Thoughts On Money [TOM]

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/47gGZj8

Growing up, it’s normal to dream about your future. As we grow up, our career aspirations shift, morph, and evolve. Perhaps in 3rd grade, you dreamed of being an astronaut. By 5th grade, you settled on being a pro baseball player, and by college, you find yourself two years into an art history major when your dad nudges you to pivot to something more practical.

In these years of maturation, it is totally normal and probably healthy to leave your options and dreams open. Yet, at some point, setting a direction and sticking to that direction is important.

A good friend of mine was having trouble with this concept. He had tried a number of different career paths and found himself in constant flux. Each path lasted about 18 months, and then he’d shift, restart, and head in a new direction. This can be a tiring endeavor – both for my friend and for his loved ones who were walking alongside him on this journey.

Here was my advice – stick to something, anything. I told him that he wasn’t getting through the learning curve stage of any career, and he wasn’t benefiting from the momentum that one gets when one sticks to something. Time in the chair is meaningful, and you pick up a lot along the way – whether as a plumber or a lawyer – and that tribal knowledge is valuable.

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3MAS2vx

Today, we welcome back guest author James Andrews.

Also, please remember to join us for the podcast where we riff on the article and offer some extra insights on the topic.

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost -

Have you ever attended a walk for breast cancer? Or perhaps a fundraiser for Alzheimer’s research? A discussion with almost any attendee will lead to a conversation about how this disease or cause hits close to home for them. Whether it’s their own battle or that of a loved one, you can connect the dots from their passion to their support.

Our experiences can drive our beliefs and behaviors.

Last week my wife got in a car accident. I’ll be upfront, it was a fender bender, and everyone is okay. Regardless, it still hit close to home.

We were hosting some guests from out of town. My wife took a few of them to Target for some shopping. I was at work. My kiddos were being a handful, so she decided to drive around the parking lot while waiting for our guests to wrap up. A few screaming kids, a not-so-obvious stop sign, and an opposing teenage driver led to about $4,000 of damage to our minivan.

Perhaps an overused term here on TOM, but this experience was and is game film; actual footage of the collision (pun intended) of life and financial planning. So, just as we would with game film, let’s review what happened and four learnings we can glean from my experience last week.

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/498rCeb

We all have flaws.

All of us.

The problem is that not all of us are aware of our flaws. We are hyper aware of the flaws of those around us, but often blind to our own blemishes.

As the Ancient Greek maxim states, “Know thyself.”

This is of course not news to you – I am well aware of that. I know that you know that we all have our own flaws. Here’s what I’d like to discuss today though, are we (1) aware of our personal blemishes? and (2) do we have a plan for addressing those shortcomings?

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/49dCWWz

Last week we had an incredible guest author, Blaine Carver.  To continue the trend, we are now welcoming in James Andrews as this week's guest author on Thoughts On Money. 

James starts us off with a story of sleep training that all parents can relate to and then dives into a teaching on mental models.  James takes us on a journey around financial decision-making and helps equip our readers to improve their own decision-making skills. 

I hope you will join us both for the written and audio (podcast) of this week's Thoughts On Money. 

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3ZWJHYy

I am excited and honored to introduce a guest writer today on Thoughts On Money.

My good friend and colleague, Blain Carver, has prepared a wonderful entry for us today.

We will talk road trips, finances, emotions, and the intersection of all of the above.

Please join us for the written and the accompanying podcast – you won’t want to miss it.

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3RGuE2U

Before I gave financial advice, I pedaled bikes. 

Today, we will discuss the intersection of BMX racing and investing. 

Specifically, we will unpack how to measure results and some of the common pitfalls result-driven investors and athletes face. 

I am sure you will enjoy a stroll down my memory lane and the opportunity to grow as investors. 

So, without further ado, I present Results Driven. 

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3ZyGe1P

Have you ever been scammed?

Since the birth of the internet, we the American people, have become quite familiar with scams. We now know to delete any proposal for a financial exchange coming from a Nigerian prince.

We dodge these scamming attempts daily. Yet, these scams are still in high production. Why? Unfortunately, because they still work; people are still being duped daily.

These scams try to lure you in with a request for a small commitment in exchange for a big reward. Maybe a better way to say this, people are tempted by the opportunity to get something for nothing.

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/467qQf8

I am guessing that most of us reading this article have moved at least once or twice in our lifetime. For me, I’ve moved four times over the last ten years. I’ve become familiar with this feeling I get, that tinge of anxiety as I’m preparing for or staring down the barrel of a move. The organizing, the packing, the lifting, the loading, the unloading, the unpacking, etc. It’s a big undertaking. I will say this, though, I’ve definitely matured as a mover. Good labeling and a solid process go a long way. This whole operation reminds me a lot of financial planning.

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/44yuUnl

Do you ever notice those habitual lane-changers in traffic?  There is a lot of activity going on, but they make little progress.  There doesn’t seem to be a correlation between how many times you switch lanes and a reduction in your drive time.  Often you will observe “lane change regret.”  The driver sees opportunity, so they get over, only to then realize that their former lane is now taking off.

Investors today are trying to change lanes in traffic, and they will inevitably experience lane change regret.  How do I know this? Because investors on average – myself included – are horrible at trying to time markets and what we are talking about is exactly that, market timing.

The peaks and troughs of markets are driven by extreme sentiment; peaking in irrational exuberance or greed and reaching a trough at levels of excessive fear.  Lane-changers aren’t enticed back into markets at the troughs, yet it is a fear that lures them back in, a fear of missing out (FOMO).  This FOMO, or point of capitulation, tends to come after a rise or rally in markets, which is often an expensive re-entry point.

Links mentioned in this episode: