Athlete CEO

With a spike in Coronavirus cases around the country, we continue to see multiple industries getting shaken including airlines, cruise ships, and travel destinations. Alternatively, we see the top tech companies (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon) combined currently represent more than 20% of the S&P 500, which makes sense with more people than ever relying on technology to work and stay connected. As we continue to allocate investments, many are wondering if we should try to make concentrated bets on how the Coronavirus might continue to impact different parts of the economy.

However, the main thing to keep in mind is that no one has a crystal ball - no one can see the future. So, typically the best way to prepare for times like these is diversification of your allocations. We've seen throughout history similar trends with different industries rising and falling, and investors who aren't diversified can unknowingly expose themselves to more risk than they intend.

In this episode, Erik & Brandon discuss this idea and address topics like:

• What is the home bias?
• How diversification can protect against unintended risk and help to capture opportunity
• What can we learn from history and data in terms of portfolio diversification?
• What is success?
• How do we most effectively grow our wealth over the long-term?

The market has continued to bring surprises. In the last couple months we've seen one of the quickest recessions to one of the quickest recoveries then suddenly last week we saw a -6% down day in the market. 

In tandem with this market volatility, we've also seen many big name companies declare bankruptcy followed by their stock prices skyrocketing. In their wake have been more voices who have adopted a day trading approach claiming now is the time to buy these companies pretty much across the board.

This can cause us as investors to question what is going on in the short term, and ask if we should lean into this day trading approach. However, we also know that the disciplined approach is going to continue to be to cut out the noise, control what we can control, and stick to the plan for the long term.

This week, Brandon & Erik discuss these news items and address the following questions and topics: 

• Is now the time to buy a specific company's stock that I've heard about in the news?
• How concerned should I be about short-term market fluctuations?
• Is there ever a time to consider more of a day trader approach?
• If I have a pool of money that I'm okay to take more risk with, what are some of my options to consider?
• What options are available besides stock picking on public markets?
• What do you guys see is the best approach for long-term wealth creation and success?

We have all experienced moments of being in the zone. A state of deep focus and peak performance.

Unfortunately, those seem to be difficult to string together. Instead, we find ourselves more distracted and exhausted than ever before.

It’s time to take back your attention and focus on what matters most.

In this episode of the Athlete CEO podcast, Erik has a conversation with Curt Steinhorst, bestselling author, Forbes columnist and leading expert in cultivating focus and minimizing distraction.

Curt offers the latest neuroscience backed research covering topics like:

• How are we wired to pay attention?
• How to develop mastery
• Why life hacks are good tools but don’t lead to change
• The difference between humans and machines and why it will never work for us to try and emulate them
• Communicating stories in a way that creates lasting change
• The dangers of constantly being told you're awesome - and how to surround yourself with people who will give you helpful and honest feedback
• How to determine what matters most
• How teams can work to end a culture of distraction

To access the free chapter on the vault in Curt's book Can I Have Your Attention, visit focuswise.com/cihya

On last week's episode, we started our conversation on the idea of ownership by defining risk and discussing some of the rewards that come along with the different types of risk you can take. Ultimately, this can be described as the upside of ownership.

This week, we'll continue with part two where we'll explore the fundamentals of ownership and cover topics and questions like: 

• What exactly are the fundamentals of ownership?
• How do we define ownership when it comes to investing?
• What does it mean and what are the implications to owning stock?
• Why could equity be preferred over being a bond holder?
• Is all equity created equal?
• Is now the time to invest in a specific company?

What should we be doing with our money right now? Over the last few weeks, we've covered topics that we've been asked about from our clients on real estate, private markets, and more. We've also been asked if now is a good time to consider cryptocurrency. 

However, these might be the wrong questions, at least in starting the conversation. Instead, we should start with our overall money goals - what do you want your money to do for you?

The answer to this question helps us to determine an appropriate level of risk to work toward achieving the returns that would help us accomplish our money goals. 

In this episode, Erik and Brandon discuss this idea and cover topics and questions like:

• How do you actually define investment risk?
• What is the framework for determining how much risk you can handle?
• Why saying you want all the return but none of the risk does not work.
• Understanding the relationship between risk and return.
• Cutting out unnecessary risk.
• The impact of diversification on risk.

We've said that trying to predict markets is a dangerous game to play, so now that the country begins to open up - how do we answer the frequently asked question of what the market will do over the coming months? We typically start our response by revisiting why our clients are invested in the public markets in the first place. The answer should not be to try to make a significant return within the short-term - 12 or 18 months - but is most often the goal of generating wealth over the long-term.

As humans, we tend to shy away from uncertainty and instead have a tendency to lean toward people who confidently declare certainty about what will happen in the future. That's why it can be easy to find "experts" who claim they've figured it out or try to predict what will happen in the immediate future. However, the data repeatedly shows that this is a fool's game. The reality is that no one has a crystal ball on what the market will do through the rest of the year.

In this episode, Brandon and Erik discuss this idea and cover:

• The characteristics of a long-term investor vs a day-to-day market timer
• Some of the core principles to help make sure to capture the long-term market potential returns
• The importance of a globally diversified portfolio
• What the backbone of most plans should typically be based around

Welcome to season 2 of the Athlete CEO podcast! 

In this episode, we hear from Randy Newsom of X10 Capital who discusses the idea of betting on yourself in your sports career. Prior to X10, Randy was an associate in the Sports Litigation practice of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Before pursuing law, Randy had a 7-year career in the Red Sox, Indians, and Pirates organizations. 

We're thrilled to have Randy join us to kick off season 2 of the Athlete CEO podcast, and share some advice on navigating the business of professional baseball.

In recent weeks, we've seen a lot about how the stock market seems to be rallying, but the economy is doing poorly. As a result, we've received a lot of questions about how there can be a disconnect between those two entities. When the stock market is mentioned, many refer to the S&P 500, which only makes up only 44% of the U.S. economy. Whereas, when we discuss the actual economy, it encompasses all goods and services being produced.  

In this week's episode, Brandon and Erik discuss:

• A definition of both the stock market and the economy
• The information available about each one
• What - if any - information can be utilized between one to inform decisions about the other
• The distinctions between the two including how one can be doing well while the other suffers