What We Do

I received a phone call this morning from a non-traded REIT wholesaler (salesman), requesting to set up an appointment with me.  For some background, a REIT is a real estate investment trust.  In a REIT, investors pool their funds, and a manager purchases properties with these funds.  The investors earn a return from these properties when the tenants of these properties pay rent, or properties are sold off.  Non-traded means that you typically cannot easily "sell" out of these arrangements.  Once you are in, you are in. 

What struck me in a subtle way, was how the wholesaler kept feeding me facts about how these would be easy to sell to my clients.  He mentioned the 6% dividend, and how much "success" they have had in raising funds.  Nothing was said about the dangers for REITs, how they were not appropriate for most investors- and how many of them fail.  It was all about how I could get my clients money into their product...all about me.

That got me to thinking, what is another way I can describe what I do?  Why do I do what I do?  This relates to other conversations that I have had along the lines of "can't I just go direct to ______ (Vanguard, E Trade, etc) ?  Why should I pay you?" The direction of this industry, like many other things, is going online.

Here is the bottom line.  You can go direct to an online brokerage, or work with a broker that will just give you want you want: gold, hot stocks, annuities, oil and gas partnerships....  what do all of these have in common?  They are not in business for you.  They are in business to earn profits from your activity, and believe me there will be no end to the neat "activities" they will show you.  They have no responsibility to keep you disciplined, or to keep you from getting in over your head.  In fact, the more you transact, the better they do.  They only have to recommend things that are "suitable".  Not the best options, just ones that are not completely inappropriate.  They are the dealers at the black jack table of investing.  We, on the other hand work for you.  We won't let you do anything under the sun.  We stick to an academic and disciplined plan.  We want you not necessarily to have the most "fun" in your portoflio, we want you to get the best results possible.  Sometimes that is bitter medicine.  That is why coaching is important.  You could go to a gym and have a trainer write you a 365 day plan for total fitness.  If you followed it exactly, you would get the results you wanted on 12/31.  However, how many people, with a written plan only, will be successful at the end of the year?  I am guessing close to 0.  Why?  No discipline and no accountability.  What if we added to that written plan, an in person trainer who you met with regularly?  Do you think your weight loss results would increase?  We think the same concept applies with money management.