On this day of love, a thread about love and money with a some research that I think will surprise you: If you find the topic of money causing friction in your first (or third) year of marriage, you’re not alone. “In both the 1st and 3rd years of marriage, money was most often reported as a topic of marital disagreement. Beating out leisure, family of origin, children and religion.

Over the last few weeks I've been sharing a series of behavioral tips that can be applied to everything from wealth management to marketing and everything in between.

I've compiled them all below in a thread: Behavioral tip: Emphasize losses to discourage an unwanted behavior.

We’ve been taught to not say anything if we have nothing nice to say, so sometimes avoid talk of negativity.

Folks are more prone to act to avoid loss than seek gain so don’t be afraid to talk about dangers.

21 Financial Resolutions for 2021 (and 20 Things We are Leaving in 2020):

21 resolutions for 2021

Spend less than you make, period

Work with an advisor to get a formal financial plan

Own the world: diversify within and between asset classes Splurge, but only infrequently to maximize happiness

Read at least one book per month

Invest in your mind and skillset

Spend money in ways that increase happiness: charitable giving and time with loved ones

Automate every part of your financial life

A pretty-darn-exhaustive "This I Believe" as it pertains to money, markets and human behavior.

1/many

Humankind’s greatest asset is an ability to build trust through shared commitment to pro-social fictions. Capital markets and money are perhaps the most universally cherished and highest functioning of all of these shared narratives.

This emphasis on communal narratives means that we tend to reason in social rather than objective terms.

20 financial resolutions for 2020 and 19 things we are leaving in '19:

20 resolutions for 2020:

Spend less than you make, period

Work with an advisor to get a formal financial plan

Own the world: diversify within and between asset classes Splurge, but only infrequently to maximize happiness

Read at least one book per month

Invest in your mind and skillset

Spend money in ways that increase happiness: charitable giving and time with loved ones

Make one extra mortgage payment

1/many: Today's soapbox is my favorite soapbox of all; the importance of integrating meaning/purpose/values into our work. There are at least 4 reasons to do this: deepens client relationships, does good in the world, improves behavior, makes money. The last few decades have seen incredible improvements in:
- poverty
- infant mortality rates
- violent crime (down 50% in US since '97)
- Global GDP per capita

Despite the horrible stuff we see on the news, the world is getting better for most people.