6 Values for Financial Protection
Part two of two-part series: “Solutions for a Roller Coaster Marketplace”
Esteemed associate Joey Tamer astutely points out that debt is the catalyst for all financial woes – for individuals and the aggregate economy in the United States and globally.
To illustrate, she asserts the first credit card issued by Bank of America enticed baby boomers into using credit for immoderate purchases. We now know the card as Visa. She says financial institutions and governments created low interest rates to trigger spending in the 1980s. In about 2005, Ms. Tamer reminds us how the housing bubble began to swell as banks loaned money for marginally qualified home buyers.
When Ms. Tamer talks, clients profit. She’s a strategic consultant to entrepreneurs in software, internet, technology, and tech/media.
Long after the Great Recession ended, she painfully reiterates an obvious point – there’s no end in sight for this sour economy. So, let’s see what she means in blogging, “Defending ourselves against economic downturns.”
To paraphrase, Ms. Tamer offers six values for you to avoid more financial traps.
1. Avoid debt. “My father, a successful, self-made entrepreneur, taught me that I couldn’t have something I couldn’t pay for,” she writes. “He didn’t even have a mortgage, buying our beautiful home for cash. Don’t go into debt for anything you cannot cover if the loan fails, or that you cannot do without.”
2. Stay in your budget. “There is a great freedom that comes from owing nothing to nobody,” she states. “Without seeming either old-fashioned or conservative (I am neither), there is great freedom of choice in not being beholden (now there’s an old-fashioned word!) to the Big Bank, the Government, the landlord, or your brother.”
3. Be pragmatic about banks, insurance companies and government. “Banks, insurance companies, the government don’t care about you or your individual woes,” she suggests. “Each is driven by its own bottom line: to make profits, to avoid claims (and therefore make profits), and to get re-elected (and therefore to gain power, for good or no).
“If you look calmly at the motivation of any institution, you will learn to protect yourself. You will not be indebted to the Bank, because it can call your loan at any moment, and will only lend you money when you don’t really need it and can prove you can pay it back. You will take painstaking steps to document what you own that the Insurance Company claims to be covering (because if the claim comes due, they will want detailed proof you owned it all, in order to pay). When you vote—yes, you should vote every time as you get the government you elect – do not listen to the rhetoric, look at the voting record. Do those votes reflect what you believe in?”
4. Beware of con artists. “Try to remember, the most charming person can be a theatrical persona, if you do not know him (or her),” she warns. “And also remember, if a deal is too good to be true, it likely isn’t.”
5. Save money. “Truth is, you don’t know when the next economic or industry crisis will hit,” she cautions. “And if you see it coming, you can do some avoidance or damage control, but you probably can’t prevent it or fix it. You can only take care of you and yours, and a buffer of capital solves a lot of problems, and creates freedom and new options that do not exist without the buffer.
“Make a simple savings plan and stick to it.”
6. Keep smiling. “Now, I don’t mean to say the world is full of bad guys,” she writes. “There are lots of wonderful people and companies and institutions and causes in the world.”
As usual, easy-to-understand observations by Ms. Tamer. Certainly, I agree on all six values.
And my sense is that No. 3, “Be pragmatic about banks, insurance companies and government,” is especially good to remember. I’ve long complained about the predatory habits of banks. Personally, in insurance claims that I’ve filed with a leading insurance company, each time has been a hassle. As for government largesse, you can see my watchdog thoughts in this portal’s Public Policy category.
Ms. Tamer’s Web site and blog: www.joeytamer.com.
(Note: I highly recommend Ms. Tamer. She and I met several years ago via Consultants West, a roundtable of veteran consultants and authors, www.consultantswest.com.)
From the Coach’s Corner, see Options to Navigate This Marketplace Bedlam – part 1 of this two-part series: “Solutions for a Roller Coaster Marketplace.”
“Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them.”
-Ogden Nash
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Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Five Attributes of Leadership Are Needed Now
There were seemingly good reasons why President Gerald Ford was criticized for pardoning President Richard Nixon. But, fortunately after he passed away three decades later, President Ford was widely praised. The reasons have everything to do with his ability to inspire values – values we could use today in business and government.
More on that later. First, my memories of interacting with him, and how and why I came to revere the leadership qualities of the 38th president, who passed away in 2006.
Thirty years earlier as a young journalist, I reported on President Ford and later met him socially. Now, my sense is that he leaves a remarkable legacy of leadership with healthy attributes for public officials and businesspeople to emulate.
But the value of President Ford’s public service was not apparent to me in 1974. Like the thunderous criticism by millions of Americans over his pre-emptive pardon of President Nixon for his role in the Watergate cover-up, I was cynical, too.
However in 1977, my eyes began to open wide about President Ford’s qualities when I met him poolside at an outdoor press reception for him in Rancho Mirage, CA. At the time, I was in management as the news director at an all-news radio station.
When I introduced my then-wife to the former president, I was immediately impressed. “Glad to meet you, Mrs. Corbell,” he responded.
It was a simple sentence but it was an authentically sincere statement, unlike I had ever experienced. It wasn’t what he said. It was how he said it. His listening skill, eye contact and his deeply ingrained politeness were awe-inspiring.
Then it hit me – “This man is special,” I thought. Unlike the conspiratorial President Nixon, President Ford didn’t view journalists as enemies.
Much of what I learned about President Ford occurred at that desert resort. Palm Springs was the original desert resort Mecca. That changed as Rancho Mirage and other towns in California’s Coachella Valley grew. Rancho Mirage is where President Nixon wrote his 1974 State of the Union Address. It’s also where I covered the marriage of Frank Sinatra to Barbara Marx in July, 1976.
Later that year, despite the pardon, there was enormous intrigue over President Ford’s retirement plans following his election defeat. That was especially true for me as a young journalist in returning to my desert home where I spent my childhood. There were rumors that President Ford would retire to there, but there were many conflicting reports.
The Palm Springs area was special to me. Known as the golf capitol of the world, it was also the playground of Hollywood stars and for presidents from both political parties starting with visits by President Harry Truman.
Raised by middle-class parents there in the 1950s-1960s, I had been dazzled by the presence of President Dwight Eisenhower and the visits of Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
In 1964, President Johnson stayed at the Palm Springs home of Louis Taubman, an oil and real estate magnate for whom my mother worked. President Johnson was in town to negotiate a Texas land dispute with Mexico’s President Adolfo Lopez Mateos.
Former President Eisenhower was a customer of my dad, who managed the meat department at a Safeway store in Rancho Mirage. I was astonished to learn my dad had refused the former two-term president’s request to cut his own beef behind the store’s meat counter in accordance with Safeway policy. As a Democrat, my dad didn’t refuse Ike’s request for political reasons – his motivation was based on principle – just like President Ford would later demonstrate.
Years later, after my career took me back to the desert as an ambitious, young news director of an all news radio station in December 1975, I began to cover some heady stories. Although it was essentially a retirement community, working in the sunshine was a golden opportunity for a young journalist. It afforded me many opportunities to report stories on iconic luminaries, such as then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, Frank Sinatra, brand designer Raymond Loewy, golfer Arnold Palmer, California Governor Jerry Brown, and Noah Dietrich who was the architect for the financial empire of billionaire Howard Hughes.
Plus, as the freelance correspondent for the now-defunct NBC/NIS radio network and legendary CBS radio station, KNX, in Hollywood, I eagerly anticipated the opportunity for national exposure to report stories. While the income from my part-time freelance work exceeded the pay from my full-time job, I loved the competition in reporting exclusive stories. And I enjoyed the mentoring by famed broadcaster Del Sharbutt (For lessons from him, see: Need Sales? Use Old School/New School Marketing.)
But I was consumed by the desire to get a scoop on President Ford’s retirement plans after he was voted out of office. I had covered many noteworthy stories, but none was bigger than the former President of the United States. There were all kinds of intriguing rumors. I chased all of them. But every lead led to a brick wall. I nearly became discouraged. Every person I contacted for information was secretive. But I was determined to be as indestructible as the President Ford family in order to get my scoop.
Like a last-second bid to win a Super Bowl game, I threw a Hail-Mary pass: I telephoned former Palm Springs Mayor Frank Bogert, a Republican who sold real estate and was known to be colorful and blunt.
“Mr. Bogert, what can you tell me about President Ford?”
“I just sold him real estate to build a home in Rancho Mirage.”
I nearly dropped the phone. “May I record you?”
Finally, after countless hours of investigative research, I was proud to break the news locally and nationally. President Ford planned to retire to the desert.
Having worked in that exciting environment, such experiences gave me a gratifying perspective, and the opportunity to measure President Ford’s qualities as a leadership role-model. His values I appreciate, include:
Courteous, respectful behavior. Everything I had read about President Ford’s nice-guy attributes are huge understatements. He wasn’t syrupy. He had an almost-indescribable, commanding but unassuming presence. As he looked and talked with my then-spouse and me, I felt the awesome power of his wisdom and the warmth of his listening skills.
Power of discernment. Following Watergate and during the Vietnam War in 1974, there were no integrated solutions for the aggravating 12 percent inflation, a recession, an energy crisis, and an overall uncertain economy. While Americans and the federal government were preoccupied with bitterness and malice from the lingering wounds of both events, President Ford realized Watergate would continue to plague the nation. Fortunately, President Ford understood the big picture: he had a working knowledge of economics and was an expert on domestic affairs.
Now, I fully appreciate one of his favorite adages: ”Let’s clear the table and move forward.”
Laser-like mission focus. In addition to the Nixon pardon, there were widespread negative news reports about President Ford: His stumbling while disembarking from Air Force One, a poorly worded statement about Communism in a campaign debate with his opponent Jimmy Carter, and his errant golf tee shots hitting spectators. On the Saturday Night Live TV show, Chevy Chase got career boosts from satirizing about President Ford. President Ford didn’t complain and the White House didn’t unleash a PR counter-attack.
Instead, President Ford good-naturedly socialized with Chase. In reality, President Ford was a competitive golfer, had been a football star in high school and at the University of Michigan, and was a scholar at Yale Law School. He was mentally tough. And when he was in Congress as House Minority Leader, he was known as the consummate dealmaker. He wasn’t easily side-tracked.
Honesty. In retrospect, it was ludicrous to assume President Ford had made a deal to pardon Richard Nixon in exchange for ascension to the highest office in the land. As the Vice President, he was destined to assume the presidency, even if Congress took months to impeach President Nixon. He was honest about what a sick America really needed when he issued the pardon even though it would cost him him his job.
Tenacity and courage. Much has been written about President Ford’s tenacity. It helped him deflect the Reagan challenge to his election bid in 1976 and nearly helped him to overcome a 25 percent deficit in his campaign for a second term. Equally impressive was his devotion to First Lady Betty President Ford who determinedly overcame her bouts with breast cancer and alcoholism.
So, President Ford, thank you being a great role model for leadership. We could use you now.
