My favorite business podcast is New York University Professor Scott Galloway's "The Prof G Show." He generally has great guests, and the professor is brilliant, high octane and somewhat nuts. His new book, "Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity," talks about many of the disruptions that will permanently occur from this year of living dangerously.
Prof G talks about "gangster moves" (don't ask me why) — those brilliant things that companies can do to cement their competitive advantages. But gangster moves are not limited to companies. Here are some for your personal financial planning.
The most important gangster move in financial planning is wanting what you have. In our society, we either want more — a bigger home, a larger retirement account, a nicer car — or less — lower taxes, fewer competing needs, less uncertainty. I am not making a case for stasis, but the problem with more or less is that it keeps us from valuing what we currently have.
Clients who are always onto the next thing tend to find their satisfaction ephemeral. While it is true that we are all lacking things, we also have a tremendous amount. When we appreciate what we have, the emotional roller coaster of not getting what we think we want is minimized.
The second gangster move is accepting that we are not always going to keep what we want. Marriages end, businesses fail, kids move out, we get old. Appreciating what we have does not mean that we are going to have it forever; it means that we can value it until it is gone.
Something will replace it, although it may only be a memory and not something tangible. Our clients who have done a tremendous job of saving tend to be terrible spenders. They hold onto what they accumulated rather than spend it or give it away.
Ironically, this clinging tends to make them less secure because they fear losing what they have. If we accept that nothing is forever, we will learn how to deal with inescapable loss.
A third gangster move is to get outside yourself. Galloway points out in the book that "wealth cushions the small blows — lost jacket, an overlooked electric bill, a flat tire — while insecurity magnifies them." Getting outside our own lives and helping others financially or through volunteering reinforces the first two gangster moves.
