bonds

THOUGHTS ON A FREQUENTLY REFERENCED BOOK ON INVESTING: THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

I thought “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham was probably one of the more boring and tedious books I have ever read. It was a real chore to get through, but I finally did. As with other books I have read that were equally painful to read, there are always at least a few golden nuggets. Most of it I already knew and regularly practice but there were a few that I plan to take a closer look at. Here are the notes I that I thought were the most worthwhile to capture which might be helpful to some of you out there:

The stock market is a pendulum that swings between extremes. The Intelligent Investor sells to extreme optimists and buys from extreme pessimists. JOE BRENNAN COMMENT: For example, back in 2020, I bought from extreme pessimists during the Covid-19 Pandemic when everybody told me I would lose a lot of money due to the depression era scenario people were projecting. Instead, I had my best year ever in the stock market – ending the year with a 164% gain and nearly tripling my savings (my second best year ever was a 73% gain back in 2015). You can see my annual gains by scrolling through the following post: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/final-stock-market-score-joe-57-2-spx-24-2/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2NxxPprNNXvETFlCdOfnAo3XrJhm-ftT4126p0ffFDwW0hDxljtD283Os_aem_UkGQjO1yZfmZofmHzWP5Jg . Back in 2021, I sold to extreme optimists and got completely out of the bond market – avoiding a 46% loss over nearly 3 years. This was very unusual for the bond market when considering its longer-term history as a low-risk, safe haven investment. Those losses were more typical of a stock market decline than a bond market decline. You can read all about that here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/a-break-in-the-clouds-the-return-of-low-risk-safe-haven-investments-via-the-bond-market/?fbclid=IwY2xjawH2rGlleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdx_gloyTm9no0SWUH8TGpFE2vZZswZT093eCilUTfhWytmhlahiw1zJOg_aem_fG69Yr-CMag1UE-QiQV9QQ (the link to the previous bond market post is also contained in that post).

If you invest with patient confidence, you can take steady advantage of even the worst bear markets. By developing discipline and courage, you can avoid letting other people’s emotions and mood swings influence your longer term gains. The way your financial investments behave is much less important than how you behave as an investor.

Frequently bullish investors have historically said things like: “Is the stock market riskier today than two years ago just because prices are higher? The answer is no.” Well, no. The answer is yes. It always has been. It always will be.

One way to value stocks is: % earnings growth (perhaps use a historical average: 1.5%-2.0% in 1972 looking back) + Annual Inflation Rate (perhaps use a historical average – 2.4% per year in 1972) + Dividend Yield (1.9% in 1972 for SPX?) = 1.5%-2.0% + 2.4% + 1.9% = 5.8% – 6.3%. For this scenario, that means you can reasonably expect stocks to average about a 6% return (3.6% after inflation).

To the extent that the investor’s funds are placed in high-grade bonds of relatively short maturity – say, of 7 years or less, he will not be affected significantly by changes in market prices and need to take them into account. Longer-term bonds can have wider price swings during their lifetimes.

Price fluctuations have only one significant meaning for the true investor. They provide the opportunity to buy wisely when prices fall sharply and to sell wisely when they advance a great deal. True investors can pretty much ignore all other price points and simply wait patiently.

If you put much of your portfolio on permanent autopilot, you can fight the prediction addiction, focus on the longer-term, and tune out Mr. Market’s mood swings. JOE BRENNAN COMMENT: I rarely make predictions because people tend to become married to their predictions which could lead to substantial losses when the predictions are wrong or badly timed.

Top performing mutual funds and stocks from previous years are frequently the investments of choice by newer investors which leads to underperformance due to newer investor money being put to work at higher prices of the underlying stock issues and other reasons. JOE BRENNAN COMMENT: High performing stocks tend to generate strong interest from newer investors which leads to underperformance since newer money is being invested at higher levels which invariably leads to underperformance over time. The opposite could be said about certain low performing stocks.

Beware of excessive one-time expenses and charge offs when the stock market has a bad year. When the overall markets are doing bad, investors expect poor individual stock performance. So many companies will make the losses in that year appear so substantial that the profits in following years will be artificially high. One way to overcome this year-to-year fluctuation due to special one-time charges and such is to use the average earnings over the past 7-10 years when attempting to value a stock via its PE ratio and such.

A good way to determine earnings growth can be taking the average earnings over the past 3 years and comparing that to the average over 10 years. Another good thing to do is compare the PE ratio of the company with the PE ratio of the major market index it falls in. 15 or less is probably a good number to target for PE and a number substantially less than the PE ratio of the associated stock market index. A good way to calculate current PE is using the current price and dividing by the average earnings over the past 3 years.

E/P ratio (inverse of PE) needs to be at least higher than the interest rate of high-quality bonds at the time for the stock to even be considered.

An investor can always prosper by looking patiently and calmly through the wreckage of a bear market. If you build a diverse portfolio of stocks whose current assets are 2+ x their current liabilities, and whose long-term debt does not exceed working capital, you should end up with a group of conservatively financed companies with plenty of staying power.

Price/Book should be 1.5 or less.

Managers prefer doing share buybacks over increasing dividends because increasing dividends lowers the value of their own stock options while share buybacks increases the value of their own stock options.

Margin of Safety for Corporate Bonds: Compare the total value of the company with the total amount of debt. If the business owes $10B and is fairly valued at $30B then there is room for shrinkage of 67% in value before the bondholders will suffer loss.

There are large inefficiencies in the stock market and market prices are often nonsensical. By being a diligent investor, you can readily take advantage of gaps between price and value at both extremes – when prices are excessively high and when they are excessively low.

Credit ratings on bonds are frequently indicative of the quality of a company and its stock. The lower the yield on bonds or preferred shares, the more likely the stock is to provide a satisfactory investment, and the smaller the element of speculation involved in its purchase. However, be careful to ensure you buy the stock at a good price. Frequently, high quality companies are priced high due to investor excitement, excessive optimism, and such.

The higher the growth rate you project, and the longer the future period over which you project it, the more sensitive your forecast becomes to the slightest error.

The margin of safety is the difference between the earrings dividend (1/PE) + dividend of index or stock and comparing that to the interest rate on bonds. For example, for SPY [PE (trailing 12 months -ttm) of SPY is 27.45 and the dividend 1.21%] the present margin of safety to buying it today would be 3.64% + 1.21% = 4.85% – 4.65% =0.20/4.65 = 4.3% margin of safety which is far too small to risk putting money in the stock market. A good target is at least 33%.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing. So, use any downtime you might have to your advantage by gaining this knowledge and learning these skills and techniques (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/).

Make it your goal to learn these investment techniques so that you can progress towards achieving the financial freedom and independence you’ve always dreamed of. I would have done so much better if I had learned this stuff years ago!

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities

I wish you much investing success for 2025 (and beyond).

#selfimprovement, #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #success #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025! A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2024!

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Happy New Year everyone! 2024 was a pretty good year for me. The three best surprises for me this year were the following:

a. Indie 617 Boston streaming radio station: I’m a big fan of indie pop music and usually listen to WPRK in Winter Park – however they frequently play off-genre music that I don’t like as much, so discovering Indie 617 Boston was an excellent find. I found this streaming radio station while road-tripping on the west coast. Two of my favorite songs of the year were burning up the airwaves on this radio station over the summer (and beyond): Neverender by Justice and Tame Impala (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47YNsf-7Y7c) and Starburster by DC Fontaines (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHocVRUlvkk). Other favorite indie pop tracks for me this year were Image by Magdalena Bay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfcWOPpmw14) and Sadie by Goth Babe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhS52bvzkec). I discovered each of these songs via Indie 617 Boston.

b. Seville Spain, Portugal (especially Porto, Sintra, and Lagos, Sintra), Seattle WA, Eureka CA, and Astoria OR. These were such wonderful places to visit.

c. High performing stocks I owned this year: COIN (126% gain), VMEO (64% gain), and GNK (51% gain).

In addition to the wonderful surprises above, I ended up exceeding each of the goals I had set for myself at the beginning of the year. One of my longstanding goals was to populate my life coaching website (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/) in such a way that it largely reflects my life work (outside of work) as a legacy/leave behind. This life work matters much more to me than anything I did that was job-related over the years. And now it is all in one place – my website.

I started out 20+ years ago focusing on self-help and happiness, and coaching in/writing about those areas. I later realized that since I was also a finance/investing expert, that I should coach in and write about those areas as well and populate my website with that information.

My latest goal for this year was to expand my website further by focusing on the creative aspects in terms of my poetry and such. My 2024 year-end goal was to digitize my first book of poetry, “A Farewell to Reason,” since the hard copy was out of print. Not only did I achieve that, but I also published the second book of poetry that I wanted to publish back in 2004 but never did: “Burning . . .  Burning Blue,” and have populated the poetry section of my website with not only the top poems I have written over the past 33 years but also all 370 poems I have written over those years and color-coded them by mood/interest (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/poetry/).

Here are the year’s highlights (by the numbers):

16: The number of times I provided special gifts to people for “Make a Friend Smile Day.” That’s the special occasion I created 20+ years ago as the perfect excuse to offer guilt-free giving to people going through financial difficulties, hardships, and such but are just too proud to ask for or accept this help. The only catch is the friend must smile when using the gift because, well, there’d be no reason to have a “Make a Friend Smile Day,” if the friend didn’t smile. I helped multiple people out this year with rent, groceries, car problems, and other financial hardships. I pulled money out of my “Beneficiaries Reserve Fund” to do this which is the fund I use to help others. Most people who know me understand that whenever I have a good year in the stock market, I always set aside some of the proceeds to help others – it’s a promise I make every year to God, higher power, the universe, or whatever it is you believe in (I happen to believe in all the above).

15: The number of poems I wrote and published throughout the year. The top four (4) that people seemed to resonate most with were:

a. BLISTERS, BURNS, AND BLURS (A SCREAM BEHIND THE DOOR): https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/%e2%98%86%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e-a-blisters-burns-and-blurs-a-scream-behind-the-door-%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e-%e2%98%86/,

b. CHASING THE WAVES (OF THE L.A. HAZE): https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/%e2%98%86%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e-chasing-the-waves-of-the-la-haze-%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e-%e2%98%86/,

c. THE FALL OF WINTERTIME: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/%e2%98%86%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e-the-fall-of-wintertime-%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e%e2%98%86/, and

d. CURIOSITY CLEARLY SEES (AND WARMLY BELIEVES): https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/%e2%98%86%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e-curiosity-clearly-sees-and-warmly-believes-%e2%96%aa%ef%b8%8e%e2%98%86/

28,000+: The number of photos I took on travel this year. My biggest trips were my Portugal/Spain trip (5 weeks, 24 new places) and my summer road trip on the West Coast (14 new places over 4 weeks: Washington state, Oregon, and Northern California). My favorite places during this year’s travel were Seville Spain, Porto Portugal, Sintra Portugal, Lagos Portugal, Monterey/Pacific Grove CA, Seattle WA, Eureka CA, and Astoria OR.

126: The percentage gain of my best performing stock this year: Coinbase (COIN). Regarding COIN, if I had stuck to my more usual investing strategies, I probably would have sold all of my shares back in February and not realized all of the gains I achieved. COIN ended up being my top performing stock this year by far gaining 126% [my second and third best performing stocks were VMEO (64% gain), and GNK (51% gain)]. Towards the end of 2023, I somehow got the insight to treat COIN differently than my other investments. The strategy I used for this highly volatile stock was to sell 1/3 of my shares when COIN gained 33%, and buying more shares whenever COIN dropped 33%. This strategy really worked well and allowed me to experience much higher gains than I ordinarily would. I plan to stick with this strategy in 2025.

324: The total number of places I have explored and spent quality time in to date (including the above travel).

13.1: The percentage I gained in the stock market this year which far exceeded my financial goal for the year (you can read all about that here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/final-stock-market-score-joe-13-1-inflation-3-3/). Since I have far exceeded my financial goal, my primary financial objective was maintaining my spending power by beating inflation or at least not giving back the stellar gains I achieved over the past decade or so (my 12-year average annual gain through and including the losses from 2022 was 35% as you can see by scrolling through the following post: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/final-stock-market-score-joe-57-2-spx-24-2/). Core inflation was 3.3% year-over-year back in November – so I beat that number by a sizable margin (the December numbers have not yet been released). I updated my investment strategies this year as I try to do every year. When I traveled through Portugal back in spring, people I met there became very interested when they found out I was a life coach – asking me for help with finances and investing so they could create a brighter future for themselves. This inspired me to write the Joe Brennan 6-Step Process to Financial Success with minimal effort post: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/how-to-invest-well-and-create-a-brighter-future-with-minimal-effort/. I followed this post up with a second post designed to help people even further with finance and investing: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/a-simple-lesson-in-finance-why-investing-invigorates-and-debt-devastates-your-finances/. So, I encourage you to read these two posts when you get the chance. You’ll become a much better investor if you do.

41: the number of people I helped live happier lives throughout this year – even internationally when I visited Portugal and Spain.

18: The number of times I posted about my stock market activities and strategies to offer others a chance to capitalize on these. You can read about them here: https://www.brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market…/

149: The number of posts I wrote and published, throughout the year, focused on helping people live happier, offering hope and inspiration, keeping people informed, and making people more successful in life.

205: The number of days I spent on Duo Lingo learning and practicing Spanish and Portuguese throughout the year. I’ve been learning various languages on Duo Lingo for 10+ years now including Spanish, Portuguese, and a tiny bit of Italian.

11 – the number of hours I spent on fitness activities in a typical week between weight training, running, stretching, and yoga.

1: The number of books I read and shared my notes on throughout the year. I had so much else going on in 2024 that I didn’t do much reading. So, I suppose I should seek to read a little more in 2025. The books I read were primarily in the areas of self-help and self-improvement. I’ve been reading books on the “100 Best Self-Help Books of All Time” list (over the years I’ve currently read the top 90 books on this list of 100 so 10 more to go!).

So, 2024 was a pretty good year overall. Going forward I plan to focus on doing more reading, doing more travel, and writing new poetry. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings.

Happy New Year everyone! Normally, I would add something like: “May 2025 be the best year of your life, EVER.” However, this year I’d like to create a tiny challenge for everyone and change that to: “Do positive things to make someone else’s 2025 the best year of their lives, EVER.” So, decide who will be on your list of people for making that happen, and add that to your 2025 New Year’s resolutions list.

Thank you!

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness #peace #joy #positivethinking #balance #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

FINAL STOCK MARKET SCORE =>>> JOE: 13.1%, INFLATION: 3.3%

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

FINAL SCORE =>>> JOE: +13.1% INFLATION: +3.3%

I had a pretty good year in the stock market this year. Many of you probably recall, I worked hard at getting myself back to being a low-risk investor over the past couple of years – and in 2024 I finally achieved that. So, my primary financial objective for 2024 (which will continue from this point forward) was to get back to being a low-risk investor – maintaining my spending power by beating inflation or at least not giving back the stellar gains I achieved over the past decade or so (my 12-year average annual gain through and including the losses from 2022 was 35% as you can see by scrolling through the following post: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/final-stock-market-score-joe-57-2-spx-24-2/). Core inflation was 3.3% year-over-year back in November – so I beat that number by a sizable margin (the December numbers have not yet been released).

Anyone who has met or exceeded their financial investment goal should be a low-risk investor like me. Everyone else should be taking a higher risk approach in order to achieve their financial investment goals. And if you need help with that, you know who to ask.

I adjusted my investment strategies this year as I normally do every year. For example, regarding Coinbase (COIN), if I had stuck to my more usual investing strategies, I probably would have sold all of my COIN shares back in February and not realized all of the gains I achieved. COIN was by far my top performing stock this year gaining 126% [my second and third best performing stocks were VMEO (64% gain), and GNK (51% gain)]. Towards the end of 2023, I somehow got the insight to treat COIN differently than my other investments. The strategy I used for this highly volatile stock was to sell 1/3 of my shares when COIN gained 33%, and buying more shares whenever COIN dropped 33%. This strategy really worked well and allowed me to experience much higher gains than I ordinarily would. I plan to stick with this strategy in 2025.

When I traveled through Portugal back in spring, people I met there became very interested when they found out I was a life coach – asking me for help with finances and investing so they could create a brighter future for themselves. This inspired me to write the Joe Brennan 6-Step Process to Financial Success with minimal effort post: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/how-to-invest-well-and-create-a-brighter-future-with-minimal-effort/. I followed this post up with a second post designed to help people even further with finance and investing: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/a-simple-lesson-in-finance-why-investing-invigorates-and-debt-devastates-your-finances/. So, I encourage you to read these two posts when you get the chance. You’ll become a much better investor if you do.

Amazingly, as a low-risk investor, I ended up beating three of the major market indexes this year: the Dow Jones Industrial Average index’s end-of-year (EOY) gain (+12.9%), the Russell 2000 index’s EOY gain (+10.0%), and the S&P 500 Midcap 400 index’s EOY gain (+12.2%). I didn’t come close to achieving the gains of the two other major market indexes this year such as the S&P 500 index’s EOY gain (+23.3%) and the Nasdaq index’s EOY gain (+28.6%). But that’s okay because as a low-risk investor, I should not be matching those gains – and whenever the overall markets drop, I’ll be thankful that I’m taking a low-risk approach.

My primary objective for 2024 was beating inflation which I was able to handily do. A secondary target I use as a low-risk investor is taking the end-of-year gain of the S&P 500 (SPX) and dividing by 5. I handily beat on that metric as well (23.3%/5 = 4.66%). So, overall, 2024 was a highly successful investment year for me. We’ll see what 2025 brings.

I’ve pretty much sold all of my stocks (I am presently only about 6.5% invested in stocks – the remaining 93.5% is in low-risk income) and am now awaiting a sizable drop before buying back into the stock market. My current estimate is that the stock market is about 20% overvalued. As such, as a low-risk investor, I plan to start slowly buying back into the stock market after about a 15% decline in the S&P 500 index (SPX) overall. Those who are higher risk investors should probably plan to buy back in after about a 10% drop or so.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing. So, use any downtime you might have to your advantage by gaining this knowledge and learning these skills and techniques (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/).

Make it your goal to learn these investment techniques so that you can progress towards achieving the financial freedom and independence you’ve always dreamed of. I would have done so much better if I had learned this stuff years ago!

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities

I wish you much investing success for 2025 (and beyond).

#selfimprovement, #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #success #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

A SIMPLE LESSON IN FINANCE: WHY INVESTING INVIGORATES AND DEBT DEVASTATES YOUR FINANCES

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Here’s a simple lesson in finance for those who might need it: Investing money substantially increases your finances overall while carrying debt does much worse than the opposite. And the difference is astounding.

A simple common expression used to demonstrate how investments grow over time is called “the rule of 72.” The average interest rate expressed as a whole number times the number of years required to double an initial investment equals 72. Let’s take a look at how this simple rule can impact your finances. Let’s start with investing first.

Imagine you invested $10,000 earning 8% interest (8% is a reasonable figure given that the long-term average earned in the stock market has historically been about 7.5% – it has been much higher in recent years but at some point it could revert back to its long-term average). This means, using the rule of 72, that your $10,000 initial investment will become $20,000 in 9 years (8 x 9 = 72), $40,000 in 18 years, $80,000 in 27 years, and $160,000 in 36 years. And that is all from just making a single, one-time, initial investment of $10,000 at the beginning. I want you all to stop and think about that for a moment: Your $10,000 grew to $160,000 by doing nothing else. This is how compound interest works and how you make your money work for you – instead of against you.

Most people will do much better than the above because they will continue adding to their investments over time – and as long as they do not remove money from their investment (a mistake many people make by the way), then the power of compound interest will continue working in their favor.

The above example also illustrates why starting saving and investing at an early age is very important. And if you want to learn how to how to invest well and create a brighter future with minimal effort, please read this: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/how-to-invest-well-and-create-a-brighter-future-with-minimal-effort/

Now, let’s take a look at the opposite side of things to see how debt can devastate your finances. Imagine you had the same $10,000 as credit card debt at a 24% interest rate (24% is a little high by today’s standards – credit card rates presently average about 21% – but are higher for people with lower credit scores) but using 24% simplifies calculations and makes it much easier to compare both sides of the story between investing and debt.

Using the above figures mean, using the same rule of 72, that for your $10,000 in initial debt, you will end up paying $20,000 in 3 years (24 x 3 = 72), $40,000 in 6 years, $80,000 in 9 years, $160,000 in 12 years, $320,000 in 15 years, and $640,000 in 18 years if you didn’t make any payments at all (Note: this is not realistic since most people make at least the minimum payments – which largely reflect the payments on interest only – I’m just trying to demonstrate how much more quickly and deeply debt impacts your finances as compared to investing your money). And that is all just from having an initial debt of $10,000. I want you all to stop and give this some serious thought: Your $10,000 of initial debt grew to $640,000 in only 18 years. This is how debt can quickly, deeply, and easily devastate your finances.

Most people would do much worse than the above because they won’t stop at the initial debt – but will continue adding to their debts over time up until reaching their credit limits – which means the power of compound interest continues working against them.

Let’s now compare the two: In 18 years, your $10,000 investment grew to $40,000 but your $10,000 in debt became $640,000 over the same period of time. This illustrates why so many people get so far behind in their finances, and the simple but very important lesson in finance is this: Make your money work for you over the longer term instead of working against you by living with a strong sense of financial discipline – eliminating debt and investing your money instead. I have no objection to people having credit cards and such to help build up their credit scores and such but get into the practice of paying them off every month so you don’t have to pay interest or fees. If you do this and invest in your future, then you will create a brighter future for yourself and others in your life for the years and decades to come. So, do this if you can.

Again, the above isn’t truly accurate on the debt side of things because it reflects the overall impact if you made no payments at all – I have not factored in the fact that when you make the minimum payments on credit card debt, you are usually paying the interest. So, the interest portion of that debt isn’t working against you the way the much larger debt portion is. However, the interest only payments tend to be quite large (and provide no benefit since they typically pay little to nothing down on the debt portion) and, between that and the debt overall, it would still have a devastating effect on your finances as a whole in a short amount of time and would have required a more complicated calculation to get more precise numbers. I’m really just trying to illustrate the basic concepts of investing versus debt using simple calculations so that people can easily understand why debt can be so devastating in a short amount of time and why the power of compound interest works in their favor on the investment side of things. Also, rest assured the credit card companies will cut you off long before you reach such excessive numbers in terms of your debt to them for their own, financial well-being. However, the impact to your finances would be substantial.

You can read more about my finance and investing tips here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/category/financial-planning-management-and-investing-related-posts/

You can learn about my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/.

And, lastly, you can read about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities

I wish you much finance and investing success for 2024 (and beyond!).

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness #peace #joy #positivethinking #balance #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

HOW TO INVEST WELL AND CREATE A BRIGHTER FUTURE WITH MINIMAL EFFORT

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been traveling through Portugal and have met some very nice people. And once they find out I’m a life coach, many of them have become very interested in any financial advice I can provide to help them create a brighter future. So, this inspired me to write the “Joe Brennan 6-Step Process to Financial Success” with minimal effort:

1. Get into the practice of automatically saving a minimum of 20% of everything you earn – wages, gifts, tips, whatever and open an online brokerage trading/investing account to place your money in such that it earns a decent interest rate (I earn about 5% interest via my Fidelity standard trading account). The reason this is important is because you don’t want to fall behind inflation when saving money. A lot of banks pay much less interest than online brokerage trading/investment accounts do. The 20%+ automatic savings is important because it forces financial discipline – resulting in a greater ability to accumulate financial wealth and achieve financial freedom much sooner than would be experienced otherwise. In fact, if you have kids and get them into this practice at a very young age, then this would serve to not only benefit them, but you as well since you won’t have to worry so much about their finances and they won’t have to rely on you as much in the years and decades to come. The earlier you start saving, the less of your overall income percentage wise you would need to save over the years of your life. I generally recommend 20% for people who start at the age of 20 and increase it by 1% per year if they start later than age 20. So, if you start at age 24 you need to save 24%, if you start at age 31 you need to save 31%, and if you start at age 41 you need to save 41% for the rest of your life. So, the earlier you start, the less of your overall income you have to save percentage wise over the years of your life. So, if you start at age 20, you can save 20% for the rest of your life and be in good shape financially speaking – but if you start at age 34, you’ll need to save 34% for the rest of your life. So, the earlier you start, the better. And the percentages above include any matching funds or financial incentives your employer might provide (some employers provide up to 5% or so of matching funds and such for retirement plans).

2. Track one of the major stock market indexes representative of the overall stock market. In the United States, I like to track the S&P 500 index [SPY is an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) that tracks the S&P 500 Index]. When the major index falls 10% or more (I’m a very low risk investor so I will wait for a 25% drop), check the other major indexes and see which one has fallen the most. In the United States, frequently the Russell 2000 index (IWM is an ETF that tracks this index) falls much more than the S&P 500 index – especially, when a recession is expected. A 5% drop in the S&P 500 index generally happens about three times a year, a 10% drop generally happens about once a year, and a 20%+ drop generally happens about twice every five years. A lot of times major stock indexes will decline more once they drop 20% (defined as a bear market). However, the recovery is often swift. So, you want to be fully invested fairly soon after that happens. Otherwise, you can miss out on substantial gains. Just for some points of reference: a 25% drop results in a 33% gain once the index or ETF gets back to breakeven, a 33% drop results a 50% gain once the index or ETF gets back to breakeven, and a 50% drop results a 100% gain once the index or ETF gets back to breakeven. So, waiting for a drop before putting money to work can be greatly beneficial while being fully invested when a drop happens can substantially hurt your finances. This is why avoiding investing at the top can be an important factor for your overall, financial well-being (e.g., if you experience a 33% drop, you need a 50% gain just to get back to even, and if you experience a 50% drop, you need a 100% gain just to get back to even).

3. Move your accumulated savings to date into the ETF you have selected in Step 2. As long as this ETF continues falling or rises somewhat, keep putting your new savings into the ETF.

4. Once your ETF gains to the point to where it approaches the all-time high (or if you are a higher risk investor, you might wait for additional gains before selling or not sell at all), stop putting your new savings into the ETF and just keep it in your online brokerage trading/investing account earning the standard interest rate.

5. Only pull money from this account when gains are experienced and only for that which invests in your future such as a down payment for a house, educational expenses likely to lead to a higher paying job, rental properties as an investment, a new business you want for yourself, or after reaching your long-term financial freedom or retirement goal.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 for any new savings accumulated.

The above is a simplified process which might be helpful for some of you. If you are in your mid-thirties or so (or even less – the younger you are, the better you will likely do over time), then this process should get you where you need to be in your life financially speaking. However, there is never a guarantee, and you might want to adjust this process. If you elect to take a higher risk approach, then you can earn substantial gains if you wait things out – although you might experience substantial losses in the near term. If you elect to take a lower risk approach, then you may not experience substantial losses in the near term but will probably not make as much in gains over the longer term. For example, a higher risk investor might start moving savings after only a 10%-15% drop in the major index and stop investing new savings once the ETF hits its all-time high (or above) while a lower risk investor might start moving savings after a 20% drop or more in the major index and stop investing once the ETF gains to the point that where it is about 5%-10% from the all-time high.

The above process guarantees that you never invest at the market top. It also ensures that you invest early enough in bear markets so that you will hopefully, eventually, earn substantial gains.

The reason the above process should work well for many people is that in the first few years of investing, the amount saved matters much more than the actual gains or losses experienced in the stock market. So, people can just save and wait for a substantial stock market drop to invest and will probably do pretty well over time. Once savings have been accumulated for a few years or so, then the gains and losses experienced matter increasingly more over time and a lower risk investment approach will probably be more appropriate.

The above process is not perfect, but give it a try, make adjustments over time, and if you need help with any of this just ask.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/.

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities

I wish you much investing success for 2024 (and beyond!).

selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness #peace #joy #positivethinking #balance #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024! A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023!

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Happy New Year everyone! 2023 was a pretty good year for me (much better than 2022). Here are some of my highlights (by the numbers):

9: The number of times I provided special gifts to people for “Make a Friend Smile Day”. That’s the special occasion I created 20 years ago as the perfect excuse to offer guilt-free giving to people going through significant financial difficulties and hardships but are just too proud to ask or accept this help. The only catch is the friend must smile when using the gift because, well, there’d be no reason to have a “Make a Friend Smile Day” if the friend didn’t smile. I bought someone a computer, bought someone a smart phone, paid someone’s rent, and gave out several Publix gift cards and prepaid credit cards this year to people!

$68k: the amount I added to my “Beneficiaries Reserve Fund” due to my investment gains and budget projections based on these. This is the fund I use to help others. Most people who know me understand that whenever I have a good year in the stock market, I always set aside some of the proceeds to share with others to contribute as my gift to them – it’s a promise I make every year to God, higher power, the universe, or whatever it is you believe in (I happen to believe in all the above). You can read more about that here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/a-guilt-free-way-to…/

21: The number of poems I wrote and published throughout the year. The ones people seemed to resonate most with were: To Ignite a Life (A Determined Drive): https://www.facebook.com/joe.brennan.1806/posts/pfbid0QNUBeFVm9Jw6Gtp943UsnXD4AzEjHCtnwXSTtTgM4Nq6D1gZZPZ6CGbtAaNeT8nhl , The Wingman: https://www.facebook.com/joe.brennan.1806/posts/pfbid0dsPxyBC4dGeCbouj1Q5HXigmr6saJHMHS3K4HigYauRzdnt4Uj5eHecfzuc4trfBl , and Regret Sings Relentlessly (The Haunting Tunes of Truth): https://www.facebook.com/joe.brennan.1806/posts/pfbid08ynYbeHxehSAGsNdqtdRfoSDKik4Q3cSsnmgZFYMUiXd4TWVbU48hy9AJrTNdMHxl

4300: The number of photos I took on travel this year. My biggest trip was my summer road trip (1400 miles, 3 weeks which, 13 places). My favorite places during this year’s travel were Dunedin FL, Tarpon Springs FL, and Sebring FL.

391: The percentage gain of my best performing stock this year: Coinbase (COIN).

279: The total number of places I have explored and spent quality time in to date (including the above road trip).

57: The percentage I gained in the stock market this year which more than made up the 24% loss I experienced last year (2022 was my first down year in 11 years). Over the past 12 years my average annual gain is 35%. So, that’s not too bad. This is about a 5 year gain on average for every year over the past 12 years. I improved my investment strategies this year as I try to do every year. https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/how-to-lose-your…/ and https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/a-break-in-the…/ are two notable examples. You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing. So, use any downtime you might have to your advantage by gaining this knowledge and learning these skills and techniques (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and…/). Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities

34: the number of people I helped live happier lives throughout this year.

59: The number of times I posted about my stock market activities and strategies to offer others a chance to capitalize on these. You can read about most of them here: https://www.brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market…/

93: The number of posts I wrote and published, throughout the year, focused on helping people live happier, offering hope and inspiration, keeping people informed, and making people more successful in life.

12: The number of books I read and shared my notes on throughout the year. These were primarily in the areas of self-help and self-improvement. Each of these were towards the top of the “100 Best Self-Help Books of All Time” list I’ve been reading from (So, over the years I’ve currently read the top 89 books on this list of 100 so 11 more to go!).

212: The number of days I spent on Duo Lingo learning and practicing Spanish and Portuguese throughout the year. I’ve been learning various languages on Duo Lingo for 10 years now including Spanish, Portuguese, and a tiny bit of Italian.

11 – the number of hours I spent on fitness activities in a typical week between weight training, running, stretching, and yoga.

So, 2023 was a pretty good year overall. Going forward I plan to focus on creating an electronic version of my first book of poetry (“A Farewell to Reason”) which has been out of print for several years now and some of the poetry I’ve written since then.

I’m looking forward to seeing what 2024 brings! Happy New Year Everyone! May 2024 be the best year of our lives EVER!

selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness #peace #joy #positivethinking #balance #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

FINAL STOCK MARKET SCORE =>>> JOE: 57.2%, SPX: 24.2%

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

I had a really great year in the stock market this year. I experienced my first down year in 11 years last year (in 2022) when I lost 23.6% but more than made up for it this year with a gain of 57.2% which is about an 8-year gain in a single year!

I beat all of the major market indexes this year by a wide margin such as the S&P 500 index (+24.2%), Russell 2000 index (+15.1%), and Nasdaq index (+43.4%). So, 2023 was a great year for me and demonstrated I can still do well as a high-risk investor (I unintentionally became a high-risk investor in 2022 with the large stock market drop and am finally getting back to being a low-risk investor which is where I’m supposed to be at this stage of my investing). Most of my portfolio is now invested in fixed income which fits much better with my low-risk investor profile. We’ll see what 2024 brings.

I’ve done extremely well overall from year-to-year. Over the past 12 years my average annual gain is 35% (including the losses from 2022). So, that’s pretty darn good. This is about a 5-year gain on average for every year over the past 12 years. Here’s what the specific percentage gains/losses were:

2023 +57.20%
2022 -23.60%
2021 +8.70%
2020 +164.00%
2019 +20.00%
2018 +14.00%
2017 +15.00%
2016 +22.00%
2015 +73.00%
2014 +19.20%
2013 +16.40%
2012 +34.90%

I improved my investment strategies this year as I try to do every year. https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/how-to-lose-your-shirt-in-the-stock-market-without-losing-your-shorts-too-part-four/
and https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/a-break-in-the-clouds-the-return-of-low-risk-safe-haven-investments-via-the-bond-market/ are two notable examples.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing. So, use any downtime you might have to your advantage by gaining this knowledge and learning these skills and techniques (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/).

Make it your goal to learn these investment techniques so that you can progress towards achieving the financial freedom and independence you’ve always dreamed of. I would have done so much better if I had learned this stuff years ago! I wish you much investing success for 2024 (and beyond!).

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities

I wish you much investing success for 2024 (and beyond!).

#selfimprovement, #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #success #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

A GUILT-FREE WAY TO GIVE AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Most people who know me understand that whenever I have a good year in the stock market, I always set aside some of the proceeds to share with others to contribute as my gift to them – it’s a promise I make every year to God, higher power, the universe, or whatever it is you believe in (I happen to believe in all the above).

Well, this year I earned a 56% gain so far which is about an 8-year gain on average in just one year (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities)! So, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I could do for the holidays to contribute to people I care about.

What I ended up deciding on is providing a 0% “loan” (“wink wink”) to people which they can use at any time, in any way they choose, and for whatever payment terms they choose (which can be adjusted at any time). If the “loan” is paid off within 2 years, then they owe only 90% of the loan total.

The reason I provided a 0% “loan” is many people feel much more comfortable with that than receiving a large sum of money as a gift – it tends to be more guilt-free in nature as a lot of people are uncomfortable receiving larger amounts of cash as gifts. However, I have given them each the option of paying the “loan” back (or not). I provided everyone with three choices regarding this gift:

1. Accept the “loan” at any time up until 30 November 2024 as their gift from me and pay it back on whatever terms they like (which they can adjust at any time). This would especially be a great option if they have debts they would like to at least partially pay down or any new purchases they would like to make without having to pay any interest. Again, they are not required to pay the “loan” back. However, if they do then I will offer their “loan” to the next person. So, it does not affect me in the least if they are not able to pay back the “loan” for whatever reason. Because even if they do, I gain no benefit since I’m just going to just offer the “loan* to the next person. And if they end up not being able to pay it back, then as far as I’m concerned it just means they needed the money more than the next person. Lastly, if they do end up paying the “loan” back within 2 years then they only pay 90% of the loan total (a 10% discount).

2. Decline the “loan” anytime up to 30 November 2024 and receive $150 as their gift from me. If they decline the “loan,” then I will offer it to the next person. So, I gain no benefit if they decline the “loan.” As such, I encourage them to use the “loan” if it might be helpful to them.

3. Allow the “loan” to expire on 30 November 2024 without using it and receive $150 as their gift from me. If the “loan” expires, I will offer it to the next person. So, I gain no benefit if the “loan” expires.

Any “loan” (or any portion of any loan) not paid off within 2 years is automatically forgiven. Thus, the recipient(s) will owe nothing after 2 years.

So, the above is how I decided to contribute this year. Perhaps the above will be helpful to some of you in figuring out how to contribute when good things happen for you. I hope it does.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness #peace #joy #positivethinking #balance #finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #bonds #bondmarket

A BREAK IN THE CLOUDS: THE RETURN OF LOW-RISK SAFE HAVEN INVESTMENTS VIA THE BOND MARKET

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

For the first time in nearly 3 years, I am starting to return to the “low-risk, safe haven” bond market and bond fund/ETF investments. I wrote about the risks previously in January/February 2021 (TWO BIG INVESTMENT CONCERNS RIGHT NOW: RISING BOND RATES AND RISING INFLATION | BRIGHTER DAYS LIFE COACHING® and STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON: THE BOND MARKETS AND THE “LOW-RISK SAFE HAVEN” FACADE | BRIGHTER DAYS LIFE COACHING®). Since writing those posts nearly three years ago, longer-term bonds and bond funds/ETFs have dropped 46% which is very unusual for the bond market when considering its longer-term history as a low-risk, safe haven investment – these losses are more typical of a stock market decline than a bond market decline. Due to this outsized drop and other factors, longer-term bonds and bond funds/ETFs have now become very attractive in my opinion – and I will continue buying into them on any future weakness.

Some of the reasons I think longer-term bonds and bond funds/ETFs might be a good investment going forward include the following:

1) The high interest rates (and the corresponding low bond prices since interest rates and prices on bonds are inversely related) is likely to make the United States (and other nations) inclined to provide less fiscal support and/or higher taxation in future years due to the higher cost of servicing debt – inflation would be another contributor to this,

2) The hesitancy of the Federal Reserve to provide as much economic support in the future as they have in the past in terms of interest rate reductions and Quantitative Easing (QE) for buying bonds and such,

3) a deteriorating economy and corporate earnings due to the combination of the above two factors which is likely (at some point) to result in substantial stock market declines and corresponding gains in low-risk, safe haven investments such as bonds and bond funds/ETFs. Much of the gains experienced in the stock market tend to be earnings, economy, and policy related.

These are some of things I’m seeing on the horizon right now. Lots of things to ponder and position for – especially since historical, low-risk, safe haven investments seem to be poised to regain their previous luster in the years to come. As such, perhaps one of the better longer-term investment strategies might be to start buying into longer term bonds and bond funds/ETFs.

For perspective, take a look at the 10-year, 20-year, and 30-year treasury yields (prices move in the opposite direction of yields) which had been falling for 40 about years but are now starting to normalize a bit. The last time they went up consistently was during the 1960s and 1970s but are now starting to rise again.

The bottom line is the prices of bonds and bond funds/ETFs are starting to normalize a bit which means substantial gains could be experienced by bond market and bond fund/ETF investors in the years to come. So, it might be wise to start positioning accordingly.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/).

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success #bonds #bondmarket

Factors to Consider When Managing Risk and Adjusting Investment Strategies Over Time

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

This article is about some of the factors a solid investor considers when managing risk and making adjustments in investment strategies over time. I recently made the decision to remove funds from my investment account to pay off my mortgage on my investment property as well as the second mortgage on my home. You might question such a decision given that, significant gains can generally be made in the stock market over time and, from a seasonal standpoint, the highest gains typically occur in the stock market between November and April. Well, there were two primary reasons why I made this decision:

(1) The primary stock market index that I track, the S&P 500 (SPX), has gained over 200% over the past six years while the long term average is approximately 7% per year. This indicates that, at some point, it is likely these more recent outsized gains will revert to the mean perhaps by the SPX registering several years of mediocre gains or perhaps even substantial losses. Paying off these mortgages is essentially the equivalent of experiencing guaranteed 4-5% annual gains over the next twenty to thirty years and, given the outsized gains experienced to date, and the potential for mean reversion, this might turn out to be a much better gain over the long term versus risking what I have and investing in something that is far less certain.

(2) Substantially reducing the size of my investment account curbs my risk taking in the stock market and, should substantial losses be experienced in the future, these will have a much more limited impact on my financial position overall.

Years ago I was firmly against using investment funds to pay off mortgages, because the potential stock market gains far outweighed the typical interest rates and the associated tax benefits, but the times have changed and I am now in favor of doing just that; especially for those investors within six or seven years of retirement. I recommend, however, that investors 10+ years away from retirement instead regularly sell shares of their investments so that they will have cash available to take advantage of stock market declines when they happen. In the present investing environment, I prefer cash over investing in bonds or bond funds due to interest rates being at historical lows and the likelihood that interest rates will begin rising over the next few years. According to one article, based on historical data, even as little as a 1% rise in interest rates over a period of six months (a 0.25% rate hike per Fed meeting – the Fed meets every six weeks), which is a reasonable expectation, could result in a 5.4% loss in bonds and the bond funds which track them. So I recommend steering clear of bonds and bond funds at least until interest rates “normalize” a bit. Cash might be a better option until this happens, because you would then only experience losses due to inflation (about a 2% inflation rate per year is a reasonable expectation). However, the losses experienced in bonds and bond funds would be in addition to losses due to inflation. So that 5.4% loss I alluded to earlier would effectively amount to a 7.4% loss overall when also including the inflationary effect. Of course, there are times when the bond market might do well, especially when there is substantial fear in the stock market and people sell their stocks and buy bonds instead, but it is likely that these spikes will be short lived and temporary in nature. Furthermore, timing these spikes is likely to prove to be difficult both when buying into and when selling out of these. I believe a much safer way to invest going forward is cashing out from time to time and using that cash to buy stocks during stock market declines. Another option would be to purchase portfolio protection such as volatility products which rise when overall stock markets fall.

In summary, the risk-reward of the overall stock market is no longer as favorable as it has been in the past, the risk-reward of the overall bond market appears to be highly unfavorable in nature with the exception of short term spikes due to fear in the stock market, and cash appears to be “king” given the investing environment we are rapidly approaching so that we can capitalize on potential stock market declines. I have a solid risk management strategy that I developed specifically for use in investing environments such as this, for the clients that I work with, so feel free to contact me if you’d like to find out more.

Each of the above are indications that it might make sense to tread carefully going forward with respect to your investments. Effectively managing your risk and having cash available to take advantage of future compelling investment opportunities will allow you to succeed in this kind of investing environment. Being a solid investor involves effectively managing risk and taking actions to exit investments which become unfavorable in nature and capitalizing on new investment opportunities which become favorable in nature. By periodically rotating out of investments which become less favorable and into investment opportunities which become more favorable in nature you will realize consistent investment success over time. You won’t make winning investments all of the time, but the point is to use strategies and techniques which allow you to make winning investments for much of the time. I can help in these regards.

This article informs some of the factors a solid investor considers when managing risk and making adjustments in investment strategies over time. Part of being a successful investor, and realizing consistent gains over time, involves recognizing indicators of when to reduce your exposure to certain investment alternatives, and risk overall, when to increase your exposure to certain investment alternatives, and risk overall, and when to cash out and sit on the sidelines patiently awaiting the next compelling investment opportunities and favorable investing environments overall.

Please contact me if you need any assistance with any of your financial planning, management, and/or investing needs as this is one of the areas that I actively perform life coaching and training in. Also feel free to click on “Financial Planning, Management, and Investing Related Posts” to the sidebar on the right or below (depending upon which device you are using to view this article) for helpful tips on how to become a solid investor.

Other articles that I’ve written related to financial planning, management, and investing include:
(1) Reasons to Sell or Short-Sell Stocks and Other Investments
(2) Risk: How Much Should You Take When Investing Your Money?
(3) Using Technical Indicators and Charts to Guide Stock Market Activities and Using Price Averaging to Manage Risk
(4) Using Bollinger Bands, Stochastics, and Other Indicators to Guide Stock Market Activities
(5) Using Moving Averages and Price Averaging to Realize Consistent Gains in the Stock Market

These articles provide helpful tips on how to become a solid investor so read through some of these if you think they might be helpful to you. In addition, in case some of you would like to follow along, here is where I regularly post about my stock market activities. So feel free to visit this page if you’d like to follow what I’m doing in the stock market at any given time.

For those that did not know, I generally perform life coaching and training services in two primary areas: 1) Personal and Professional Improvement, Development, and Growth, and 2) Financial Planning, Management, and Investing. As such, I generally alternate the articles that I write via my blogs between these two topic areas. This particular article is associated with the second area that I life coach in. So if you don’t have much interest in financial planning, management, and investing, rest assured that the next article that I write will be in the area that you might have greater interest in; the personal and professional improvement, development, and growth area. You can also follow me on Twitter if you like at: Joseph M Brennan Jr @ BrighterDaysLC

Joseph M. Brennan Jr.
CEO/Life Coach – Brighter Days Life Coaching
“Your Brighter Days Life Coach for Life”

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