Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

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Money 101: There’s a Reason Family Always Comes 1st

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By emilie zhang @ Shutterstock.com

Are you aligned with a money gathering business, or are you aligned with a money manager? The money-gathering business is all about bigness. They tell you all about how big they are when all you care about is, “how are you going to help me?”

Welcome to the world where being big—whether it’s big tech or big money—makes you just a cog in the wheel. Where, for example, you sign up for Facebook or use Google for “free” and come to realize, “anything that’s free means I’m the product.” They’re selling you out. It’s no different from when money guys look to upsell you down the river.

Look at the money flows. The largest investment firms are consolidating power. They’re getting larger and sell you free products all day long. Really? How much of your financial story do you want to tell them in exchange for being sold out? Do you have any idea what they’re saying behind your back? They’re looking at you like a commodity.

Why is it that when you sign up for a “free” study on annuities, do you feel like all of a sudden you’re part of a fishing expedition—you’re the fish? And then they sink their teeth into you and NEVER leave you alone until you relent and say, “What the hell, maybe I’ll become a client. At the very least, my phone will stop ringing.”

Or they try to be more creative—planning your life and telling you they’re a fiduciary looking out for your best interests. But when you become a client, they get creative, and the next thing you know, you’re paying his fee, then another layer of fees on his ETFs, and talking with a phone rep who lives miles away from the mothership. Sound like a trip you want to take? Hardly.

One of the benefits of working with someone you know—like me—or with a family business—is there’s never any pressure to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger—nor will there ever be. A family, as we all know, operates much like your own, with a small, fixed number of mouths to feed. That’s just the biology of it or the science—science actually worth following.

Don’t fall for the bigness. Don’t think you’ll be treated bigly. Remember, trust is earned. It’s not some throwaway line in a piece of literature. It’s a gut feeling. Is the person you’re talking with fishing for you or trying to be creative with your money? Stick to your roots. There’s a reason family always comes first.

Action Line: Don’t be hunted by a fisherman. Don’t let them be creative in planning what to do with your money. Break free and get aligned with your roots—you know, a FAMILY.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com