The Winter Solstice and New Year’s Eve celebrations are behind us and the real work of engagement with 2022 has begun. For me, this period is a time of inward reflection, assessing what I have given of myself in the past year and assessing the lessons which can be applied towards even greater clarity of purpose in the year ahead.
In choosing the name "Centered Wealth," Jina and I set our intentions to serve our family of clients in ways beyond core money management responsibilities. Our invitation is to explore the other variables that go into a deepening experience of fulfillment. Our primary goal is to support our clients in expanding their criteria of success surrounding money and investments. This includes attention to introspection, community engagement, environmental advocacy, and philanthropy; all interwoven elements that we believe contribute to a greater experience of “centered wealth.”
With the rise of partisan rancor at all levels of our nation’s politics combined with the Covid pandemic and rapid technological innovation, we all are experiencing heightened levels of uncertainty, even fear, for our collective future. This reignites my commitment to feel fully in the moment while also reminding myself that I have a choice in how I respond to the very real and pressing issues of the day. What is the best way to respond to this media tidal wave which continually messages economic uncertainties along with social and environmental breakdown?
During my time trading futures, I quickly learned that making investment decisions from a place of fear typically led to bad outcomes. Very often, the best investment decisions are made during highly charged moments in which clarity comes from self-reflection and the commitment to time tested investment principles (“buy low, sell high”). Unfortunately, fear often drives the opposite dynamic of “selling low” only to be followed by euphoria which causes the investor to “buy high.”
Against this backdrop, I invite us all to not feed the ever-present click-bait of fear and uncertainty, but to see this moment as an invitation to step out of this herd mentality and reclaim a deeper inner peace that comes from quieting our attention and purposefully applying our unique gifts in service of life. This requires cultivating the capacity to stand in the midst of never-ending uncertainty while firmly in touch with our inner compass. This sounds very lofty, I know, in the face of all the headlines compelling us to anxiousness. And yet, in my view, it is the very foundation for our wellbeing, and by extension the wellbeing of our families, our community, and the planet.
I offer a Haiku that came to me during the process of writing this communication:
In uncertain times
Follow the breath to silence
Mindful, peace is choice
When we talk of a paradigm shift, we often think that the changes we seek will come from macro government policy or outside influence. In fact, government policy follows the collective consciousness of the people. Societal changes unfold when enough of us make the inner commitment to the behavior change sufficient to drive society to a turning point. Primarily, this will involve our collective reclaiming of active citizenship from the current outdated model of passive consumerism. Recall the famous quote from Margaret Meade, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Many of you have heard me refer to the 21st Century as the Fourth Industrial Revolution which is being driven by what I call “The Sustainability Megatrend.” With a transformation of this magnitude, uncertainty is amplified as the old paradigm gives way to the new. The leap from scientific reductionism to whole systems design is a massive undertaking. The survival of the species demands that we go through this evolutionary leap. The future is indeed fraught with uncertainty as the old paradigm institutions give way to the new (renewable energy, quantum computing and cryptocurrency are prime examples). However, I want to remind all that this transition also holds tremendous opportunities to grow new regenerative investment models which go beyond the exclusive focus on financial return on investment to produce a more enduring “blended return” that actually nourishes life (The World Tree offering is a good example). Of course, the other side of this wheel of “creative destruction” also presents us with a host of uncertainties on how to deliver a cost-effective path to a more regenerative, sustainable economy. Welcome to the evolutionary process!
Indeed, the “interesting times” in which we find ourselves reinforces the purpose upon which Jina and I founded Centered Wealth: “To support an approach to building wealth which actively values the well-being of the body, heart, mind, spirit, community and world.” To realize this vision, we invite each of you to cultivate an inner sense of self sufficiency in response to the fear and uncertainty of our times. As your financial advisors, we commit to build off that foundation using time tested principles surrounding life/financial planning along with the best portfolio tools derived from modern portfolio theory. We believe this combination will deliver the valuable experience of Centered Wealth.
