anything else he could to make money to buy a truck.

Our kids saved and invested as soon as they could start tracking their investments.

His investing wasn’t always smooth, but that is how investing goes.

I not only wanted him to learn the value of a dollar, but I also wanted him to understand the ups and downs of the stock market like a seasoned investor.

Money In Is… Money In

When it comes to retirement or big purchases, how much our clients are saving is more important than their rate of return, or whether they use an annuity, a bare mutual fund or something else.

“I don’t know where to start.”

I often hear this from people who have not started working on their retirement savings.

I always say, “Just do something!”

We need to tell our clients to invest a little every month, and don’t touch it.

During the building of the Panama Canal, the senior engineer John Stevens, after dealing with delay after delay on the Atlantic side of the canal, hired Frank Maltby.