Wednesday afternoon we got a sister walk in, ALICIA363 and I, and that's always one of those "high points of the week". We dump our collections of life issues on one another, plus coping strategies and humor.
Thursday morning brought "breakfast with the financial advisors", where I tend to meet other retirees who share the same management firm. There's a bit of market update and a bit of education on current products they are considering for folks who might be attracted to them.
One part of market analysis that was shared might be of interest. It had to do with market performance, the importance of sticking to your strategies in good times and bad, and whether or not "this year will be different". He did a graphic comparison of "what would have happened to your portfolio over the past 50 years if..." This was a lesson in the strategy of long term management winning over allowing one's emotions to force your buying/selling decisions. It was one line of what would have happened if you only invested while the Republican party was in the White House, versus another line of what would have happened if you only invested while the Democratic party was in the White House, versus a third line that showed what would have happened if you just stayed the course regardless of who got elected. Need I say that it made essentially no difference if you chose based on party, and the "stay the course" strategy was far and away superior to either of those partisan things.
I think that can be applied not just to investment strategies... it can be applied to living life in general and investing our time and energy into what makes one happy and healthy, as SparkPeople used to teach us!
The current investment vehicle they talked about reminded me of my mom talking about "dollar cost averaging" back when she was the one in the family building the nest egg. This kind of does the same sort of thing, automating the "averaging" piece so that you aren't doing it by dribs and drabs, manually. I don't know if any of this vehicle are in my own portfolio, but it got me curious enough to go look.
The most fun surprise was running into a gent who graduated from high school with me (and even shared the same Yearbook page, our senior year). Funny thing about that is that we never met until we worked in the same agency as older adults! I didn't realize he was a client of the same outfit. Life is like that... connections and surprises about those connections.
The street work has moved around the corner, so there's still the odor of fresh asphalt in the air. I'm thinking they will fill the rest of the second patch on my street today sometime.
Life is good.
Keep on Sparking!
The jonquils bloomed and were finished before the hard freeze returned. The magnolia trees ~ not so much. It seems that every year, once they are fully in bloom, we get a hard freeze. The beautiful blossoms turn black and fall to the ground. Mother Nature has a mean streak!
ReplyDeleteInteresting breakfast gathering. It's truly a small world. Those threads of connection usually make for unique conversations.
Maybe gently breeze to push along the asphalt odors to other areas.
🌬️ Have a great afternoon. 🤗💖
I agree about Mother Nature having a "dark side" / mean streak! I think your Spring comes a couple or three weeks before ours does, or at least that's how it used to seem to me when I would drive to St. Louis the first week of May every year. All those flowers, in full bloom were beautiful. But it's not May yet, and here we are.
DeleteOh, and they filled that patch, as predicted, shortly after I posted. Have a good rest of today, on into tomorrow and the weekend!
I know . . . Spring is on pause here, too. 3-6 or 4-8 in. (depending on where you get your information) of snow. Yes, definitely have been teased by a warmer than normal February.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got your sister walk in w/Alicia. Today it was cold, and the sun was out, so at least got outdoor walks in today.
Sounds like a worthwhile breakfast w/your financial advisor. Always good to stay updated. For sure, our advisor also advocates staying in things for the long term. Yup . . . stay the course.
That’s awesome that you ran into the gentleman you went to high school with.
Hope the rest of that second patch will be filled in soon.
Stay warm in the snow storm!
Hugs
Barb
1cd
Here’s to investing our time and energy into things that make us happy and healthy!
ReplyDeleteI observed the fast of Esther yesterday for the first time, and greatly enjoyed it. I realized two-thirds of the way through the day that it would not have been possible without the current caffeine reduction. Might be one reason I hadn’t done it before! Since it’s also Lent and Ramadan, I enjoyed my knowledge-awareness of that as well. What a good day!
Recognizing that others with different faiths have times of fasting and self-reflection is a unifying thing. When I was a teenager I concluded that God was too big to fit in any one denomination... and that we humans in our search to understand Him might respond to different vocabularies, legends, and parables.
DeleteGlad you were able to observe a fast with the pre-work you did reducing caffeine.
(( hugs ))