Help CenterWe are open for business! If you’d like to visit us, we’d love to see you. Watch this 1 ½ minute video with Chad and Bret explaining how we are keeping you and our team safe during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Disaster Planning
When we created the disaster recovery plans for our company, we thought about many disasters, but never a pandemic. Fortunately, our technology works and our team has been able to operate. We continue to care for you, with any of your requests. We have been able to trade and make investment decisions in light of the changing economic situation. And we’ve stuck to our plan.
We put together our plans during quiet, calm times. We thought about where people would be and what technology they would need. We thought about various things that could go wrong. We did not expect everything that would happen, but we were able to limit the number of issues that required an emergency response. For example, we pay for a high-end internet service for the office, who advertises an up-time of 99.9%. Our office was offline on two different days for a few hours each. Several of us had more reliable internet service in our homes than the expensive fiber internet service. That was unexpected.
On the other hand, we have seen many of you more often than we did before the pandemic. You, and we, became more used to ZOOM and we love seeing you! We have seen more of our children than we did before the pandemic and have grown closer together. We have blessings as well as challenges!
The Pandemic and a Poker Game
The writer and speaker, Annie Duke, is a favorite of mine. She made her fortune as a poker player and now she writes books and speaks about risk. In a recent interview, she discusses the importance of creating a plan when you are calm, and then following the plan when you are emotional.
An example might help. As she prepares for a poker match, Ms. Duke can expect that she will feel emotional. She can imagine that she just lost half the money she started with—ouch! She might feel particularly upset about a player at the table who is bugging her. Her emotions are high. She can expect to have a middle-of-the-road hand, with less than stellar odds of winning.
What is she going to do? Follow her plan. Maybe she plans to fold. Maybe she plans to bluff. I think she’ll give us a hint in her new book. Annie Duke says:
“Most decisions we make are under uncertainty—they’re heavily influenced by luck, by hidden information. We fool ourselves into thinking that it’s not so uncertain. The coronavirus is so clearly uncertain that people are more openminded today, and because of that you can actually learn. We’re always balancing time and certainty.” (1)
The Pandemic and Air Jordan
ESPN is running a series on the last season of professional basketball played by Michael Jordan. He famously practiced and visualized making the game-winning shot, over and over again. When he was in the position to make the shot, he followed his game plan. Of course, he made some amazing plays.
Similarly, when our company was forced to work remotely during a pandemic, we followed our game plan. Things turned out well. We formed a new game plan for the re-opening, and I expect good results.
Most importantly, when the pandemic hit your portfolios, you didn’t panic. You followed your financial plans.
If you’ve a friend who would like a conversation, we offer our free second opinion service at no charge. Sometimes the best results happen over a brief conversation—or Zoom. We appreciate the trust you place in us.
Source:
(1) Barron’s – This Famous Poker Player Can Help Investors Play a Tough Hand
