18 Sep 2015 The Way Things Work

When I was a kid, we had a book in our house (well, we had LOTS of books, but this was one of them) entitled The Way Things Work, which was written and illustrated by David Macaulay. It’s a magical book full of all kinds of crazy, hand-drawn pictures illustrating, well, the way things work. From augers to grand pianos to zoom lenses and just about everything in between.

I keep that book in my office now, and when I walked in this morning I thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be nice if we had one of these for the world of finance?” Someone could draw nice pictures about what happens to a company’s stock price when the company releases earnings, or how to know what your marginal tax rate will be in 30 years, or (dare I say it) how the Fed decides to raise (or not raise) interest rates, and what the economy and stock market will do in response.

The problem with such a book, of course, would be that it couldn’t exist with any ounce integrity. Unlike the world of physics and engineering and computing, the world of finance does not stand grounded in properties like gravity and inertia and leverage and electricity, which are things that can be precisely explained by math and which operate in a very, very consistent way.

All that being said, just because the world of finance doesn’t work that way does not mean that it doesn’t work. It does work! In the world of finance, the power of planning and investing in the capital markets can be harnessed to achieve the things you set out to achieve. There just happen to be much fewer mathematical proofs and many more course corrections and adjustments. More like kayaking down a river rather than building a bridge.

So does this economy have you wondering if you need to make a correction of some sort? With the decision by the Fed yesterday not to raise rates, are you unsure about your bond fund and its purpose? We don’t have a neat series of perfect answers for you, but we do have evidence-based suggestions for how to navigate unknown waters.

So, whether you’re a client who’s looking for a refresher or you’re someone who’s simply looking to educate yourself, we would love to have you join us for lunch on October 1st at Mia Francesca from 11:45am-1pm as we discuss the questions above, and more. Lunch will be free for you, but space is limited so please register ASAP using this link, or by clicking on the picture below. We look forward to seeing you!