“You just make success happen”

I have mentioned the publication, Money Week, previously as a magazine that likes to think of itself as sophisticated, but in reality it’s just one of many tip sheets out there. One or two of its features are more interesting than others, however, including “My First Million”, in which a successful business person is invited to share with us their story.

Generally speaking these are entrepreneurs who have acquired some knowledge of a particular area and spotted an opportunity to do things better. This week’s contributor, Oliver Brendan started his business, Attraction Tickets Direct in 2002; as the name suggests he started off selling cut-price tickets for theme parks in Florida and has developed the business by adding Las Vegas and New York to his website, as well as establishing offices in Ireland and Germany, with plans to take the idea to Brazil.

The most interesting point he makes is that at the time he started his business the dot-com bubble had just burst and the 911 terrorist attacks were putting people off travelling. Currently his plan to open an office in Brazil is being undertaken against a backdrop of rumours of a slowdown in South America’s largest economy. His response?

“If you read the headlines you would never do anything. You just have to make success happen.”

“Be young, be foolish, but be happy”

Surveys appear from time to time asking those with little time left what they would have done more of and less of if they had their time again. Sex and ice cream always seem to figure highly in the “more of” lists, and a new book written by a palliative carer (“The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: a Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing.” By Bronnie Ware) whilst not a scientific study, gives a very clear indication of what we all believe to be important, but, for various reasons, may not give priority, particularly when we are young. The book is reviewed in the Sunday Times News Review section of February 2012 and can be found here The Sunday Times

Number 2 on the list and, according to the author, mentioned by every male she nursed was, “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.” The regret here was that children’s younger years had been missed to one extent or another and they missed their partner’s companionship. Probably more a result of long hours than hard work per se. What becomes apparent, reading the article, is that fear and its twin, worry, can prevent us from living a life true to ourselves (1), expressing our true feelings (2), laughing properly and having silliness in our lives (5) and staying in touch with friends (4). As the author says, “It all comes down to love and relationships in the end.”

Other studies have indicated that we all value experiences, particularly with loved ones and friends, above material possessions; these experiences can include holidays, short trips, celebrations, parties, in fact any kind of gathering that includes the people important to us. Where does financial planning fit into all this? Financial modelling, to include reasonable assumptions and lifetime cash flows should be used to reassure you that you can live the life you want to live; that you can take the breaks and holidays you want to take, with those you wish to spend time; that you can make gifts that make a difference during your lifetime; that you have both the time and the cash to make your dreams possible. Any other approach is simply about the money, the driest subject there is, in the absence of an appreciation of what it can do for you.

One of our mottos, “Spend More, Worry Less“, can sound facetious in the wrong hands; what it means in fact is that once you have established, on reasonable assumptions, that you can live the life you would like to live, doing the things you would really love to do you are less likely to suffer these regrets – a truly worthwhile goal.

 

First class service and we want to get better

Our mission is to help clients solve problems, create and preserve capital and achieve their desired lifestyle. Critical to that process is providing a consistently high level of service that meets the needs of our clients. We recently conducted a survey to gain a better understanding of your needs and interests and to ensure that the service that we provide meets or exceeds your expectations.

We are pleased and honoured that our clients gave us an overall rating of 5 out of a possible 5 on service! We have worked very hard to deliver that service and those results are extremely gratifying. We can, of course, always find room for improvement and we believe that a continual review of the processes and systems allows us to ensure that the service we provide is first class.

We are very pleased to say that the results were overwhelmingly positive.

Summary of Results (All scores are out of five.)

• Overall satisfaction with relationship with Index                 5.0 
• Calls are returned promptly                                                    5.0
• Clients would introduce friends, family and colleagues      4.9

You might also be interested to know that our clients say that the two things that are most important to them in any relationship with a financial advisor are:

• Having a clear plan in place to meet goals
• Having an advisor that is trustworthy

Thank you to all who took the time to complete the survey.

The world is changing – “Sony” to be expected

There is a You Tube video doing the rounds on the Internet presently (link below), which it is claimed was shown at the 2009 Sony shareholders meeting, which might well be true, but we have no way of checking. The video gives us a number of interesting facts, some of which we have selected and added our own comments – what do you think?

 

“Today’s children will have 10 to 14 jobs by age 38″ (United States Department of Labor).

Our comment

Sounds plausible to us, but as parents or grandparents, we may have been conditioned to the expectation that company loyalty will be repaid in the form of first-class benefits (such as top-quality pension schemes) and is highly desirable. These benefits are largely disappearing and given increasing job mobility perhaps we should look on calmly as our children/grandchildren move around regularly. The other side of this coin is that they will largely be responsible for their own financial security, later in life, whatever form it takes, which is the subject of an article in itself.

 

“One in four workers has been with their current employer for less than one year. One in two workers has less than five years service with their current employer.” (United States Department of Labor).

Our comment

If you or somebody dear to you is an employer you can either live with this or gain a reputation as a first class developer of talent, which may encourage staff to remain with you longer; there will be swings and roundabouts, of course, but in the long run both parties should benefit immensely. If you or somebody dear to you is an employee, seek out these enlightened employers.

 

“There are over 200 million registered users of MySpace.”

Our comment

Technology moves fast! Even at the time of the AGM, MySpace was in trouble. It has changed hands twice, the first time to Fox for $580 million in 2005 and then in July 2011 to Specific Media (controlled by Justin Timberlake) for a reported $35 million – ouch! This website has been almost totally eclipsed by the rise of Facebook and who knows where Facebook itself will be in 10 years time? Always remember Dan Sullivan’s adage, “the level of technology you are using at any time is sufficient for you.” The likes of Skype and Facebook can be invaluable in keeping in touch with far-flung relatives and friends and increasingly, social media is seen to have a business application, but stay flexible and don’t be seduced by sexy new applications.

 

“There are 540,000 words in the English language, five times as many as in Shakespeare’s time.”

Our comment

The average English speaker has an active vocabulary of 10 to 20,000 words. We suspect that many of our readers will not be regular users of a number of new words, such as “chillax”, but all the same, there are lots of words out there to be learned and applied and it might be fun to look up one or two a day and add them to our own active vocabulary.

 

“One week of the New York Times contains more information than one individual would have come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.”

Our comment

The New York Times is a fine newspaper, similar in many ways to our own Times or Telegraph; the question here of course is how much useful information do they contain and how much of it do we apply to our day-to-day lives? Our answer is, “very little” as, almost by definition, most of the information is necessarily superficial. Take your own area of expertise, reflect upon articles you have read in the newspapers in this area and then you have a clear idea of how even the most informed journalist is only able to skim the surface of any subject. Our view is that they provide a starting point but you must supply your own depth and keep plenty of salt available.

 

Finally, we are indebted to Index client, Alistair Cochrane, for an interesting fact from the book “Funky Business” by Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale. Apparently, men’s public toilets have become much cleaner over the past 10 years; a highly desirable outcome and we will all have our pet theories as to how this has come about, from higher standards to better cleaning. The authors’ theory, however, is that the rise of smart phones has led to more men sitting down, enabling them to check e-mails or play games whilst using the facilities.

Our comment

The Lord moves in mysterious ways!

 

http://www.innovationamerica.us/index.php/innovation-daily/2024-what-sony-played-at-its-annual-shareholder-meeting-this-year 

Let’s be Frank – life is long

Frank Abagnale’s life story was described in the 2002 film, “Catch Me If You Can“, when Leonardo DiCaprio played the lead; it is a remarkable tale of a 16-year-old, who in a two-year period during the 1960s travelled the USA and Europe whilst impersonating a Pan Am pilot and passing forged cheques with an estimated total value of $2.8 million. He also impersonated a doctor, as well as passing the Louisiana bar exam and practising as a lawyer for a short time.

The film is a celebration of an impossibly glamorous rogue, but a rogue who, nonetheless, gets caught in the end and suffers at the hands of the French and USA judicial systems. Finally, it is a tale of redemption, when Frank is recruited by the FBI to help them combat fraud.

I had the privilege of hearing Frank speak at the FPA in San Diego just last month. He is a spellbinding speaker who confirmed that the film had got much of his life story correct; the audience sat transfixed as he corrected some details and gave us inside information on some of the breathtaking scams he had successfully pulled off. Stephen Spielberg who directed the film has said of him, “Frank was a 21st century genius working within the innocence of the mid ’60s, when people were more trusting than they are now.” Well, that isn’t quite how Frank sees it.

In a finale that wrongfooted many in the audience, including me, he did not glory in that period of his life. In fact he said that there is not a day that goes by that he does not regret it. Those of us from Britain who have been subjected to a long line of 10 a penny criminals queuing up to invite our admiration for their larceny and often vicious crimes found it refreshing that here was somebody who more or less committed what the press likes to describe as “victimless” crimes confessing that he wishes it had never happened. In fact he has made no money from the film, nor from the Broadway play on the same theme.

He had plenty more to say about character, family life and ethics, but for me, his most memorable remark was to contradict the old proverb that “life is short”; to the contrary, for most people life is long and mistakes made when young can have a sometimes devastating effect on your future. His mission is now to get that across to young people with his inspiring message.

Want success? Look inside Ian Poulter’s head

During our time in this business, where we are privileged to be able to observe successful people close-up, 2 questions have often been asked of us. The first is, “What are people making money at, now?” Our answer has always been that people are making money at what they know. There are many stories of successful people selling a business, going into another business and failing to enjoy the same success. This is supported by the “10,000 hours theory” which posits that you need 10,000 hours of study and practice to master any subject.

The second question has always been, “Is there any single common characteristic successful people share?” This one is easier to answer, because the one trait all successful people have is unshakeable self belief. If you are going to succeed in the tough and demanding world of business, sport, the professions or indeed any field of endeavour you will get nowhere fast without self belief. We were reminded of this watching Ian Poulter’s performance in the recent Volvo Matchplay Championship.

Ian Poulter is the golfer who turned professional before he had even achieved a scratch handicap, meaning that there were several people at most golf clubs who are technically better golfers than him, never mind those professionals on the tour. This proved no deterrent because, in his mind, he was already one of the best golfers in the world. He has been embarrassed by some of his pronouncements, failed in many tournaments and had occasional losses of form; none of this has altered his belief that he is one of the best, if not the best.

In the Volvo he looked down and out in more than one match and in the quarter-final in particular his opponent, Molinari, looked home and dry before Poulter sunk an extremely difficult putt and went on to impose himself to victory on the last hole. There was a similar performance in the semi-final, when he won a play-off hole and in the final he beat world number one player, Luke Donald. The person least surprised by this chain of events will be Ian Poulter, who, if he could bottle and sell his brand of self belief would be considerably richer than he is already.

The greatest gift we all possess

Those of a certain age will recall that Ken Dodd told us the greatest gift he possessed was happiness in his top 10 hit of the same name.  Younger readers will be astonished that Ken Dodd was a popular recording artist at one time.

Happiness can be elusive, hard to define and will of course mean different things to all of us.  Happily (sorry), there are practical things we can do which will increase our happiness and that of others; there are lots of tips and ideas on the website www.actionforhappiness.org, including the following 6 point plan, which I believe anyone can implement.

1. Perform small acts of kindness to others (not too random and try to be empathetic).

2. Every day write down three good things that have happened to you. (Everything counts from the tiny to the monumental).

3. Look for the good in others – write it down and slip it into conversation when the opportunity arises (see 1 above).

4. Respond to people actively and constructively (start with your spouse/partner and show genuine interest).

5. Write a letter to someone who means a lot to you (relative, friend, ex-teacher, old boss etc), take it to their home and read it to them. (Okay, you’re British and I know you won’t take it round and read it to them, but post it to them and telephone afterwards).

6. Be mindful and live as much as possible in the moment. (Meditate, sit quietly).

All easy to do and all proven to work. Start today – it’s never too soon to be happy.