Welcome to Pension Attention, the best show for first responders who want to take control of their finances.
After advising Los Angeles city firefighters for over 12 years, financial advisor, Brad Barrett now shares how you can grow your wealth, build your legacy and enjoy a life of freedom. And now here's your host, Brad Barrett. [00:19.9]
Brad: Welcome to Pension Attention, the show for you, first responders who want more out of their deferred compensation and pension plan. My goal with this podcast is to reach you where you are. At whatever stage in your career, you are in, in order to provide my nearly 15 years of experience working with both active and retired service members on their investment and retirement planning. My team, here at One Capital Management of fiduciary advisors are dedicated to ensuring you take control of your finances and build the life you deserve. Friends today, the challenge is no longer the access to information, but rather it's finding the right information. And more importantly, how that information applies to you, wouldn't you agree? And that's my commitment here each and every week on the Pension Attention podcasts, because after all your money matters. And before we get started to find out more about myself or my team here at One Capital Management, you can go to our website at PensionAttention.com or give us a call. You can call us at (805) 410-5454. In fact, now we have a text line set up. You can text the word track, T R A C K to that same number (805) 410-5454. And for those of you who aren't working with us right now, and you'd like some information about how we help active and retired service members on their investment and retirement planning, text that number. T R A C K, text the word track to (805) 410-5454, we’ll reach out to you and set some time to go through that like we've done with hundreds of others of first responders, both on the fire department side and the police department side. So do it today, it's too important not to. [02:07.1]
And as we were coming off the week of Thanksgivings, I'm sure the topic of conversation was whether right or wrong, inevitably, maybe something around politics. We're living to be honest in an unusually heated political environment. I think we all can agree with that. The vitriol is apparent everywhere on TV, in the papers, and of course around dinner tables and because the country seems so politically polarized. I'm sure some conversations in many of you listening now will become somewhat heated at different times, whether it's Christmas dinner coming up or just last week with Thanksgiving dinner. And I thought this week to take a little bit of a break from some of the financial topics, maybe dig in to a little bit more of the psychology. A lot of it has to do with money because I can just envision one side of the Thanksgiving dinner table. Last week might be Democrat and the other side may be Republican and they're exchanging insults separated by only Turkey and stuffing at that time. And the basic ingredients are all there for a good fight. And I just wanted to talk about, as we end the year, what a year it has been. Because America being divided sadly, is nothing new. [03:19.9]
In fact, there've been periods where the chasm, if you will, between America's political camps had actually been much wider. May not feel that way right now, but opponents were even more polarized early on in our history. Yet, despite that truth today's polarization seems well, it seems kind of hopeless, but it's not. And that's what I want to share today on this week's episode, coming off of Thanksgiving and heading into the end of the year. Let's all try to remember that this time of year Thanksgiving, Christmas, the holidays it's about coming together as one. So, let's be respectful, kind, and let's certainly be careful to limit the amount of maybe wine we give to our more volatile family members. We all have that uncle; I know I do. And having grown up in more of an Irish family with a bunch of kids, I know from where I speak, but Thanksgiving, Christmas, the holidays in general should be filled with family, good friends, plenty of food and cheer. Celebrating our team, the American team and our unique American values as one nation indivisible. [04:26.0]
You know, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621. In prep for this week's episode, I did a little reading, little R&D if you will. It began the first Thanksgiving as a celebration of the autumn harvest. Now, if anyone remembers their social studies lesson, the pilgrims landed in 1620, and that first winter was a brutal. A lot of people died from the cold and from hunger in that first winter. Food wasn't exactly plentiful and shelter was of paramount importance. So those who survived until the following year 1621 were pretty darn appreciative people. And these new settlers were helped quite a lot by the Wampanoag Indians who were the main inhabitants of that region. So, during the autumn harvest of 1621, the settlers and Wampanoags came together, sharing their food and really their culinary skills in a day of celebration. And interestingly, there were roughly twice as many Wampanoags as there was settlers at the first Thanksgiving. And as legend has it, they were all able to guess what get along. Their common goal was simply to survive. [05:42.8]
And this year I'm sure there's a few people listening right now that you probably felt that same way at your Thanksgiving dinner table last week. But in all seriousness in 1621, things were harsh. Life expectancy at that time was roughly about 35 years. So, there wasn't a lot of time to waste on superficial nonsense. Surviving, simply staying alive was the main goal. And for many, it was a lofty goal. The odds weren't high that you'd survive, but let's fast forward, roughly two and a half centuries. A little history, it wasn't until 1863, that Thanksgiving was officially recognized as a national holiday. Our country was in the middle of the civil war, deeply divided. And in some ways similar to today and president Lincoln seized upon the opportunity for a day of unity, all in an effort to bring a war-torn nation back together. The day was proclaimed and official national holiday and remained such today, Thanksgiving Day. [06:44.6]
We all saw that last week, having evolved into a day, filled with turkeys and parades and football, kind of an All-American day. And of course, political discussions at dinner tables. You know, there is many different versions of the original 1621 autumn harvest as there are people with different points of view. That's what I took out of it. And although it's now almost 400 years ago, there are some who will tribute a far more nefarious account of the day's events, but the legend of Thanksgiving that carried forward to 1863, the president Lincoln version painted it as a day of appreciation. And that's how I chose to look at Thanksgiving. And I really wrote the rest of this week's episode that night after just feeling thankful, I was blessed to be able to spend it with my family. We opened it up to actually quite a bit of friends through our church and those that didn't have family around. And my wife and I, Veronica and I, we felt very grateful for that. And so, I chose to look at Thanksgiving as a day of appreciation. As a day that embodies our innate natural God-given tendency to care for our fellow man. To share, to come together as Americans, to really all get along, to be respectful, even with those whom we disagree. [08:07.6]
Do you know how much you should be contributing to your deferred compensation plan? Are you getting the most out of your current investment options? Looking at entering or about to exit the DROP program? Go to www.pensionattention.com to find out how we can help. [08:24.0]
You know today, it's easy to become disheartened about the well I'll just call it the great divide that separates America. The history of the United States and the direction in which the country has moved is defined by our adherence to the idea of tolerance for others. Ideas that are memorialized by the way, in the declaration of independence. Freedom to pursue happiness, however, you define happiness. You know, in the mid-1700’s, Adam Smith bringing a bit into the finance world for this week's episode, Adam Smith, the famed Scottish economist and philosopher wrote about a cornerstone for societies comprised of free people and free economies. Smith believed these societal structures must be free from coercion. Free societies are free from coercion. It's the only way they're possible. It's the only way that they're truly free. Yet, in the news, we've all been following the recent stories about a lack of freedom of opinion and suppression to some people's thoughts about their rights. [09:29.3]
You know, when I was growing up as children, we were still taught the basic motto, I may not like what you have to say, but I will defend your right to say it. You know, it was not only what we were taught, it was how we defined ourselves as Americans, peaceful disagreement. Although the initial 1621 Thanksgiving Day feast between the Wampanoags, and the settlers predated the declaration of independence by really more than a century, the values of Thanksgiving Day brought enlightened thinking one step closer to the ideals that would become the foundation in my opinion, for our great nation. That day taught us that by caring for others, we all benefit. By being tolerant of others, we all can survive. Political freedom is essential so, too is economic freedom. Something I talk heavily about in our practice here at One Capital Management and on our Make Your Money Matter podcast on our Radio Show. And each is dependent upon the other, we have to connect the two. [10:33.0]
When one is suppressed, the other is injured too. Freedom of ideas, whether you agree or disagree with those ideas is essential to our overall development America, you know, if you look at it is an economic marvel, a bastion of human opportunity because every citizen has the freedom to pursue their dreams, their ideas. And of course, their own definition of happiness. America has celebrated many Thanksgiving Days like we saw a couple of days ago where we had a deeply divided nation. Maybe this was part of president Lincoln's design for the holiday. I don't know, especially given that every four years Thanksgiving arise on the heels of a presidential election. I mean, for example, do you remember a recent, very close presidential election that divided the nation? I'm pretty sure I heard someone say the 2020 election between Trump and Biden. [11:20.2]
And although that's a good example of an election that divided the nation, I was actually thinking of another. I know that was the recent one and you might think this is a crazy stretch, but bear with me here. The 1960 presidential election was a very close contest. And as a result, America became a divided nation. And some of my point about this example is that the media has a way of making us look at things very myopically like it just happened, that's all that's happening in our world. But this has been going on in our country for quite a while. Again, the 1960 election was very close and as a result, it divided the nation. In the spring of 1960, the country fell into a recession. Anyone listening right now who was living at a time period, knows what I'm talking about. And I had to study this in economics for different time periods, but it wasn't a great time period. They fell into recession. We as America brought on and that brought on the poor economic climate of the late 1950s. And as history has taught us time and time again, presidential election results are largely determined by the country's economic climate. [12:23.3]
Remember it's the economy stupid, you'll understand that if you look it up. And for that year's Republicans candidate, Vice President, Richard Nixon, the country's economic climate created really an uphill fight for him. In his battle for president against the democratic opponent, the charismatic young Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy and ultimately Senator Kenney won the popular vote by just 112,000 votes representing 49.72% of the popular vote versus 49.55% for Nixon, a very slim margin by any standard. Interestingly, Senator Kennedy, won fewer states than his opponent, but the states he won were well they were rich with electoral college delegates. Does that sound familiar? Shades of five years ago, 2016. Anyways, Senator Kennedy was awarded 303 electoral college votes and with that JFK became America's 35th President. [13:22.0]
And from what began as a divided election result, he went on to become, I mean, yet, to be honest, he went on to become one of the most revered presidents in American history, even as short as it was. My great hope is that after this Thanksgiving and given this year and this really two years, we've all been living through. We as Americans can look beyond our differences to our commonality and take pride in the miracle of America's freedom. And with that, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is geared up and excited for a great holiday season coming up as we end or looking towards the end of 2021. I wanted to take one week to say thank you to our staff, to our clients who have given their trust in what we're doing for their planning. It is never lost on us, the amount of trust that we have, and we are so grateful for that. And as a firm, as, as partners have come together, as we talked about this leading into Thanksgiving week, we want to say, thank you. And we just, well, last week when I was writing this and after spending the time with my family, I just felt very grateful. And I wanted to share some of the history and some of the stuff that we've all been thinking and going on. A lot of it, look, we always talk about finance here and how that plays its way into our mindset, into our psyche, into our marriages, into our family life. Money, whether we like it or not is a powerful thing. And the love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself. It's important to know how that can give you options and to plan through it. [15:06.5]
God says, don't worry about tomorrow, but he didn't say not to plan for it. So, it's important to make sure that we plan through things and be ready for all of life's fun, that it throws at us. And for that, we are grateful that we're able to have this voice each and every week. And we are so thankful that we are able to do what we love, and that is planning for our client's retirement, through the proper structure of investments and looking at this world that we have at our hands, both domestically and internationally, and being able to diversify ourselves and protect the assets that our clients have entrusted in us. And we are so very thankful. I'm very thankful that you tuned into this week's episode and until next week stay safe. [15:51.7]
The information in this podcast is educational and general in nature and does not take into consideration the listeners personal circumstances. Therefore, it is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized, financial, legal, or tax advice.
To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a final decision. [16:15.0]
