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Q4 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
The decade-long bull market has infected advisors and their clients – especially those in or nearing retirement – with a dose of complacency that hides the perilous outcomes most consider impossible.
By relating a personal story, my hope is to convey, in a thoughtful fashion, this message: Advisors should plan for outcomes that, at the very least, are extraordinarily unlikely if not impossible.
I can’t stop thinking about Japan. Something happens, and it’s as if I’m transported right back to 1989. That’s when my story takes place. I’m still not over 1989. I’m not over the “impossible outcome scenario.”
In 1989, I was operating as a consultant to the then national brokerage firm PaineWebber. I was tasked with delivering educational presentations to audiences of its prospective clients. My topic was a new one for that time. It centered on a concept I originated: using investment-oriented life insurance as a method to fund tax-free retirement income.
To populate the seminars, PaineWebber placed newspaper advertising in cities where branch offices were located. I visited two to three cities per week, showing-up at a four-star hotel where between 100 and 250 “buying units” were assembled. Honestly, I gave a rip-roaring presentation. Stockbrokers followed-up with attendees to book appointments. The effort launched PaineWebber’s nascent life insurance department, producing thousands of life insurance policy sales.
Accounting for the strong emotional impact of my seminar was a section that concerned Japan. If you don’t remember 1989, it will be hard for you to appreciate the anxiety many Americans felt about Japan’s expanding economic prominence. The common perception was that, within a few years, Japan’s economy would overtake the U.S. to become the world’s largest.
Gazing at the audience, my voice rose, loudly and passionately. “I just saw a survey that says eight of the 10 largest banks in the world are Japanese!”
Read the full article here by David Macchia, Advisor Perspectives
