“There are three things that I know for a fact in the world,” David Letterman recently said after receiving the 2017 Mark Twain Prize for Humor. “These are universal. Absolutely universal. 1) If somebody comes up to you with a bag of M&M’s, pours out a handful in your hand, automatically, you will start doing this (shaking hand back and forth). Absolutely no control over that. You’ll be doing this before you know it. 2) If you pull a nose out of your hair…er…a hair out of your nose, I don’t care if you do it a hundred times, each time you will sneeze. And 3) if you help someone, in any way, big or small, automatically you will feel good about yourself. Those are the three things that I know. And I’ve seen a guy pull a nose out of his hair. Years ago at the fair”.
______________________
2016 and 2017 were big years for our practice. Among many incremental improvements, the most important thing we did was to clarify and focus our mission. This clarified mission has energized our practice and is what motivates all of us to do the best for our clients every day.
I realized recently, however, we haven’t done a very good job of communicating this to our clients, and that our clients would benefit from a greater understanding of our mission. So, in addition to writing more this year on markets, the economy and financial planning, one of my goals is to write more to about topics related to our mission. We believe it will inspire and motivate many of you like it has us.
So, what is our clarified mission? It’s a two-fold mission: 1) Helping clients Plan with Purpose, Retire Well, and Make a Lasting Difference and 2) Helping churches and faith-based non-profits Strengthen Financial Discipleship, and Increase Giving for Greater “Kingdom Impact.”
We realize the second half of this mission may not resonate with everyone, and may even turn off some. But that’s ok. It’s who we are, and it energizes us. And everyone does benefit from the first part of our mission. Everyone benefits from planning with purpose, retiring well, and making a lasting difference. David Letterman said it well. All the research on purpose and happiness shows it. And a rabbi that I try my best to follow by the name of Jesus told us this over 2000 years ago, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
We’re excited about our clarified mission, and want to help everyone we can to benefit from it.
As many of you may know, in addition to my MBA and training in finance, I also have a Master of Divinity and started my career in ministry and missions. So, I also plan to write more on topics in the Bible related to on money this year, drawing from the abundance of material on this subject in scripture. We’ll explore topics like generosity, contentment, debt and saving as well as a host of others. I’ll be calling these articles “Christian Perspectives.” I hope you enjoy and benefit from these articles. Whether you are a Jesus follower or not, I think you’ll find it interesting to learn what this ancient collection of writings has to say about money.
If you’d like to see the actual video of David Letterman’s speech, you can see it here at 7:05 into the video. It’s a lot funnier when you watch it. While you’re watching I need to go pull a nose out of my hair.
Here’s to setting your money on mission. Thanks for the opportunity to serve you,
Greg
Gregory A Carr MBA, AAMS®, CKA®
Financial Advisor
Accredited Asset Management Specialist
Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Carr Wealth Management and Cambridge are not affiliated.
