About
Swim Upstream to Wealth hopes to help you build your wealth. Why the title “Swim Upstream to Wealth?” To build true wealth, you need to do the opposite of what most Americans do. Most Americans follow the advertising world’s enticement of instant gratification even if that means accumulating credit card debt. Most Americans fall prey to Wall Street’s tactics that reduce Americans wealth while substantially increasing Wall Street’s. Most Americans listen to the financial press that promotes behaviors that limit your wealth, not increase it. Most Americans developed their beliefs about money from folks who haven’t build wealth themselves. This blog will help you build wealth by ignoring conventional wisdom and discovering unique ideas.
Swimming upstream implies hard work, but swimming upstream to wealth isn’t hard; it means you need to challenge your pre-conceived notions of money and do the opposite of conventional wisdom.
Why am I organizing this blog, and what makes me qualified? I use to be a consumer of the financial services industry, just like you. I never had any interest in finances. In fact, upon graduating from the Coast Guard Academy, I use to give my pay stub to a friend to ensure it was correct. We were both ensigns making the exact same so I figured why should I waste my time with these details. This didn’t mean I was wasteful with money, quite the contrary. I never spent more than I made and I saved 20% of my pay. I just figured I would utilize the “expertise” of professionals to manage my money. So I hired the family broker to care for my investments.
As the years progressed, I would file my account statements away without really looking at them. Just keep saving and I would be fine. However, after hearing some friends talk about some high returns they earned, I decided to really examine my account statements one Saturday. I realized that I not only had returns well below the market, but I had paid as much in commissions as I had in earnings. Whose retirement was I saving for…mine or the broker? So I immersed myself in all things financial. I read everything out there and really examined how Wall Street works. The more I read, the deeper the rabbit hole went. I finally decided that I wanted to work in the financial world after the Coast Guard and bring a different message – a pro-consumer one.
Before opening my own firm, I worked at the Motley Fool whose belief that the Wall Street wise hindered the individual investor matched mine. From there I worked at a fee-only firm in Florida for a few years. I earned my CFP and moved on to greener pastures with my own firm.
Hopefully, this blog will help you determine what wealth really means to you. It may be fancy hotels and champagne brunches, but for many people it is financial security and cookouts with family. This blog will focus on all things financial like many financial blogs, but we will deal with the life planning issues as well. I hope you find useful information and will get involved in this blog. I really want to hear about your concerns, triumphs, and goals.