Young is the director of the Palo Alto company Financial Clarity, Inc. Although he admits that many people haven't a clue about what the name Financial Clarity means, he considers it an improvement over the name he almost chose: Multiplex Financial Services. "It sounds like someone who manages big movie theaters."
So if he doesn't manage multiplexes, what does he do? "Ah, that's the big question."
He's neither a broker nor an accountant; neither pure financial planner, nor pure investment adviser. Rather, he is an amalgam of his own making. "Everyone has a term of art. I'm a professional financial advocate. I call myself a financial counselor. We look at all aspects of our clients' financial strategies."
In most cases, the "strategies" haven't been particularly strategic. "People make a lot of stupid mistakes, and they come to us to fix it."
Although undergraduate study in commerce and an MBA from the Wharton School suggest an unwavering interest in finance, Young originally wanted to be an anthropologist. "I just like this idea that 300 or 400 years ago people lived very different, right in this spot." At one point, he just wanted to drum. "I played rock because I was too stupid to play jazz."
Before Young founded the company 2 1/2 years ago, he worked as a stock trader, securities analyst and director of corporate strategic planning for Philadelphia Life. He started the company because he wanted to strike out on his own, because he saw a need and because he has a bit of the teacher submerged within. "Some day I'd like to go into the schools and teach this stuff," he said.
In the meantime, he must make do with his "soapboxes."
Soapbox No. 1: Americans don't know from money. "We are taught not to talk about money, politics or sex," he said. "So we don't." Furthermore, the schools don't teach about money. "There is virtually no infrastructure in the educational system for teaching about money until college. Then it's accounting, and ledgers, and balance sheets."
Soapbox No. 2: The American culture doesn't value thrift. "The big problem is that there is this great level of expectation about what you should have and this reality about what you can actually have. People don't like to hear that they can't have something."
Soapbox No. 3: Americans don't save enough. "It's almost impossible to contemplate how much money you need for your retirement, especially with expanded life spans." Young recommends saving 15 to 25 percent of income, contributing part to a tax-deferred savings plan and the rest to a regular savings account or employee stock plan. Most Americans, he said, save a piddling 4 to 5 percent.
Soapbox No. 4: Larger economic forces--yes, all those derivatives, junk bonds, floating currencies, hostile takeovers, poison pills--can threaten the family coffers. "Market forces matter. For years, everyone thought real estate in California was a no-brainer. Those people are looking at the moment, not at the big picture."
In short, personal financial health can be whittled down to a few wholesome homilies. Spend less. Save more. Plan for retirement. Track the economy. And respect Newton, who taught us that what goes up must come down.
Unfortunately, maxims aren't actions. "It it was easy, we'd all be rich," he observes. Or, at the very least, he wouldn't have clients.
--Diane Sussman
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