All Things Financial Planning Blog

I’ve just come back from a wonderful week in beautiful Savannah, Georgia and had a chance to visit the Mercer mansion there. Johnny Mercer, a Savannah native and legendary contributor to the Great American Songbook, wrote a hit song back in 1944 called “Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative –and Don’t Mess with Mr. In Between!” that came to mind recently as I watched the news.

Weekday evenings I try to watch the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour at 7 PM on Maine Public TV as part of my daily ritual in switching from “work time” into “family time.” Frankly, it’s hard not to feel really discouraged and overwhelmed by what I see – and that’s not factoring in what I don’t see by not exposing myself to the semi-hysterical business news presented by the folks on CNBC and Fox Business News!

The bad news keeps rolling in every night- all real and all tragic, to those who are experiencing it, to be certain. And right now it seems as if that’s all we have to look forward to – more hard times and bad news. Living in the aftermath of the global debt catastrophe is like looking into the wicked witch’s cauldron. It bubbles and seethes with glimpses of new mischief awaiting us in the unholy brew that is the result of unregulated credit default swaps, over-leveraged hedge funds and whatever else may have been dreamed up by the geniuses of financial engineering. We are still learning what the Law of Unintended Consequences really means!

Congress appears to be taking a “pass” on doing anything meaningful about fixing the structural dislocations in our financial markets that got us into this mess, demonstrating once again how much the functioning of our Government has been hobbled by the power (and money) of special interest groups, both public and private. We seem to be wasting a once in a generation opportunity to reform our system of government regulation and administration. So here we are, living in our own Great Recession, with a $12 ½ trillion dollar public debt (that’s $40,000 per person, adult & infant) and 10% (at least) unemployment as far ahead as the mind can see, with no obvious plan to get us out of trouble.

Now add to the economic & financial muck, natural disasters like the huge earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, devastating snow storms in places where it usually doesn’t snow, avian flu, Orange Level terrorist alert conditions and never-ending war in Afghanistan and it’s easy (and human nature) to think that there is nowhere to go but down. It’s very easy to get discouraged, isn’t it? One’s natural urge is to just hunker down, pull in your wings and wait the storm out, living a joyless life until somehow we’re certain the storm has passed. But guess what? Suppose this storm is just replaced by another (and another) storm? Is living in fear what you want for yourself and your loved ones? Equally as important, are you missing out on a great opportunity here?

My suggestion is to try to take a different perspective. Consciously be aware of your choice on how to see yourself and your future. Stay out of the natural landing spot in the Valley of Despair where just absorbing all the bad news can put you if you stay an unaware participant in the drama of daily life. But where can you find a different perspective –a Hill of Possibility?

Well, let’s start with the unbelievable resiliency and inventiveness of the human race as the foundation of building some really high ground to stand on while we look down at the seeming chaos of today’s life and think about our future. While the arrow of time is linear, the arc of technology (and progress) seems to be exponential. Did you know that the computing power in your Blackberry or iPod cell phone is thousands of times greater than all of NASA’s computers when man first walked on the moon – and is a million times less costly and smaller? I grew up using a slide rule in school and my first personal computer back in 1984 was an Apple IIC with 128 kb of memory and a 5” floppy drive. Can you even start to imagine what internet magic and new technology will be there for your great-grandchildren- and will be as natural for them to use then as driving a car is for you today?

How about the future of better (and cheaper) health care, affordable (and green) energy, more (and healthier) food, safer (and more efficient) transportation and all the other basics of a good life? Do you really think discovery and inventiveness to improve these fundamentals of life will slow down and even stop or will technology and human inventiveness accelerate the pace of progress as we continue into the future? Think about how your grandparents lived, fed themselves, what they had for health care and transportation. Now compare that to your life today – and then imagine your grandchildren’s world. That always makes me feel a lot better.

Fine, you say- that’s OK for the rich countries. How about the developing world, where life is too often mean, short and hard? I’ve lived in countries like the Philippines and Pakistan where grinding poverty tears away at the human spirit but I’ve also seen how micro-financing programs and people’s creative capitalism can spark entrepreneurial success and restore human dignity. The transformational impact of the internet age and continued technology innovation will surely be greater in Dacca than Dallas- and that’s good news for all of us.

So what does this all mean in a blog about financial planning? Well to me it means that the technology revolution is not over- not by a long shot – and the transformative power of the internet and computers has just started to take effect on the shape of our future world. If you can find the courage to change your perspective and look at things from atop your own Hill of Possibility, then now is the time to steadfastly believe – and invest – in the power of human creativity and imagination. Those who cower down in doubt and wrap themselves in CDs and cash will miss the opportunity (as they always do) to share in the rewards – both financial and emotional – that the future will bring to those who see their world with courage and from the high ground of optimism.

Sam Hull, CFP®, ACC
Partner
Whitewater Transitions, LLC
Arundel, ME