Listen to our newest podcast episode where we discuss the unpredictability of markets and how they influence financial plans and the way the finance industry is portrayed in movies and TV. The full transcription is below or you can follow this link to listen.
Untucked Episode 74
Meghan Tait: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Welcome to the newest episode of Untucked. Today we are going to talk about Philly Sports , um, per usual, but lots of exciting things happening right now. Um, we’re going to discuss the unpredictability of events and factors that influence markets. And really what that means for financial plans.
Uh, that’ll be our coach’s corner discussion. And then we’re going to talk about the way they, the, the way that the finance industry is portrayed in media, TV shows, movies, uh, specifically. And then as this’ll probably be our last pod before Halloween, the top five scariest. Enjoy. The opinions expressed on this podcast are our own, and they do not reflect the opinions or views of FC Advisory, the Financial Coach group, or the New Wealth project.
Nothing discussed on this podcast should be interpreted as investment advice. Welcome to episode 74 of [00:01:00] Untucked. This is Megan
Jeff Mastronardo: and Mike. And this is Jeff. So in the spirit of the MLB playoff,
Did you guys know that they go through approximately like 120 baseballs per game? I didn’t know that. So
Mike Traynor: does that mean all the ones that get scuffed at the plate don’t get used again? Scuffed
Jeff Mastronardo: at the plate. Yeah. That makes sense. Foul balls that go into the STA home runs. Yeah. When they make a last out and they’re running off the field and they throw it into the stand, I got about 120.
It’s like 275,000 baseballs are used a season. Um, shouldn’t it be more? Yeah, so remember like they play each other 30 teams ish, 162 games, but they play each other. I mean, you guys can fact check it. I’m just throwing it out there.
Meghan Tait: You were [00:02:00] prepared for that response? Absolutely
Jeff Mastronardo: prepared for it. . Cause I watched the games and I’m like, Oh my God, that one hit the dirt.
And I just see them immediately throw it away and I’m like, Like how many baseballs did they go through in one game? There’s only nine innings. What did they do with them? Did they
Mike Traynor: just throw ’em all in the crowd?
Jeff Mastronardo: It’s a great question, Mike. You answer. Just got an answer. They don’t reuse them for games.
Right. But they authenticate some of them and sell them. Like this game, this ball was used. In this game. People buy them. They also use them for like batting practice and some of the minor league stuff. Mm-hmm. . Okay. Yeah. Cool. Do you guys have any other questions about that? Fun fact?
Meghan Tait: No. Very well prepared.
Thank you. We got some exciting Philly sports to talk about. Start with the Phils, Do you
Jeff Mastronardo: wanna start with the Phils?
Meghan Tait: Sure. Yeah. I think. I mean,
Jeff Mastronardo: since we’ve had our last pod mm-hmm. , I think they’ve made the playoffs beat St. Louis and beat Atlanta. Uh,
Meghan Tait: yeah, you you’re probably right. They might have been in, [00:03:00]
Jeff Mastronardo: Doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. I mean, the fact they beat St. Louis, that was, that was nice. I mean, we kind of felt like they had a good chance. Did not think they were getting past the Braves. Yep. And handedly, Yeah, Handedly like three to one in exciting fashion. , I might add
Meghan Tait: As exciting as baseball.
Baseball can be. Yes. Well, I mean,
Jeff Mastronardo: you guys may not think it’s exciting because I don’t think you watched any of it. I watched the Brave series. I
Mike Traynor: watched a little bit of it. I think I might have seen the, the eighth or ninth inning of one of ’em. Okay. Was it when they came back or is that against St. Louis?
When they came back in the ninth and one? I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. He
Jeff Mastronardo: watched a comeback. I watched, I
Mike Traynor: watched a little bit of, of, of it, which was against my protocol, but I did. Now you’re in, in, I have to be.
Jeff Mastronardo: I mean, , You were an nlc record Nlcs guy is [00:04:00] when you said you would jump in. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you guys feel about the Padre Series?
Meghan Tait: Well, considering that the first time I watched the Padres was two days ago, not sure. I have a lot to say.
Mike Traynor: Do not like their fans.
Jeff Mastronardo: What Don’t you like a loser? .
Mike Traynor: I saw some clips of, of them doing stupid. Like really? The lame and
Meghan Tait: stuff, stuff? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty lame. Their colors are also also really bad.
Like how do you have a San Diego team? Brown and yellow. Melissa
Jeff Mastronardo: said the same thing last night, like they should be tropical. Was her, was her next comment. I don’t know
Meghan Tait: about like tropical, like I don’t need like Tommy Bahama, but I need like a. ?
Jeff Mastronardo: Well, they used to be blue. Yeah. I don’t know why they’ve changed their color.
I think they’ve changed their colors like three times. Okay. Um, they actually have like a tropical themed uni. But how do you feel, I mean, do you think, how do, how are you feeling about the Phil’s chances [00:05:00] when there was,
Mike Traynor: um, what was it for? Nothing. It was for nothing. Yeah. I, I was feeling very positive and after.
Debacle of an inning when every single Padre’s player just lit up every pitcher. Yeah. Um, very much less so.
Jeff Mastronardo: Okay.
Meghan Tait: Yeah, I think wheelers should just pitch every game. I agree. .
Jeff Mastronardo: So with guy called the radio station and he’s like, What? Why do these guys, why do these pitchers need four or five days rest? , Like, why?
Like you wanna talk about stupidity?
Mike Traynor: Right. Maybe the Philly fans are worse than than pod, you mean?
Meghan Tait: I mean, I think they’re, obviously winning two out there would’ve been awesome, but to come back to Philly for three games in a row with a game in hand, like that’s awesome.
Jeff Mastronardo: I think it’s, yeah, I mean, I, They’re in a great position.
I think they’re in a great position. [00:06:00] I think the crowd will definitely be a factor. Friday, Saturday. And if they can win two or three, you gotta win one in San Diego. Or just end it here. Or
Meghan Tait: just end it here. I know that’s very difficult to do, but I
Mike Traynor: know I text you last night, but how, how do you hit about, hit a guy with like a change up when it’s like a one, two count in that sy uh, situation.
How do you hitting and it almost
Jeff Mastronardo: went behind him. Yeah. I mean, it shouldn’t, like I’m okay with you not throwing a pitch near the strike zone for. Pitch two . You can’t hit ’em. Like I
Mike Traynor: understand you, you’re trying to throw like a, like rip a fastball, like inside and it kind of gets away from me and clips him in the elbow.
I get that, but it’s like
Jeff Mastronardo: a change up. I, I mean, I, I put, like I put last night on Nola, dude, I mean, they were up for nothing for ’em on a fluky inning. Like we didn’t like, We weren’t hitting the crap out a ball. They literally like the son. Mm-hmm. gave us four runs. You got [00:07:00] a four run lead dude. Which we never give Nola a lead.
He’s always like, he, he’s always like, shut down pitching. And then like, we lose like two nothing. Um, we don’t, we don’t hit for him. Dude, you gotta be better than that man. You just gotta be better than that. Let your brother get a hit off you.
Mike Traynor: It’s crap. What else you got on pH?
Jeff Mastronardo: Not much. I mean, other than, you know, what a few more points that we can dabble into.
Uh, I mean, how about Bryce? Dude? Yeah, he’s a th stud. He was doing pretty bad towards the end of the season and we were thinking about his thumbs bothering him. Um, and he’s been on fire in the playoffs. The vibes are good. I had a buddy from like New York, New Jersey, text me and he was like, Yeah, well, you know, as soon as Bryce cools off, like he can’t stay.
For this long, like, geez, he’s gotta stay hot for two more weeks, like a week and a half. And guess what? If he’s not hot, [00:08:00] Schl will get hot or boom will get hot. Or I mean they just have a lot of good hitters. So I’m not really concerned if like somebody goes cold, By the way, Schwarber’s bomb cuz have no reaction to.
I feel like I should bring other people in to talk Philly Sports , or at least to talk Phillies. I,
Mike Traynor: I mean, he, he crushed
Meghan Tait: it. I like can’t hit it any better. You just said it, You said it was a Yep, it was.
Jeff Mastronardo: Let’s move on. ,
Meghan Tait: go. Well, I have, I have a segue to the flyers. Did you see what the flyers are doing on Sunday?
I did. Yeah. So they’re opening, I guess the flyers play Sunday night. They’re opening up the Wells Fargo Center at like two o’clock. So you can watch the fills, dude, even though they’re, I mean, they’re gonna be across the street at Citizens Bank. That’s awesome. Yeah, so if you have a ticket to the Flyers game Sunday night, you can get into Wells Fargo at like 2:00 PM to watch the fills.
Jeff Mastronardo: That’s awesome though. Would you ever do [00:09:00] that? Yeah.
Meghan Tait: What? It sounds like a complete and total nightmare. Yeah. Why? But I think it’s awesome, dude. The people insanity. It is
Jeff Mastronardo: just getting, Why is it a nightmare? Go to Xfinity Live. Like go to bar, seen the screen in the Wells Fargo Center. Right. If it’s in your seat, watch it on the big screen to, to your, to your question, Mike.
Absolutely. I would go down, I would tailgate for the Phillies game. I’d go in. Is
Mike Traynor: this only if you had flyers, tickets, or would you just go independently to watch it there? No,
Jeff Mastronardo: I would if I had flyers, tickets, Yeah. And especially if it was like to win the series, like if they win Friday, Saturday, and now it’s Sunday to win the series, there’s going to be 15,000 people there watching it with you and cheering it.
That would be pretty cool. So let’s get in the fly guys.
Mike Traynor: It’s not much. They’re four games in. They won three of ’em. They’re not, uh, dominating any teams. [00:10:00] They’re playing. I mean, they’re kind of getting some good efforts out of some of their young, you know, younger guys. You know, they’re not, I wouldn’t say they’re gonna be, they’re not fun to watch cuz they’re not overly skilled.
You know, it’s, they’re gonna just outwork. Chip away. I mean, they, they fell behind in all four games. Okay. Yeah. Two, nothing. I think it was, I mean, Oh, wow. But, um, who did they play? Uh, they, the first two games they played bad teams, I think Jersey and Vancouver, and then they played Tampa and one, and then Florida and, and lost, but four, I mean, Carter Hart played three of the games.
He looked pretty. , you know, I could see them ended up around 500 at best. Okay. But at best. Still missing a couple key guys. Well, you know, we’ll see how it goes. Um, not a lot of, not a lot of other feedback than [00:11:00] that.
Jeff Mastronardo: So you are your expectations, have they been lifted, given the four games you’ve watched, or are you still like, they’re gonna be the worst team in hockey?
Mike Traynor: No, I don’t think they’re gonna be the worst team in hockey. I don’t, but not far. Not far from it. Okay. So your expectations
Jeff Mastronardo: for them haven’t changed
Mike Traynor: much? Not a ton. Okay. Not a ton. I mean, it’s great. They got off to a decent, like nice start in the first few games that are not owned for, but um, they’re not gonna all of a sudden start packing in the Wells Fargo Center.
Okay. Um, and sp and. I , you know, if they start playing some really good teams, like I think it’s a different story. Different
Jeff Mastronardo: story. So I think our listeners may stop listening cause I mean, it’s gotta be a violation that we started talking flyers before we started talking to Eagles, right? [00:12:00] No, it was,
Mike Traynor: it was Meg’s
Jeff Mastronardo: segue.
It’s okay. . No, I mean the Eagles are six and oh, they just beat Dallas at. Like, can we talk about the birds a little bit? We were gonna get to them. I know, I’m just saying like, I mean, do you guys have any, like, like where’s your level of excitement for the birds come next Sunday?
Mike Traynor: Zero. Because they have a bye.
No, that’s this Sunday. Next Sunday. Oh, I thought you were referring to this coming
Jeff Mastronardo: Sunday ,
Meghan Tait: when they play the Steelers, who might be the worst team in football? Uh, no. It’s exciting. Yeah, it’s fun. Um, the Dallas. Game’s always exciting to watch, even if like, you’re not a huge Eagles fan, you’re not a huge football fan.
It’s just such a big rivalry. Um, yeah. I mean, they’ve been, they’ve been fun. Things look good. And their schedule, I mean, we’ve talked about their schedule, just like from here on out is not that difficult.
Jeff Mastronardo: I think I had them with like three losses by now when we,
Meghan Tait: when we, we did this. [00:13:00] So it’s kind of hard to imagine like I have, I’m under no.
illusion that they’re gonna go undefeated. I’m just hoping that like, this isn’t like they’re peaking too early in the season. You know, you hope that like they’re able to continue to kind of get better each week, even if they’re playing shitty teams so that when games really matter, they’re playing
Jeff Mastronardo: their best football.
I mean, I think they’re gonna continue to get better and when you start six and oh, like they’re almost guaranteed to make it to the playoffs. Yeah. Well, I mean, they win four more games. It’s 10 wins. Like there’s a really good chance to get into the playoffs with 10 wins. They have like 10 games left, like
It’s crazy. To me. It was just like, I, I wasn’t expecting ’em to be this good. Yeah. I think that’s fair. Are they this good? I think they are. I think they are. Okay. You have, you have
Mike Traynor: some hesitation. No, it was a, it was a legit question. Are they like, you know, You know, the old [00:14:00] saying in football, you’re, you are as good as your record.
Your record is, you Like, it’s not, Oh, we’re better than this and we’re just getting bad luck. It’s your, you’re your record. But Jeff, I, I’m gonna say, I’m gonna go on record and say you are getting ahead of yourself with the birds. With Yeah. With like, there’s six and oh and there are 11 games left.
Jeff Mastronardo: I forgot.
Did they play 17 or 16?
Mike Traynor: I think it’s six 17. I think it’s s I think it’s 17. Yeah. Yeah. You know, if they, they end up going four and seven, there’s no, and then they’re 10 and seven.
Jeff Mastronardo: There’s no
Mike Traynor: way they’re going four and seven giants have one loss. Dude. It’s not like they’re three games ahead of anyone in the division.
Jeff Mastronardo: there’s, I just, I think the rest of the teams in our division are cra I think the giant stink, I think the commander stink and we just, we just beat up on Dallas. So, I mean, I, I think we run away with our division because I think it’s early and I think [00:15:00] those teams got some wins that they’re just gonna, they’re gonna, their record’s gonna go down, I think are, Yeah, I’m probably getting ahead of myself, Mike, but
Mike Traynor: I mean,
Does Hertz have to stay healthy for this to happen?
Jeff Mastronardo: Yes. Yes. Okay. Of course. What do we got? Gardner? Minsu is our backup. Is that our backup? Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, yeah, lived in a van and . I think that’s, that’s like the deciding factor. It’s like we weren’t sure how good Hertz was gonna. and he turned out to be really good, or It has been really good this year.
I think if he continues, yeah. Like they might have like 13 wins. Might go seven and four. Okay. You’re here first , right? I’ll take that bet. I would bet on that. .
Meghan Tait: Um, I guess, we’ll the Sixers a little bit. They open up at home tonight. They lost their first game of the season. So while [00:16:00] every other team in Philadelphia was winning, they lost, um, James Harden’s.
Healthy,
Jeff Mastronardo: No hammy issues.
Meghan Tait: Not so far. So we’ll see. Long season.
Jeff Mastronardo: Talk to me a little bit about expectations. The Boston game, I heard I didn’t watch a
Meghan Tait: lot of it because I didn’t either because of the fills, but I.
Jeff Mastronardo: Jojo, uh, didn’t look so good. I just,
Meghan Tait: I heard he was like going through the motions. Yeah. Um, they have not spent much time playing together as a group.
He only played in one preseason game. Um, I, I’m not worried about it.
Jeff Mastronardo: Didn’t they play all last year? ?
Meghan Tait: No, they play half the year, half the year. I mean, PJ Tucker started and he’s an off-season signing. Uh, so no. I mean, like, they’ll, it’ll take some time to adjust. Boston’s good. I’m not, certainly not raising any alarm bells at this point, but excited to [00:17:00] see how a season goes.
Jeff Mastronardo: I’m concerned.
Meghan Tait: Are you just saying not to say that you’re concerned after one
Jeff Mastronardo: game? I’m concerned that Joelle looked like he was going through the motions in game one in Boston. Yeah, that concerns me. Like, come on dude. It’s game one of the season. Like how do you not come out? I’m not concerned, like Joelle’s not gonna be the player he was last year.
I’m just concerned like do like, like that concerns me. how you don’t come out hot. I
Meghan Tait: think we need you to take like a break from. Talk radio. I won’t do it. Like I, I don’t like maybe go like a week with just like not listening to it. ,
Jeff Mastronardo: this has nothing to do with talk radio. No,
Meghan Tait: no, no. Not this particular sentiment, but the fact that you even have an opinion on concerning things after one game again is [00:18:00] a result of you listening to
Jeff Mastronardo: No, it, it’s a result of me being a Philadelphia sports fan, by the way, which I’ve heard has now transitioned to five for five.
What you like A four for Four Town, right? Philly. Sixers Fliers, Eagles. Now it’s the union. We have to focus. We’re supposed to spend some time on the union. They’re in the playoffs.
Mike Traynor: Then I’m out on Philly Sports . No way.
Jeff Mastronardo: Go Union . Good luck tonight boys. .
Meghan Tait: All right. Coach’s Corner. This article is called Hold Opinions Loosely.
It is from the Humble Dollar Blog written by Adam Grossman. Um, we all know how many different factors can. And do influence markets. And we also understand how difficult it’s predict to, how difficult it is to predict the type and extent of impact or influence these factors may have. This article discusses the unpredictability and how we [00:19:00] should frame it relating, uh, related to our own investment strategies.
I, I
Jeff Mastronardo: really liked how. There was one part of the article where they made a comment where he, where he, he wrote, um, in economics there’s no such thing as equals mc squared type formula. Like there’s approximate. So, So I, I mean that’s what I took from the article that cuz I hate this, I hate the speculation and like the, trying to predict what markets are gonna do by reading data.
because a lot of it comes out, right? The, the product of that research comes out as like, this is what we think is going to happen and you should operate in ranges, not blacks and whites. Which I, which I appreciated to hear. So I don’t think I hear that enough. Cause if I heard it enough, I would, I would remember it more.
Mm-hmm. , whereas it’s like, nope. Um, Merrill Lynch thinks it’s gonna be, you know, the market’s gonna be off [00:20:00] 10% year to. Or this year based on these factors. And I hate that commentary.
Meghan Tait: Just the definitive nature
Jeff Mastronardo: of it. Yep, Yep. And I also, what I also took away, like see how fast does Warren Buffet read ? Like does he, or does he just sit in his office all day and just read like five,
Meghan Tait: like 80% of his time reading 500
Jeff Mastronardo: pages a day?
What is he reading? Yeah. 500 pages a week. Oh, a week, I’m sorry.
Meghan Tait: Yeah. Yeah. But still 80% of his time. That’s a lot.
Jeff Mastronardo: Yeah.
Mike Traynor: What do you I don’t believe it. You don’t believe it? No, I don’t believe anything about that guy. Why not? Cause he’s been, you know, he’s, he’s, he’s been like sainted as this,
Jeff Mastronardo: What’s his, what’s his, um, nickname?
I don’t know. No, what is it? It’s the, um, Where, where does he live? Omaha though. Omaha. The, the something of Omaha. Yeah. Yeah. . Is that lighter now? Is it the Mu No, it’s not the Miracle. It’s the Oracle. The Oracle. That’s it. . He
Meghan Tait: didn’t wanna tell me. I hate [00:21:00] this guy, but I know the answer to your question. No,
Jeff Mastronardo: What’s your beef with Buffet?
I
Mike Traynor: just think he’s enough, with enough with him. Um, I thought that basically the good takeaways from this were the, I talked a lot about the, this sheer unpredictability of events, you know, Covid, for example, you know, yada yada. But more importantly, it’s the, Even if you can predict something, you can never accurately predict what the world’s response will be to it or the, you know, world economy’s response to it.
Like, for example, you know, the money printing that went on after the financial crisis, everyone was so certain it was gonna result in. Inflation hyperinflation interest rates go like, and it was the opposite. I mean, this time around it is contributed big time to it, but there’s just so [00:22:00] much certainty, especially when it comes to interest rates.
It’s always been the case where people believe that they can tell you with certainty where, where rates are going. And it’s the hardest thing to predict. It’s harder to predict rates than, um, You know, stock performance or equity performance, It’s just crazy to me how many, how many people have such certainty around what is going to happen based on what just happened or is in the process of happening.
And I think that the article tries to call that out. And it’s, it’s spot on. It’s spot on. And, and the other point they make somewhere in there is that, to your point, Jeff, about range, is it’s like you just have to. A way to deal with any variety of outcomes. And that’s, we talk about this all the time on here, which is, you know, plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D, even.
And, and that’s the only way to really successfully deal with all the uncertainty that is e, that it has existed forever and it still is to today, and it will [00:23:00] be in the future forever. There’s no, you know, that’s a, that’s a constant and too many people in our industry try. , you know, battle the battle, the fact of life, which is that uncertainty is a fact of life.
Um, and a fact of investing and, and not coming to terms with that. I mean, I don’t know, it’s jo part, uh, job security part, trying to, you know, yeah, sell airtime or newsletters or whatever, what have you. But it’s, it’s, um, simple concepts. Kind of some of the most important ones, especially when he is talking to somebody who’s freaking out about what’s going on and like, you know, the whole what are we doing and what changes are we making and how are we gonna deal with this?
Uh, you know, the, the Rush Ukraine thing and the energy thing and the inflation and whatever. I mean, there are too many variables always at play that are, when you crunch ’em all together, there’s just no way to know what comes out of that. That’s why I laugh at these [00:24:00] macro guys. , you know, invest on the basis of, explain what macro, macro is like, you know, the word macro, it’s like, so it’s, it’s like interest, global interest rates, global G D P, uh, uh, inflation expectations, equity, uh, returns.
Like they, they mash all this stuff together into their little models and they come out with like a, a forecast, right? We think you. Yeah. US stocks are gonna return X this year because of all this stuff. It’s a, it’s a joke to think that you’re, you’re putting all these things into your blender and what’s coming out is anything other than crap.
And
Jeff Mastronardo: that’s kind of the point I was making. Yeah. If, if I, if I’m hearing you correctly, that there’s just too many variables to be able to come out with a definitive, like this is what’s gonna happen.
Mike Traynor: It’s kind of like, I mean, look how sophisticated meteorology is compared to way it used. They can still really only accurately predict, I don’t know, a week [00:25:00] out.
Yeah.
Meghan Tait: You know, and even that’s like not done a
Mike Traynor: hundred percent by now. They’d be able to tell you in a month what, what’s gonna be going on. Really? They’ve improved
Jeff Mastronardo: their balloons yet.
Meghan Tait: No, I think it’s a, it’s obviously a huge responsibility of this industry to, to think about that differently. But then I also think from a consumer standpoint, We as investors have to be more flexible.
We have to be more comfortable with uncertainty and generally people just are not right. They, we, we, I think, look at things and not the three of us. Generally. People look at things very black and white, and it makes these unknown, unexplainable, unpredictable events that much more difficult to stomach because it’s.
W. Now what do we do now? Like how do we react to this as opposed to, Okay, I had no idea this was coming. Nobody had any idea what this was coming like, [00:26:00] but we prepared or we planned for some version of it. Not the exact version that came to fruition, but some version of it. Um, I just don’t think people generally are comfortable with change or uncertainty, and that makes investing really difficult because they want to know if I do this, this is my exact output, and it’s like, That’s impossible.
Yeah. To know
Jeff Mastronardo: that’s not how it works. I thought he made a really great point when he was saying, Hey, when we’re faced with all these uncertainties and things happen and it doesn’t go the way that we’re, that we had planned. And he gives the example, like if you’re thinking about changing your asset allocation or paying down debt, like see if there’s a way you can do it in like half steps.
And I felt like that’s. For some of our clients in the past, like when we have a client that de market tanks and they’re freaking out and let’s say they’re 65% equity, and it’s like we just want to get to cash to just stop the bleeding. [00:27:00] To say to that person, it’s not the ideal solution, but if you just can’t get them to stay invested, why dont we just do like 50 50 stock bond, like just get a little bit more conservative.
That’s gonna be better for. Rather than just putting it all in cash. So I thought that was a good point. And he said, you know, developing a plan that is flexible, you know, and, and something that you, it’s exactly what we do, like developing a plan that’s flexible. One that you can, that you. , hopefully stick with Yeah, that will, that will work in good and bad markets, and that’s something that you’ll stick with, I thought was just great advice.
Meghan Tait: Yeah. I feel like the, the articles or the concepts that we talk mostly about are all so like common sensical, , you know, it’s like, and I, and that’s kind of the point, I guess in, in a way. Like there’s so much unpredictability that even common sense is difficult, like in. Very easy to understand. It’s difficult to practice and to execute upon.
Um, but yeah, I, I mean, I think we all agreed this was a, [00:28:00] a good read
Jeff Mastronardo: where he lost me on, on one section and I just, I wanted to get your takes on it. Um, he said you wanna stay consistent with your investment plan, but you don’t want to be overly wedded to it. There’s a point where consistency can cross over into stubbornness.
What did he mean? Like, does he mean like there’s a point where you change your. .
Mike Traynor: Yeah. I kind of, I remember reading that sentence and thinking the same thing. Like, what
Jeff Mastronardo: are you, what are you trying to say? You just contradicted everything you just wrote. Like, no, that, like, if your plan, unless something from a goal standpoint has changed with you, you, you gotta ride through it.
Like, I can’t think of a circumstance where you, you know, if you’re 90% equity and it gets cut in, it that if you didn’t plan for that, which you have to plan for that, if you’re 90% equity, that you would shift gears. Did you get that same vibe from that, or
Meghan Tait: no? No. That definitely from that statement, but then he goes into that.[00:29:00]
ESOP example, and he kind of like, he’s referring I think to like the stubbornness as unwilling to change. And I think like there’s difference in, in maybe like your opinions on the factors that are occurring. And then the investment strategy as a result of that is kind of how I interpret.
Jeff Mastronardo: Yeah, I mean, you throw ESOP in Big Oak Tree and, and like lowly read at me, I’m not, Yeah.
Like it was
Meghan Tait: probably an unnecessary ad. Yeah. . All right. We good? Yep. So the next topic we wanted to talk about is just, um, portrayal of the finance industry and media. We were talking about this the other day, just a couple of shows, movies, um, that we’ve watched and. The way that these particular, um, shows and movies like depict [00:30:00] everything from banking to Wall Street to um, you know, hedge funds.
And it’s just kind of comical, I guess is maybe where, where we’ll start.
Mike Traynor: Yeah, I’ll start. I mean, cause I have an opinion on all these, you know, um, I jotted down just some of the ones that came to mind. You know, you have Wall Street, the original one with the, the Gordon Gecko. And then you have, you know, um, you know, boiler room, uh, Wolf of Wall Street, the big short margin call arbitrage, billions industry.
Those are just the ones that you think of. Right. And to your point, Mike, they are all such different corners of. The, the, this industry and I think so many people watch some of these shows or movies and they, um, they think it’s all kind of part of the same. For example, like Wolf of Wall Street was [00:31:00] about a boiler room, penny stock, swindling.
Operation. It has, it is nowhere near actual Wall Street, meaning like Goldman Morgan Stanley, the, you know, the, the, the big firms that actually are connected to Wall Street as it’s, as, as it’s kind of known. Um, but I think a lot of people will watch Wolf of Wall Street and they think that’s what like people do in on Wall Street or, or that work in finance or whatever.
And it’s a joke. and then just the, the, the unbelievable license that they, that they take, the writers and the people on the shows that portrayed as a certain way, that’s just absolutely not even close to true. Um, billions comes to mind for me. I think that’s a joke. Andrew Ross Sorkin, who’s in my opinion, famous for doing this stuff.
Um, You know, like just romanticizing it and creating dialogue that’s just so [00:32:00] stupid. It doesn’t happen that way. Boiler room, the Ben Affleck one, I don’t know if you saw that. That was, that was dead on accurate. , really, again, a penny stock swindling operation. It’s not, you know, the big short, which was about, you know, the, the credit crisis and, you know, with the, the housing market collapse and, and all the stuff that was going on behind the scenes there.
Specific story about, you know, the institutional side of the business. That is, that, that was a, um, you know, created the great, you know, the oh 8, 0 9 debacle. Um, you know, and some of the other ones are, are, I thought, pretty, pretty spot on too. That, but, but they’re very specific to like, margin call with, with, uh, Jeremy Irons.
I DT know if you ever saw that one. I didn’t. Mm-hmm. . You know, a, a, a pretty basic story about, you know, kind of, kind of greed and, but, but a firm that was doing a [00:33:00] specific set of things and they got into trouble and he made some bad bets, and it was a kind of a drama and it was good flick. But I guess my point is like all of these, and industry, which is the, the latest one also in the, in my opinion, in the, in the billions category of just, you know, completely unrealistic.
Storylines and characters and dialogue and kind of a pictorial of what these people do for a living, which is just, just not real
Jeff Mastronardo: like in industry, which has kind of got me started on this conversation was like they, There’s one section of that show where there’s like the private wealth management, people like the financial planner.
For the, for the ultra wealthy families, and they’re, it looks like their job is literally just to take them out and like buy them dinner. Like is that, what
Mike Traynor: is that? I wouldn’t call them financial planners. I mean, the, the, the, They’re trying to, right, they’re trying to equate it to the, to the ultra [00:34:00] high net worth divisions of you, Goldman Morgan, um, firms like that where their clientele have like eight and nine figures.
um, of, of investible wealth, and they’re not, it’s not financial planning in the way that we think about it. Right.
Jeff Mastronardo: But are, are those like private? Like is there job like to just take them out and whine and dine them
Mike Traynor: Well, yeah, in part, but also to bring them opportunities that they have, quote unquote access to, that are going to be, um, unique to that ultra high net worth client.
Now we’re getting off on a tangent, I guess. But, um, it’s, I guess the, the over, for me, the overriding point is, you know, all these movies in this subject we’re talking about, the average person doesn’t have any understanding of how vast the financial services world is. And then when we talk about [00:35:00] Wall Street itself, you know, all these, all those names I just lumped into it, people think of, Oh, that’s Wall Street, that’s, uh, you know, Leo DiCaprio.
Running around, you know, falling down the steps cause he’s on qua loons or whatever. .
Jeff Mastronardo: It’s
Mike Traynor: just, it’s just, it’s just a movie. Yeah.
Jeff Mastronardo: So do you think people watch those shows and like, Oh, that’s what you guys do? I hope not.
Meghan Tait: I don’t, I mean, I don’t think so. I know your buddy jokes that you are the Wolf of Wall Street, but
Jeff Mastronardo: I don’t even know what a penny stock is.
I feel
Meghan Tait: like the, the financial planner. Mm example is like Marty Bird in Ozark and , like he
Jeff Mastronardo: was, right? Yeah. That’s
Meghan Tait: actually pretty good one. Like one of the opening scenes he like, he like puts like an asset allocation, right? Like the little pie charts that we use. He like pushes it over to the other side.
But I don’t feel like I’ve ever seen what we [00:36:00] do, but not even like, not even egregiously or inaccurately, just never. Here’s a financial planner. You meet with three or four times a year to talk. Talk about your asset allocation. I’ve
Jeff Mastronardo: seen it in like a fidelity from early, not get green lip from .
Meghan Tait: Well, that’s obviously the point, right?
It has to be so nuts and so crazy. For it to be entertained. Yeah,
Jeff Mastronardo: we’re pretty, we have a pretty boring occupation is what you’re saying.
Meghan Tait: Who may the most boring? Yeah. .
Jeff Mastronardo: It, it does kind of bother me how like everything is depicted, so like egregiously like, but
Meghan Tait: that’s every job in any movie, like. Not every lawyer goes into every courtroom and screams objection 15 times and like has the gap.
Like it’s just, and not every, you know, doctor saves 14 people’s lives a week. Like it’s all egregious.
Jeff Mastronardo: Yeah. I feel like those are bad examples though. No, I think they’re, that’s
Mike Traynor: exact, that’s
Jeff Mastronardo: a good point. What’s, [00:37:00] what’s bad about it? Cause like, it’s, it’s obvious that like doctors, like they’re, they’re not all Doogie housers and they’re not saving lives.
Like we get that, like everybody goes to their doctor. Everybody, everybody like, has engaged with an attorney at some point, Like they don’t know what we do. So it just gets interpreted, like that’s what they do. .
Meghan Tait: Sure. Well, and that’s if people are, are assuming that we are the Wall Street, you know,
Jeff Mastronardo: version and that that’s what Wall Street is, which it’s not, I mean is are
Mike Traynor: now, I will say going back to Billions, the show is based on like, uh, real events.
Steve Cones, Sac. Yeah, Apple, the hedge funds. And because they got accused of, and they were most definitely doing stuff that was not, Really legal. I mean, they were getting their edge by obtaining information unlawfully. Right, Right. Um, so that part of it I kind of was okay with is just the [00:38:00] characters and the way they talk to each other.
Yeah. And, and some of that stuff is just really annoying to me. Yeah.
Jeff Mastronardo: So, Boo on Hollywood,
Meghan Tait: I don’t know that I have beef with the entertainment factor. Like some of the things that you just, I haven’t seen industry billions. I was in on and in kind of like it got too much. But I mean, I, I can’t say that like, the Wolf of Wall Street is like a very entertaining movie.
It’s super entertaining. All right. Wanna do the top five? Sure. Top five Scary movies. This is our owed to
Jeff Mastronardo: Halloween tribute. To Halloween.
Mike Traynor: Yeah. I don’t have, I, I realize that I haven’t seen a lot of, um, maybe more recent one. and there’s a lot of ’em. Yeah. And it’s not that I don’t like ’em or enjoy ’em, I just, I’m like, I never heard of it.
Like looking at lists of the first one on my list, or number five and I, it’s probably not even this category, but Silence of the Lambs. Okay. Yeah. I mean it’s scary, but you [00:39:00] know, it’s not
Jeff Mastronardo: a horror movie, but it, I, Which one though? Wasn’t there? Only one. There’s more than one Silent ABLs. Wait was the first one.
The one that had Ray.
Mike Traynor: No, no, this is, uh, Anthony Hopkins. Okay.
Jeff Mastronardo: Jody Foster. But there til, there was another one where an uh, where Circa 1991. I know exactly. I know that one.
Mike Traynor: Okay. Um, I’ve got Get out. Mm-hmm.
Jeff Mastronardo: what’s Get Out. I haven even heard of it.
Meghan Tait: Um, it was Jordan Peels within the last, like, I don’t know, probably five or seven years.
Mike Traynor: Okay. It’s more like creepy, I would say. Okay. Next, Uh, I’m gonna go with, I mean, just gotta go with Halloween. We’re talking about Halloween . Okay. It’s an oldie and a, I guess a good, Maybe it doesn’t hold up well now, but, Okay. Um, I got hereditary. Never saw it, never saw
Jeff Mastronardo: it. Scary.
Mike Traynor: I’ve watched it with, I, in fact, didn’t even finish it.
I [00:40:00] started watching it with, couldn’t get through it. Um, no. We, we had to, we had to stop for some reason. But it’s definitely like super, super creepy. You
Jeff Mastronardo: had to stop and you’re like, you’re, It’s disturbing. You’re okay not picking that one back up. No, and I
Mike Traynor: will, I will. But it’s, it’s, it’s disturbing. And then, uh, my last one is ring the ring.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. the ring, I should say. That’s
Jeff Mastronardo: on my list. Yeah. A little girl just creeps me out. Like, I won’t watch that movie, . So my list is kind of broken into like one. Scared me like as a kid. Um, and then ones that like, I’m still scared of like as grown ass man , and it’s pretty straightforward. Like exorcist?
Mm-hmm. , The shining. Yeah. Pet cemetery. The ring and invasion of the body. Snatchers. That one, like as a kid, that one just like if you fell asleep, you turned into. A zombie. So like you were just trying to like stay awake all [00:41:00] night and there’s like a family left and they’re all like staying awake. And then like, they kind of doze off and like dad turned into a zombie.
It’s like the end of the movie. It’s, it’s, ah, dude. Spoiler alerts. Yeah. Sorry. Freaks me out. Um,
Meghan Tait: so scary for me is far more of like the, the jumpy, scary. Mm-hmm. , like the, the ring. Even like these things that are completely made up, like doesn’t really bother me. . But if you have like a killer who’s walking around and gonna pop out and stab someone with a knife, like that’s where I’m more scared.
Okay.
Jeff Mastronardo: I mean, like, I guess I like watch The Exorcist and I’m like, But like the devil is real, right? Yes.
Meghan Tait: I don’t believe in that shit. Okay. And like it’s also maybe because I’ve watched it after being able to watch like movies that just look better. Yeah. Yeah. Like obviously it doesn’t age well. Right. Um, so I have, I had Halloween as [00:42:00] well.
I also had the. Um, have you guys seen strangers? It’s a family in like a log cabin, and then these two men who wear these white masks, like essentially imprison them in their own home and just torture them? No, didn’t see it, but it’s like the family is like, you and your friends going to a ca, Like, it just, it all seems very like possible.
Right? Um, and also like it’s a movie where there’s a lot of jump. So like the music is all scary and then something pops out and Yeah. Strangers, uh, yeah. Um, I love Scream like . I just, it’s a good movie. I think it’s awesome. I mean, I could probably watch it a hundred million times. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, again though, it’s also the music and the, this kind of pop out scare.
Jeff Mastronardo: I mean, to this day, if I’m like running to WA and then my family’s in the kitchen, I go, I’ll Beba, I’ll be right back, or whatever.
Meghan Tait: 70. , Um, have you guys [00:43:00] seen the quiet place? Yes. Uh,
Jeff Mastronardo: I don’t know. One and two.
Meghan Tait: Yeah. So it’s, um, how do I describe it? It’s like a post, uh, I’m gonna say Apocalyp Alytic world where the creatures that are hunting humans can’t see.
But they can hear they have extremely, extremely good hearing. Yeah, I did. Yeah. So the whole movie is practically silent. Silent, other than the noises that the people may accidentally make. And it, it’s a really good movie, but it’s also like you get so nervous of any point where they’re, they could make a potential noise.
So that’s my list.
Jeff Mastronardo: That was it. Yeah. Good. All right.
Meghan Tait: Cool. All right. Until next time. Thanks for listening.
Mike Traynor: See ya.
