We find our world an interesting place these days and want to give you two helpful perspectives in this communication. One relates to the financial markets directly, which you would expect us to comment on as your advisor. The other relates to happiness in life, which both directly and indirectly relates to your finances. We hope you find both educational and useful.
In an unprecedented move, yesterday saw the largest bond offering EVER by a private company; Apple’s $17,000,000,000 ($17 Billion) issuance. That event by itself is remarkable, but two other related tidbits were even more startling to us;
- The offering was oversubscribed, with more than $52 Billion in orders by hungry investors.
- The enticement to buyers; interest rates of 0.511% on the 3 year (yup Dorothy, that’s half a percent), 1.076% on the 5 year, and with a 2.415% yield on the benchmark 10 year[i].
You really didn’t have to do well in 3 grade math to figure out that if inflation is 3% (and some are worried it could be much more), you are unmistakably, I’d say masochistically, LOCKING yourself into a purchasing loss on your money. The ‘certainty’ of the offering is not 100% perfect as all companies have some risk of repayment, but with Apple it’s a good bet to likely be’ safe’. The offering suggests to me that happiness for many comes from allure in the offering to know you are getting more than the US Treasury’s 1.67% 10-yr yield. However, you take an almost certain purchasing power loss and no growth for this pleasure. If that brings you happiness, “More power to ya”.
In the other lesson, let’s talk openly about what brings happiness. We know you come to us for a portion of that happiness, for well-managed money and finding that difficult balance between safety and growth, and we never forget that pressure and expectation. That’s our job, and we take it very seriously. However, our most rational innate drive that we have is for happiness, and we offer to you the results of the World Database of Happiness, located in Rotterdam, Holland for a distillation of the top 10 things that determine human happiness (supported by this research and others);
- Having a short memory
- Exacting fairness
- Having lots of friendships
- Being spiritual
- Thinking ahead
- Developing a skill
- Having personal control over one’s life
- Defining success
- Good genes
- Liking yourself
Provided here is a link for the article with more explanation for those that want to read more (http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-things-that-determine-happiness.html ). What we observe is that for most the capture of life’s vibrancy, with all its ups and downs, is worth more than the quiet certainty of known loss. We were simply created for more.
May your days find you with a spring in your step and this advice lead you to greater joy.
[i] Wall Street Journal (May 1, 2013)
