Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

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Your Survival Guy: Clearing the Decks, Buying a Boat, Seeing the World and More

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By Spiroview Inc @ Shutterstock.com

OK, some updates for you from Your Survival Guy to clear the decks.

  • The new Grady White is in (engines too) and ready for delivery. It’s a Canyon 306 with twin Yamaha 300s. The name: Tom Sawyer. I’ll send you pics next week. Here’s how to buy a boat.
  • Had lunch with clients yesterday here in Newport, RI overlooking the water on a beautiful June afternoon. We’ve been working together now for twenty years. Over that time, the relationship has expanded, through referrals, to six other relationships with their friends and family.

If you feel someone you care about would like to talk with me,  send them my contact here or just let me know. I’m here. If you want them to get to know me better, help them sign up here for my free monthly Survive and Thrive letter. Sometimes the best things in life are free.

  • What annoys me? Glad you asked. When investment managers are profiled, the setup is always the same. It goes like this: “So and so works for (put your favorite big company here) with billions (and sometimes trillions) of assets under management.” (Like managing all that money means something to you, the reader.) In reality, when these companies get that big, they get further away from their customers. You start hearing about things like ESG investing, stakeholder capitalism (meaning non-owners having a say), and more virtue signaling. How about simply being introduced as a fiduciary?

Has your investment guy put you in something like ESG or Social whatever without your approval?

  • Do you know what a fiduciary is? You should ask your adviser because not all Senior Vice Presidents, Managing Directors, and Financial Planners are, by law, fiduciaries. Many follow what’s called a “suitability” standard. What does that mean? If their firm offers a similar product with a higher fee than an outside option, for example, it’s still “suitable” to put you in their higher fee product. Doesn’t sound right, does it?
  • Is this a good time to reevaluate your relationship with your current broker? Is your advisor your legally bound fiduciary? Adjusting your investment plan is an ongoing process of planning. Your plan is to have a plan so you can have the retirement you deserve. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
  • We all know it’s the little things that matter. In the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, by Jeff Pearlman, I like this profile on Kurt Rambis and how he got the fast break going after the other team scored. “Kurt became the best outlet passer and inbounder in the history of the game,” said Thibault. “Little skills often get overlooked in the NBA, because we value certain statistics. But what Kurt was able to do with the ball was astounding.”

Action Line: Are you making plans to get out there and see the world? We just got back from an incredible three-week trip to Paris. As the late great Warren Miller said in his ski movies: “If you don’t do it this year, you will be one year older when you do!” Let’s go!

Who says you can’t name your boat after your favorite song?

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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 Zildjians. 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