I’ve been getting more questions around articles to share with prospects and clients that back up your planning message, so I’m including a few more this week.

I know summertime can be slow and hot but the economy and markets still seem to be teetering on edge, which means your prospects are looking for you!

Here are your Quick Hits:

What Smart Investors Do in Bear Markets

• “However, intelligent investors don’t bother trying to predict the unpredictable; they focus on controlling the controllable. That’s the psychological key to surviving this—and any—bear market, no matter how long it lasts.”
• “Being a buy-and-hold investor doesn’t obligate you to use a death grip. If some of your stocks or funds have performed abysmally in this downturn, you can sell them and reap significant benefits.”

Jeff Henderson: Focus on Growing People, Not Your Business

• This is one of Cody’s best interviews I’ve heard!
• Here are a few one liners I took away:
  • If you hire leaders you need to ask them how you can help and get out of the way.
  • You can’t hire leaders and expect them to be managers.
  • There is not a limit to what people can do when they don’t care who gets the credit!
  • As you scale don’t lose the humanity
  • Leaders are repeaters!!

Cheap(er) Roth Conversions Are a Silver Lining in Falling Market

• Looking at your total tax picture—not just the conversion—can also help you size up whether you’re better off converting now or waiting until some future date.
• “The ability to take tax-free withdrawals from a Roth account in retirement will be particularly advantageous if you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you are today. If that’s the case, it’s better to pay taxes before you put money into the account (as you do with Roth assets) than when you take it out (as you do with traditional IRAs).”

The Worst First Half Ever

• “The S&P 500 hasn’t had a January through June like the one we just had since 1970.”
• “Going from down 20% to down 30% may only be a 12.5% move lower, but it will feel a lot worse than that. The numbers may tell you that it’s not as bad, but numbers don’t drive decision-making, feelings do.”

The Reality of Caring For Aging Parents

• Many I’ve talked to have expressed how difficult it is. Until you go through it yourself, it’s impossible to grasp how consuming the process really is.  The tidal wave of issues that hit you all at once, and never seem to fade:
  • The complications of figuring out eldercare, insurance, nursing homes, and finances.
  • The urgency.
  • The pain.
  • The sorrow.
  • The lack of resources.
  • The fatigue.