KEVIN DANIELS - Main Stret Financial
Hitting Home Runs
If I were writing this column about baseball, I would only have another few sentences before I would have revealed all I know about baseball. None-the-less, I am sure of this: there are very few Mark McGuires in this city. I’m sure there are some that were never discovered for various reasons. But, compared to the general population, there are few home run hitters like “Mac”. By all means if you can hit financial home runs, press on! But for most of us we have to admit, we do not hit like Mr. McGuire.
My advice would be to not focus on hitting financial home runs. Yet nearly every week I will have a client that wants to try. Better yet, they expect to knock it out of the park every time they step up to the plate, of course with my help. I raise my eyebrows and say, “you are not a home run hitter and neither am I.” Furthermore, a consistent home run King has no need for your few hundred thousand when they have millionaires already standing in line. I then explain that my goal is NOT to make 47% on the star fund pick. These clients have unrealistic expectations and unless they begin to abandon the home-run-every-time syndrome, I will not be able to help them.
My goal with finance is to get a base hit, consistently. We all have been taught that the turtle wins the race but our pride would be better fed TRYING to be the hare. The crowd sure cheers louder for the hare! But this can quickly lead to all flash and no cash! Ouch! My mom used to call this “Big hat, no cattle.” It is very hard to make money when you are striking out while trying to hit a home run.
Try this at home. Use boring, methodical, routine, consistent plans to build wealth. Bunting is allowed! I suggest you not be in too big of a hurry either, it usually takes time to build anything of value. Using a go-slow approach will not give you a very exciting story to tell at the lunch table tomorrow, but it will likely help you buy the lunch table someday. Everyone has to pick a strategy. Even not picking any strategy ends up being a strategy in and of itself. So my advice is be reasonable and avoid trying to go over the fence with investment performance. I believe with that “home-run” strategy, you may indeed strike out, or even worse, not have another opportunity to bat for a long while! Kevin Daniels is securities licensed through Investacorp, Inc. a registered broker dealer, member NASD, SIPC.
