One Wealth Perspectives

Did I scare you? You want to know what’s been scaring me lately? Unprecedented weather. The ceiling of my room, which is the shape of a coffin. A death count over 9,000 and what the number will be when it’s all over. Recurring-Thoughts-of-Death Barbie. Angry, lonely men with guns. Being angry, but mostly, being lonely. The ubiquity of horrors. How inured we’ve all become to empathy. Now I’ve made you scared and depressed. Which is exactly where I wanted you because I’m about to lift your ghostly spirits by telling you why I love Halloween. And why you should too.

As you may have seen, heard, or read, there was a very short lived trend last month on TikTok, X, and Instagram Reels that uncovered a subset of people that apparently ruminate on the Roman Empire with a shocking frequency. I’m not one of them. But the meme did cause me to step back and ask ‘Well what random thing DO I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about?’ For me, at least over the last decade, I think that ongoing thought in my head revolves around demographics.

Today I sent my daughter off to her first day of toddler “school.” This new phase will be her first time leaving the house for the whole day on a regular basis. While I feel a sense of relief (to now be able to work from home without distraction), I can’t help but think about what the future might hold for our family at other big life stages. We live in an expensive area with access to excellent public schools and are living a lifestyle that means we may not be financially independent for quite some time. This might mean we’ll have to make sacrifices from time to time especially in comparison to others living in the same area. Despite lamenting about it constantly, I am actually at peace with it. At the end of the day, I just want my kids to live happy and peaceful lives and I believe I have and will continue to set them up as best I can to do so.

As a young lad in high school, I was a mediocre student for reasons that I won’t get into, but could be a whole other discussion. When I got to college it was a different story. What changed? Goals. For some odd reason I got it in my head that I wanted to graduate with highest honors and once I made that commitment, everything changed. All my behaviors became about the goal. I made it to every lecture and sat in the front row of every classroom so I could be closer to the action. Sure, there was the occasional party till 3AM and then being in a lecture hall on campus for a 7AM class, but I never missed one.

I would like to introduce our newest employee, Thomas Kone. I met Thomas and his family through our shared love of basketball. He is a good friend of my son Hayden, and we have known him and his family since the 7th grade (my, how time flies!). Thomas and Hayden played middle and high school basketball together. Thomas reached out to me earlier this year looking for a summer internship, and he joined us in June. As an intern, he was influential in helping us find new ways to more effectively utilize our technology platforms. Thomas brings a skill set that is, quite honestly, something we haven’t seen and he adds tremendous value to the team. He is currently working on his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science while helping us out on a part-time basis. It’s a really great feeling to see Thomas grow up and blossom right before my eyes, and I couldn’t be happier to have him join the One Wealth team. Welcome Thomas!

As the resident technology lead at One Wealth Advisors, last week I had the opportunity to attend the Coachella of tech conferences: Dreamforce. Dreamforce is sponsored by Salesforce, a company that builds Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems for organizations, including OWA. The theme of this year’s conference was Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can help different types of companies, including Financial Planning firms, in a variety of areas, such as predictive analytics, risk management and AI enhanced customer solutions.

Estate planning is an integral part of wealth management, and it’s essential to have several basic estate planning documents in place including a will, a durable power of attorney, and an advance medical directive. It’s also important to ensure that the wealth you’ve worked hard to accumulate is effectively and efficiently passed on based on your wishes. Additionally, if you live in a state like California, you will want to avoid the costly and public probate process.

As human beings, sometimes when we set goals for ourselves, we want to see results fast. But focusing on immediate results can get in the way of what we want to achieve in the long run. Think about the get-rich-quick schemes or what the equivalent would be for weight loss, for example. Focusing on the result may lead us to get impatient and do things to self-sabotage.

David’s writing last week touched on perfectionism and creating meaning during his twenties. As someone in my twenties who thinks a lot about what creates meaning in my life, lately I’ve been using the framework of pathways.