LeClair Wealth Management at Raymond James

04/28/2022

Depreciation update #1. On my last post I discussed the powerful concept of the depreciation curve that is associated with most assets. So here's an update...

The Range Rover on the right was acquired at 41% of MSRP in October 2021. My expected sale was 38% of MSRP. So how did I do? The realized sale was 37.5% of MSRP. Not too bad for an amateur!

The Aston Martin on the left was acquired at 46% of MSRP. I expect to sell this at 40% of MSRP. As you can see, my expectations are not to come out ahead or breakeven. The goal is to have a total cost of ownership lower than on a "normal" vehicle. For me, this is a hobby. However, these concepts apply to all assets from personal to business.

Comment below on ways you have found to minimize depreciation in your personal or professional life.

10/12/2021

Depreciation is one of the most powerful concepts in business. It pays to study depreciation curves both personally and professionally.

Each of these vehicles are model year 2016. The Porsche was acquired at 67% of MSRP and sold 5 months later at 72% of MSRP. The Range Rover was acquired at 41% of MSRP. The expected sale of the Range Rover at the end of 2022 is 38% of MSRP.

Did the chip shortage help in the case of the Porsche? Absolutely! However, that's not the point. The point is acquiring assets at a time when the depreciation curve begins to flatten pays off!

Comment below on your tips for learning depreciation

09/16/2021

In certain cases, taking a less traditional route may be a better financial fit. Here, we explore three scenarios where it may make sense to be a retirement rebel.

www.raymondjames.com

09/15/2021

Talking to family members about estate planning and legacies can be uncomfortable. Here are a few suggestions to help you broach this tricky topic and set your heirs up for better success.

www.raymondjames.com

09/10/2021

Charitable giving was up last year. Consider these tax-effective strategies as you think through this year's gifts:

www.morningstar.com

09/09/2021

Anyone with a life insurance policy – even if it's in a trust – needs to know about this new tax law:

www.forbes.com

03/29/2021

YC's Advice on Pitching for Entrepreneurs 🚀

Founders, what are some generic guiding principles for your upcoming pitch?

Y Combinator has helped launch over 2,000 companies. To name a few: DoorDash, AirBnB, Coinbase and Dropbox.

Over the thousands of pitches they have heard, here is some of their most common advice agnostic of the presentation you give:

1️⃣ Be excited, don't sound memorized
2️⃣ Explain what exactly you do, and do it quickly
3️⃣ Don't be modest and hide good things, highlight them specifically early on
4️⃣ Don't use words you wouldn't use in a normal conversation
5️⃣ Use simple charts: if people are busy reading charts, they'll stop listening to you
6️⃣ If you should be generating revenue but show a different metric, the audience will be suspicious
7️⃣ TAM should be bottom up, not top down
8️⃣ Titles should describe the slide
9️⃣ Slides need to be reentrant: each should make sense and make your case individually
🔟 Screenshots don't make for good slides

Regardless of what product or service you are pitching, ensure to follow these guidelines to increase the quality and success rate of your pitch.

Is there any key advice you would add? Let us know below. 👇


Credit: Aaron Harris & YC

03/23/2021

Don't Make These 10 Entrepreneur Mistakes 🦁

Starting a company, but worried about making a rookie mistake and failing?

➡️ Nokia had a paper mill and made rubber boots before it became a telecommunications company
➡️ Twitter was once a podcasting platform named Odeo
➡️ Macy's only took off once it closed its store in Massachusetts and relocated to Sixth Avenue in NYC

Today's successful enterprises offer many lessons on how to avoid mistakes in the early days. Why start from scratch?

Instead, learn from you predecessors and avoid the following mistakes common to new startups:

1️⃣ Going it alone (Larry Ellison's Oracle is an exception)
2️⃣ Skimping on the business plan
3️⃣ Handling money incorrectly
4️⃣ Lacking the ability to pivot
5️⃣ Thinking too small and targeting a very nice market
6️⃣ Choosing the wrong location
7️⃣ Ignoring a hunch
8️⃣ Launching at an inopportune time
9️⃣ Getting the hiring princess wrong
🔟 Having too much outside influence

Pencil down these mistakes to avoid becoming another startup tale of disaster.

Are there any mistakes to add? 👇💬

Steven LeClair - I help executives manage financial success

03/15/2021

What Are Some Unknown Failures of Today's Highly Successful Entrepreneurs? 💡

How did a $1.5 trillion company today overcome multiple large failures in the past?

Yes, Jeff Bezos and Amazon experienced several major business fiascos:

⏺ Amazon's Fire Smartphone: wouldn't sell, even at $0.99

⏺ Amazon Local Register: Square and PayPal conquered the market

⏺ Amazon's Askville: could not compete with Quora or Yahoo Answers

⏺ Amazon's Destinations: never penetrated the market to sell travel deals

Their approach? Reframing these failures as part of an innovative strategy.

Jeff Bezos believes that, for entrepreneurs and companies to succeed and scale, failure has to be part of the growth.

Amazon might have taken a $170 million write-off due to the Fire Phone's failure, but the device's innovative voice recognition software inspired the future path to Echo and Alexa. In January 2019, Amazon had already sold more than 100 million Alexa devices.

Entrepreneurs, don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to fail or not to learn when you do.

What were your biggest failures and what did you learn from them? 👇💬

Steven LeClair - I help executives manage financial success

03/10/2021

Is Diversification a Good or Bad Investment Strategy?

Everyone thinks diversification is good—very few have truly ‘diversified' portfolios

In my experience, people often assume that it means investing in a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. And while this can be the best approach for some, I want to challenge that overly narrow definition of ‘diversification'.

There are really four asset classes to choose between paper, real estate, commodities, and businesses. If your goal was to build a truly diverse portfolio, then you would have stakes in most of these different categories.

Interestingly enough though, some of the most successful individuals I've worked with don't have their net worth spread evenly across these different categories. They tend to be specialists—they focus intensely on one to two of these categories and build their wealth by mastering that asset class.

What are your thoughts?
Do you think it's better to be a specialist, or a generalist when it comes to wealth-building?

Let's have a discussion in the comments! 👇💬


Steven LeClair - I help executives manage financial success

02/24/2021

🔎 How to Spot an Incompetent Leader 🔎

The key is distinguishing between confidence and competence.

Incompetent leadership is exactly what leads to low levels of employee engagement, and the high levels of passive job seeking and self-employment we're seeing today.

The good news: there are valid assessments that can identify the systematic individual differences in how people present themselves, and what that says about their leadership style and competence.

The bad news: very few organizations are making such assessments.

Here are some questions drawn from such an assessment that can be used to evaluate leadership potential:
👉 Do you have an exceptional talent for leadership?
👉 Would most people want to be like you?
👉 Do you rarely make mistakes at work?
👉 Are you blessed with natural charisma?
👉 Are you able to achieve anything you want, just by putting your mind to it?

As it turns out, these questions can reliably measure arrogance and overconfidence. Two characteristics that are common among leaders who are confident, but not competent.

What do you think?
Agree? Disagree?
Share your thoughts in the comments 👇💬


Steven LeClair - I help executives manage financial success