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Client Focus: Mike Williams

The greatest compliment a client can give to Mackey is to recommend her services to a friend. So it was when a client referred Mike Williams to Mackey just seven months ago. Until then, according to Mike, he was on a trip without a road map. He was making good financial choices, but wanted guidance around his options.

"I didn't realize how many choices I had, and how many ways I could allocate my resources," said Mike. "Today, I have a number of financial goals, I have a plan, and I'm sticking to it."

A wise man once said "If you know it...and you don't do it...then you don't know it." Ouch. What a direct way to say 'What good is a plan if you don't follow it? Mike could teach a class around that wisdom, especially when it comes to planning for the long haul.

"Working with Mackey, my thinking and planning have become much more 'long term.' Instead of monthly or quarterly budgets and goals, I'm planning much further out now." Instead of knowing the end of the tunnel is out there somewhere, now Mike can see it.

And of course, not only does a good solid financial plan have distance, it has depth. "Yes, I've taken a deeper look. In the process, I've clarified some of the goals I've had and determined which ones are most important."

Most people would agree that a competent financial mentor is a huge asset. But our struggle is often found in our willingness to ask for financial guidance, because most people don't like to admit their lack of expertise in the monetary maze. For Mike, that ego thing doesn't get in the way.

"I'm an intelligent guy. I used to think I knew how to manage money but I didn't. And once I realized the strength of having a financial partner looking out for me, it was easy to defer to Mackey's knowledge and expertise. Now I have a partner and a sounding board for my life goals and for financial advice. And it was a fun experience!" Mike added.

We're grateful for good clients like Mike Williams, because when he wins, we win too. That's what we're here for. Thanks Mike.

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Abundance Article

While visiting relatives over Labor Day weekend, I was given a book entitled The Education of Little Tree. It is a fictional story of an orphaned Native American boy who is raised by his grandparents in my favorite part of this country - the north Georgia mountains. Little Tree's grandfather teaches him The Way - respecting the earth, living in harmony with its rhythms, and taking only what you need.

Early in the book, the grandfather and Little Tree go into the woods to hunt for turkeys. After carefully digging and camouflaging a pit, they catch six turkeys. The grandfather then tells his grandson that they only need three turkeys. It is The Way to only take what we need and release the rest. He further explains that we take the weakest, smallest, least healthy birds and release the strongest, largest, and healthiest turkeys to reproduce.

What a simple and profound idea!

In comparative studies of cultures and resource consumption, analysts have created a benchmark called the Ecological Footprint, a simple tool that enables us to put ball-park figures on our level of sustainability. Using this tool, it has been determined that we would need six Earths to provide enough natural resources to afford everyone on the planet the opportunity to live in the manner that Americans live. This statistic points to the obvious - as Americans, we are taking more than we need.

And your point is? Why should we care?

Several years ago, someone asked me to define the difference between abundance and prosperity. To me, the difference is obvious. I can be abundant by having an abundance of something or things, without being prosperous at all. We have all met people who are abundant in terms of their financial wealth, and who are far from prosperous.

While I have known of this distinction for many years, I have thought little of its consequences.

If we all insist on being over abundant, having lots of stuff, beyond our needs, until the source of abundance is exhausted, are there consequences? Where does abundance come from anyway?

Being a city girl, abundance was always as close as the next store (and the limits of my pocketbook)! As I was reading The Education of Little Tree, an obvious and inescapable truth hit me squarely between the eyes, or more accurately, in my heart. The only source for abundance is Earth. In fact, Earth is the source of everything. Our bodies come entirely from the earth, as well as our food, our clothing, and the raw materials that make all the things we consume, from automobiles to fishing rods to toilet seats.

Why then do we casually, without thought or concern, over-harvest the oceans, deplete our soil with chemical fertilizers, and pollute our air and water at will? My belief is that as we became more modern and civilized, we disconnected from nature. Our culture is out of touch with the reality that the earth is a living organism and that it has limits in its ability to produce natural resources, i.e. over abundance.

I have been a small business owner and an advocate for small business my entire professional career. In many Chamber of Commerce meetings, I have sat silently when the term "tree hugger" was used with disdain to describe someone who would put the love of trees (or anything natural) ahead of "progress", i.e. profits, growth, expansion, take your pick.

I found it uncomfortable to be a tree hugger and a business person. As a result, I didn't share my passion regarding sustainability with my business friends. And just as secretively, I tiptoed around my passion for business with my tree-hugger friends.

Thank goodness everyone was not like me. In fact, people like Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm are leading the charge by founding their companies on earth- friendly principles. They are taking a stand by showing us a way that we can be passionate about the earth and be passionate about business. The inconvenient truth is that unless more of us begin to balance both energies, the abundance that we now experience will be a fading memory within the stories we tell our grandchildren. And you don't have to take it from me.
"Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated."
Sound like the words of a tie-dyed, sandal-clad tree-hugger hippie? Guess again. This is a direct quote from the "Warning to Humanity", created in 1992 and signed by 1600 scientists, including a majority of the living Nobel laureates in the sciences. Over the past fourteen years, risk-taking pioneers have heeded the call and have begun to create the new paradigm.
For those tree-hugger business owners reading this article, I'll get to the point. How can I become a Green Capitalist? What can I do today?

On the simple list:
Recycle the basics - paper, cardboard, pop cans, plastic
Purchase recycled paper and energy saving light bulbs
Grow some of your own food
Buy second hand
Start composting your vegetable waste
Use less water
Encourage carpooling or public transportation
Invest your money in companies who value your home, our Earth, the source of our abundance

On the "a bit more effort" list:
Use air travel as seldom as possible and only when necessary
Live in a smaller house
Donate rather than discard old office furniture
Look for telecommute opportunities within your company
Find someone in your company to be the green advocate, taking point on finding new ways to respect the planet

The personal and professional choices we make today will have a direct effect on the legacy we leave. The Advisory Team can create an investment portfolio for you that reflects your concern for Earth and your children and grandchildren.

For those of you with like mind, I'll keep your tree-hugger status a secret. But I hope that you won't.

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