by James Hait, Fiduciary, Financial Advisor, Victory Wealth Services
As a young child, I was raised on Disney movies. Which probably accounts for my unusual relationship with animals. My wife and I have five horses, four dogs, one cat and one stubborn, incredibly old goat that seems to have found the secret to immortality. To this day, I still hold out hope (albeit just a little) that they’ll all join in song and clean my house. So far, this hasn’t happened … yet.
One Disney show, adapted from a book series, stands out as being particularly poignant for our time: “Winnie-the-Pooh.” More specifically Pooh’s friend Eeyore, the pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, old gray donkey. Eeyore has a poor opinion of most of the other animals in the forest, describing them as having “No brain at all, some of them,” “only gray fluff that’s blown into their heads by mistake.” Eeyore’s favorite food is thistles. On Eeyore’s birthday, he is given an empty honey jar from Pooh for keeping things in, a popped red balloon from Piglet to keep in the pot and a note from Owl.
Eeyore is surprisingly good at the game Poohsticks, winning more times than anyone else when it is played. Poohsticks is a simple game, which may be played on any bridge over running water. Each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and the one whose stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner. Incidentally, the annual World Poohsticks Championships have been held at Day’s Lock on the River Thames in the UK since 1984.
What does Eeyore have to do with your investment choices? Imagine what Eeyore would have to say about today’s market. We’ve been on one of the longest bull runs in history. It’s not a matter of if the market will go down, but when. He’d probably say something like, “Most likely lose it again, anyway.” (“The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,” 1977.)
That’s a good point. For many people at or near retirement, they’ve already lived through such market crashes as 1987, 2000 and 2008. How many times must we lose half of our money before we change our behavior? What would Eeyore do?
Eeyore’s Model Portfolio
Remember, as pessimistic as Eeyore was (or is? he’s fictional after all), he was good at Poohsticks, in fact, the best. So, he knew a thing or two about winning. We all know how volatile the market has been. So, why not create a portfolio where your forever money — the money you can’t afford to lose — is protected against the risk of the market? Yet, at the same time, it receives a reasonable rate of return (without hidden fees). Isn’t that what we all want?
When you have a comprehensive written lifetime financial plan, or Victory Plan as we call it, your retirement “honey jar” can always stay full. Then you can focus on what truly matters most to you like your family, health, spirituality or even perhaps frolicking in the Hundred-Acre Wood with your friends.
Call (928) 778-1050 or visit us at victorywealth.com to create your personal Victory Plan today.
