Our world today is permanently partially distracted. This is true of most everyone who has a mobile phone with apps, text messaging, email, and social media connects. With so many conversations and contacts, it’s like having hundreds of balls in the air at one time. It’s a barrier to concentration and focus. It’s the urgent taking precedence over the important.
The media blasts us with messages in print and electronically, and it comes to us in our pockets or purses at a rate of dozens per hour.
Stock market gurus, even the ones with questionable track records, become television stars.
With all of this noise, it’s sometimes difficult to maintain focus, to be intentional, and to execute a well-thought-out financial plan that requires the discipline to hold the course for more than a few days.
As you begin a new year, consider what it is that you can do for the long-term, and what I mean by long term is 20 years or more. Discover what is possible, from a historical perspective, over long periods of time in the investment markets.
If you are earnestly searching for an approach to embrace for the long term, one to steward the wealth you will use to live the rest of your life and the assets you can someday transfer to your family or favorite charities, I have books to recommend to you.
Certainly, I am happy to suggest my books (for sale on this website). But also consider picking up one of Larry Swedroe’s books on investing and financial planning. Larry is the director of research at my firm, Buckingham Strategic Wealth, and the author or coauthor of 15 books, as well as a soon-to-be-released update of 2014’s Reducing the Risk of Black Swans. Find his books from various sources, including Amazon.
Larry’s books have had an enormous impact on my life and on the thousands of wealth advisers who have read his work. It’s possible his books have made a difference in the lives of millions of investors. Maybe your life will be a beneficiary of a Swedroe book or blog post.