13 Jun 2024 Better Call Sau . . . Your Financial Advisor

One of life’s little joys is watching an excellent show for the first time. Great TV (streaming or otherwise) is lightning in a bottle: you don’t know when it’ll strike, but you don’t want to miss it when it does.

The enjoyment isn’t isolated to the time you spend watching the show, either. There’s the anticipation of the upcoming episode, the water cooler discussions with friends and colleagues that follow (do these happen on Zoom or Slack now?), then the slow build-up to the next episode. You can even dive into endless threads on Reddit, long-form blog posts, and podcasts. Quality TV creates its own economy, both social and financial.

When I was a kid, I could watch the same show or movie over and over. (I can still quote you lines from Tommy Boy, Dumb and Dumber, The Rock, Sneakers, or Back to the Future, to name a few.) But as I’ve gotten older, the interest in re-watching something has diminished; It needs to be really special to bring me back for seconds. In fact, there are only a few movies and a couple of shows from the last twenty years that I’ve watched a second time. I’m going through one of them, Better Call Saul, right now.

If you aren’t familiar with Better Call Saul, it was written by the Vince Gilligan, the same gentleman who wrote Breaking Bad. The former came out in 2015, spanned six seasons, and tells the story of Jimmy McGill, D/B/A, Saul Goodman, a lawyer with a wobbly sense of morals, to put it mildly. Everything about the show is A+: the acting is excellent, the twists play out in ways you never expect, the writing is top-notch, and the slow, deliberate pacing is uniquely satisfying.

I loved Better Call Saul the first time through and hung on every twist and turn. I listened to podcasts, scoured the internet for additional commentary and researched every Easter egg, real or imagined. As Jimmy/Saul’s journey got closer to its conclusion, I was a bundle of nerves. Similar to Breaking Bad, Mr. Gilligan wrote a perfect ending.

Yet as I go through it the second time, I find myself enjoying the overall experience more. The intense interest in Jimmy’s back-story is gone, the concern over his future is less, and the curiosity about Kim Wexler’s fate isn’t there, and while those emotions kept me hooked, they didn’t allow me to fully enjoy the ride. Knowing how everything turns out lets me focus on the details, appreciate how Mr. Gilligan ties together moments from season 1 to season 6, and see how small comments by the actors display their true character.

Facing a big financial decision can feel similar to watching a great drama for the first time: suspense, nerves, worry, fingers crossed that everything will turn out alright. To navigate it, we might search the internet, talk to friends or family, or listen to a financial podcast. While that’s better than going it alone, it’s still impersonal.

We do a lot of technical work here at Beacon Wealthcare. While very important, maybe the greatest value we add to our clients’ lives is offering meaningful advice that allows them to make decisions with the perspective of someone making them for the second, or third, or 10th time, because with over 60 years of combined experience, our CFP’s have faced a bit of everything. Our experience allows for more confident decision making which allows for a more fruitful life.

You worry less about the outcome. You enjoy the experience more.

So the next time you face a big financial decision, better call your financial advisor.