ABSTRACT
A day does not go by that most of us do not receive a letter, read a magazine, hear a radio talk show or see something on television about financial planning. Today the public in general is bombarded with investment news. The messages are usually trying to sell something, whether we buy or not it seems you still pick up some information. The most common theme concerning investing, in all of the literature or in the news media we are exposed to, is diversification. The general theme is that diversification reduces your exposure. We have come to call the diversification of investments our portfolio. As your portfolio grows, so does the requirement to manage it effectively increase. Whether you do that directly or through a financial expert, it still must be managed. Even though you may choose a hands-off approach by turning the day-to-day decisions over to a financial expert, periodically you still review the results. And, if you do not like the performance you find, you will undoubtedly make a change. So all in all, to some degree, you are involved. Managing one’s financial portfolio is not unlike the responsibilities a captain has in managing his or her resources. The captain needs to be involved. Sometimes more directly than others. If the first officer is flying the airplane the captain can monitor, support, and observe as the flight progresses toward its destination. There are times the captain is more directly involved, that is manipulating the controls, issuing commands, and even occasionally overruling the choices selected by others that affect the flight.
