Mutual Funds Integrity and Fee Transparency Act of 2003 (H.R. 2420)
I sure hope this Act goes through. Disclose, Disclose, Disclose, I say. The more the better. I think the public has just about had it with the Wall Street shanigans.
The U.S. House of Representatives is currently considering a bill to require greater disclosure of fees by mutual fund companies, as well as changes to funds' governance structures. NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisors) supports the proposed changes and will be following this legislation in the House and, when appropriate, the Senate.
I am fascinated by the reaction in people who see me. I am something to look at, all 102 pounds of me in a wheelchair with my right leg elevated and a left leg in prosthesis, and tubing in my lap that goes from the wound on my hip to the machine in the pack behind my wheelchair. Luckily for me, this is not a permanent situation, but the public does not know that. I had a young fellow in his 20s sneaking a stare at me in a bookstore. When I caught his eye, he asked me what happened. I told him a car accident. He looked at me and, very sincerely said, ?I am sorry.? I smiled and replied, ?It?s okay. I am doing well.?
Most middle-aged women catch my eye and smile approvingly as if to say, ?You hang in there, girl!? Young girls look away.
I?ve noticed that some friends? call and some friends I have not heard from since the accident 8 months ago. Is it that if they see me, they will see their own vulnerability or are they just plain mean? I think neither. As the saying goes, don?t judge a book by its cover. You never really know what goes on in other people?s minds. But I have noticed how some people can, in times of crisis, master the energy to meet and handle the situation. Other people will shrink in fear to even get close and look. Is one person better than another? No, not at all. Some people can rise to the occasion, some cannot. But underneath we are still the same. I have learned a spiritual practice called Windhorse to help me rise to the occasion in times of suffering, and it has served me well in this tragedy.
Some people are just very sensitive and their emotions overwhelm them so much that they cannot cope and so they shrink away from what they should and want to do. Strong emotions can freeze your life and propagate what I call small mind. That mind state that thinks it has to shut down from everything around it in order to survive. It manifests as fear, negativity, hopelessness, etc. I have learned how to coach such a person to work with their sensitivity through Elaine Aron?s book, ?The Highly Sensitive Person?. Check it out at www.supersensitiveperson.com
We both stared at the wall of cereals. There were cereals of every type, sugary sweet ones for kids, and plain healthy looking ones for adults. The elderly woman next to me asked if I could help her find the cereal she was looking for. I detected a Russian accent. I smiled and said, Yes, of course, and I did what I do best -find that little needle in the haystack. We both giggled with delight as I pointed to what she was looking for. She looked at me and exclaimed, “So many choices! So many choices America has!” Yes, America- a land of many choices. We don’t need to stand in long lines for a loaf of bread, so in this land of plenty you would think that the more choices people have, the happier they are. Psychology professors Ed Diener of the University of Illinois, and Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, in a coming issue of the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest did an ambitious analysis of more than 150 studies on wealth and happiness. The studies show that, in many countries ” although economic output has risen steeply over the past decade, there has been no rise in life satisfaction… and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust.”
“Economic success falls short as a measure of well-being, in part because materialism can negatively influence well-being, and also because it is possible to be happy without living a life of luxury” concluded Profs. Diener and Seligman
Studies also suggest that a sense of well-being boosts productivity, and other traits that lead to a higher income, and not that higher income brings extra happiness. Money may not buy happiness, but happiness can buy money, concludes Sharon Begley, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who wrote about the study. She says also that if psychologists had a seat on a government’s economic team, they would point out that once a nation reaches a certain level of prosperity, further economic growth is unlikely to buy additional happiness. She cites Prof. Veenhoven of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, who says,” increasing the citizenry’s sense of well-being requires less investment in economic growth and more in policies that promote good governance, liberties, democracy, trust and public safety.”
99 Bottle of antibiotics on the wall – 99 bottles of antibiotics, you take one down and pass it around the pick line, 98 bottles of antibiotics on the wall. That’s the jingle my brother, Allen, said to cheer me up after I expressed my exasperation with the infusion of antibiotics that I must take three times a day. This ritual has been going on for over three months, every day at 7am, 3pm, and 11pm. I swipe my pick line plug with alcohol, and flush with a saline solution syringe, and then connect the tube from the bottle that holds the meropenum. The little plastic bottle has a pressurized balloon inside that holds the medicine. The balloon deflates and pushes the medicine through a small tube that connects to a pick line in my arm. Obviously I know that this medicine is good for me. I may not survive without it –so why the bitching? Well, there’s that constant reminder that something is wrong with me. As little kids we are taught that medicine makes us better when we are sick. Medicine seems to confirm your sickness. Wheelchairs confirm that we can’t walk, etc. These associations can be totally off the mark though. Medicine may keep us healthy, and a wheelchair can be a temporary phase towards walking. Negative associations happen also in our mind about situations in our lives. What are some that you hold firm to? Does single mean lonely? Does jobless mean poor? These unfortunate circumstances in our lives can be experienced just as they are, that is without the addition of the “extra stuff” that we bring to them or they can turn into sources of stress that can keep us up late at night.
Almost two-thirds of Americans say stress is costing them sleep, up from half two years ago, a survey of 1,000 adults by Polling Co. found. The top reason cited: family issues. What extra stuff do we add to our families? Can we be with kids just as they are? Or do we have the need to control them? Can we talk to our spouses about our wants and needs? Or do we feel we have to manipulate them? It’s not easy to deal with negative associations that produce stress in our lives, but contemplation and awareness is a first step. Check out the “Taming the Mind” class at http://ashokaedu.net/catalog.htm. You can also wash away that negativity you have stored up at www.hoffmaninstitute.com .
People ask all the time-Do you miss work? What is your day like? Wouldn’t you like company during the day? Of course, I loved my work but do I miss it? No, not really. When I am tired, I sleep, and when I am hungry, I eat. Then there is time for exercise, family, and friends, and making plans for my coaching practice. My old work life was full too, but not always in a positive way. . I remember sometimes eating lunch in the car on the way back to the office from a meeting. A lot of coffee and diet cokes would keep me awake after a long day at the office or trying to jiggle work, family, and social life. I know most of you know what I am talking about. Most of us aren’t able to eat at mealtimes, or spend as much time with our families, or spend less time at work, or develop hobbies that we enjoy. We all think that some way, someday in the future that may happen.
When I would ask my clients what they did for fun, most would look at each other, shrug in silence, and mumble something about going on vacation. No wonder that most Americans spend more time planning their vacations, than planning their retirement. The point is nothing comes together without planning. As a Financial Advisor, my specialty was financial planning. It was wonderful to see throughout my career, people making plans and actually realizing them.
How can we be present in the moment while still planning our lives?
What plans do you have for your future?
After my accident, I had a large open wound on my right hip. There were exposed pins that were placed to hold my pelvis back together. A large black sponge covered the wound, and a big piece of plastic tape secured the sponge. A small disk with a tube came out of this dressing and the tube went into a machine called a wound vac. This machine would suck out the fluids from my wound and cause it to shrink. Trouble was, with a wound this large they weren’t sure it would work. Eight months later I can attest that it does work. This machine that I affectionately call Kitty follows me around everywhere I go. Kitty purrs like a kitten when everything is fine and croaks loudly like a frog when there is an air leak in the dressing. (Ugh!) Those are the times when I feel like tossing Kitty out the window. The only problem is that I would go out the window with it, since Kitty is attached to me.
Kitty reminds me of the baggage that we carry everywhere. The good stuff that keeps us going all day and seduces us into thinking it makes us happy. There is also the bad stuff, the destructive emotions. Stuff that we repress, try to get rid of, control, or manipulate. You know that sticky stinky stuff that you can’t wash off. You come back to it over and over again in your mind and in your sleep.
Attachments can be good for us and bad for us. They can totally control us or we can control them. But we don’t have to be slaves to these attachments; we do have a choice in life. I think that is why so many people are coming to professional coaches. They want to take back control of their lives. As a mentor once said to me, “ Does the Monkey ride you or do you ride the Monkey”. Get it? Now get a coach at www.coachfederation.org or email me at fern@afdadvisors.com to see if you are ready to be coached.
Buddha said that life is suffering. Well, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had his or her share of personal tragedy. Yet everywhere you look today people seek out the perfect life -- a life full of happiness, health and wealth. As a Certified Financial Planner, I have plenty of ideas on how to invest, reach your goals, and achieve a happy life. But before we step down that path, it is very important to believe that your life is whole, perfect, and healthy right now. That’s hard, isn’t it? And that is why we must continue to practice. Our spiritual practice can help us get in touch with our Buddha Nature, our complete perfect self that is not separate from others or the world. There is nothing wrong with trying to improve your life or increase your net worth. In fact, everyone wants something better for themselves and their loved ones. But along this journey of bringing about an intentional life (that is, one that you design), it’s important to realize and celebrate the success and joy that you now have. Every positive milestone that my clients experience -- a target that was reached, an estate plan that was completed, or a child’s education that was finally funded -- I try to freeze the moment and bring their attention to it. Because if you cannot stop for a moment and taste the sweetness that exists in your life right now, then you will not be able to fully appreciate your financial success. It will be a fleeting shadow that you will chase after over and over again.
No one knows prosperity without truly understanding poverty. They go hand in hand. Many of my clients who have achieved wealth from real poverty never forget where they came from and are the most philanthropic. As Suzuki Roshi once said, “When it is cold, be a cold Buddha, and when it is hot, be a hot Buddha”. As a Financial Advisor, I say, when you are poor, experience your poverty and when you are wealthy, experience your wealth. That is the experience of our lives just as it is -- whole and perfect right now.
I have so many resources to share that it is overwhelming. There are newsletters on money, and taxation, and websites on meditation practice, etc. etc. Instead of posting them all, I thought I would invite you, the reader, to share with others and me those sites or publications that you find valuable or that you would like to see from me.
There is so much “noise” out there in the world, it is hard to find information that is valuable and speaks with integrity. Please let me know in the comment area, what you find useful as a way to keep yourself knowledgeable and sane about money, or spiritual issues. When I gather enough responses, I will post them.
"15 monkeys falling out of a tree 15 times in the Jungle". That's approximately the jingle that my home health care nurse taught me to say three times in order to clean the plug to my pick line. A pick line is a tube inserted into your vein that butterflies into 2 plugs, one to draw blood and another to insert the antibiotics. It takes 15 seconds of squeezing the plug with an alcohol wipe in order to clean it hence the fifteen-monkey jingle. The purpose is to avoid infection into the line. When I was in the hospital earlier this month for tests, my husband watched in horror as my nurse did a “one monkey” on my pick line. Neither of us said anything. If we spoke up every time we saw something improper, we would be talking non-stop. But we both saw how these nurses work so hard, so fast, so smilingly, that we dare not balk at small details. Yet there are a record number of infections and medical errors in our hospitals today. Could it be that this is due to overworked medical professionals? Hmmmm…….
When we look at 15 monkeys in our own life, what happens when we only do 1 monkey-when we only wash the dishes in the sink and not the ones on the table? When we help one child with his/her homework and ignore the other? When we give one work project 100% and another 50%.
There is something about completing the task at hand fully, a wholeness that makes us better people and our lives more enjoyable. In our own busy lives, what can you do to slow down to 15 monkeys and how would you, your family and your co-workers benefit from it? Comments?