I know there is debate, and some remind us the new decade doesn’t start until next year, but I’m excited to be heading into the 5^th decade of my career. And Scott is heading into his 3^rd.

As I looked back over the last decades, I realized as we've helped families live through these times, we’ve helped families through lots of headlines and lots of life.  We’ve seen so much. The 80s, the 90s, the 00s, the 10s, and now the exciting roaring 20s.

Scott and I don’t have a lot of hobbies but in the South, college football is definitely a hobby! With a long season, sometimes longer than others 😊, and our own superstitions, college football requires commitment. And our hobby is Alabama Football. As you can imagine, November 2019 won’t go down as our favorite football month. But that doesn’t stop us from saying ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Often, we tell you to stay the course, or no action is the best action. But successful financial planning is about following some principles that are fairly simple, but not always so easy to follow! That’s why we remind you whenever we get the chance; we earn our keep by keeping your eye on the plan. 

One of the most frustrating headlines to read is that the market was volatile today or it’s turbulent again. Again? When wasn’t it? Both the biases that up is normal, and down is volatile or bad are wrong.

 Webster’s defines volatility as the tendency to change quickly and unpredictably. CHANGE. UNPREDICTABLY. Notice that…change without specifying direction. And the most important adjective we stress is unpredictably. No matter how many brilliant talking heads tell us they can predict when and which direction, they can’t. No one can. Even the person that was right, once or twice before.  Remember a broken watch is right twice a day!

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there.” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

You’ll have happier tomorrows if you start planning today. It’s that simple. The benefit of a plan is as that silly commercial says……PRICELESS!