Introduction WE/Celebrate! Big Vision Go Green Practical Prosperity Buy the Book Hear Me Speak   Dear ,         Over the last 30 days I have had the honor of preparing a speech to be delivered at the 60th anniversary of the Walton County Georgia Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.  Walton County was my home from kindergarten until my first job out of college.    The speech title is, Cultivating Prosperity!  Writing the speech has given me a delicious opportunity to reflect on how I came to discover, and over time, own the words Cultivating Prosperity.  What I came to see is how this big vision, Cultivating Prosperity has created a foundation for a synchronistic, joy-filled journey as well as an ever expanding vision for my company, Mackey Advisors.   I hope you enjoy this month’s article, Big Vision, and are well on your way to Cultivating Prosperity in 2008!   Blessings, Mackey back to top

WE/ Celebrate! 2007 Women's Business Awards   Last month on December 13, 2007 Mackey received the Runner Up award  for The Best New Product or Service of the Year from WE/Celebrate. Prosperity Planning was a co-creation with her investment advisor, Andrew Pulsfort. They realized that four out of ten people age 55 or older had less than $100,000 in savings for retirement!  They began to implement their Prosperity Planning methodology in February 2006. Clients were encouraged to become actively involved in the planning process through goal setting, revisons and learning financial data and annual reviews. In the 20 months since implementation, plan activity increased 340 percent compared to the prior three year period.   Kay Napier alongside Mackey and Mary Falls, KeyBank.   Congratulations, Mackey!   By Pamela Vargo         back to top

Big Vision       It was 1993 and I was closing in on the milestone of 10 years in business. I decided it was time for a new strategic plan, one that took us past survival and fast paced growth. It was time to create a conscious plan for Mackey Advisors (then Mackey McNeilll Mohr, PSC.) A plan that focused on the passion of our team and what we felt we were uniquely qualified to deliver. We hired Karen Schenk, a talented and gifted strategic planning master to guide us in this process. The three month process was a team effort and included myself and a cross section of others from both the administrative management and service area of the firm, tax, accounting and our fee only financial planning division which was still just a seed of an idea.   As anyone who has been through such a process will tell you, it is an organic process. There isn't a straight line to anything. Ideas may be agreed upon; one meeting to be renegotiated to the next. It is quite a dance of give and take.   It was in this process that we chose the words, Cultivating Prosperity as our vision. We chose cultivating because we were clear that we could not create, or otherwise deliver wealth or prosperity to anyone. Our role would be to provide a foundation, to cultivate the field for the planting, growing and harvesting dreams.   We chose the word prosperity because we were clear that wealth in and of itself was not a satisfying goal. Money and wealth is fun, exciting and had its own rewards in terms of the possibilities and opportunities it affords those who create it. And we saw that our primary client, the closely held business owner, often wanted to create a less stressful lifestyle as much as they wanted and desired financial wealth. This bigger ideal was captured in the word, prosperity.   Thus Cultivating Prosperity was born. Little did I understand how this, BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goal (Jim Collins, Greed to Great) would serve as the launch pad for changing my life and the lives of our team and clients.   As I was reflecting on the journey of the last 15 years, I saw how ill prepared we were to deliver on the vision, Cultivating Prosperity when we first claimed it.  It wasn't like we claimed to vision and then knew exactly what to do next. It was big, amorphous and brought ever to the foreground the question, how does one Cultivate Prosperity?   What I failed to appreciate at that time was the power of intention.  Claiming and owning any intention unearths the forces of the universe to assist in its creation.   If we dared to continue to provide services or serve customers not in alignment with this vision, some unforeseen opportunities arose to break our relationship with those services or customers.  As the path unfolded, we got better at understanding the powerful choice we had made, and began to consciously create new services and processes that delivered on our vision, Cultivating Prosperity.   These new creations included:   my award winning book, The Intersection of Joy and Money the birth and now flourishing wealth management division, including our award winning and life changing Prosperity Planning®  services complete overhaul and narrowing of focus of our CPA services to a passion-filled niche,  providing the financial guidance to assist closely held business owners in turning their companies into a profit center and a wealth creation tool   What is clear now is that we will never finish Cultivating Prosperity.  It truly is a vision as big as the horizon.  Just as we  travel toward the horizon and never reach it, we continue to ask the question, how does one Cultivate Prosperity?  We continue to innovate, create and find great satisfaction in each step.  Our purpose and passion are fulfilled in the journey.    What is your BHAG?  For yourself?  For your company?  What is the horizon that defines your journey?  These are the simple questions we must all answer to live the life of joy we all came here to experience.   Enjoy the journey, and the big vision,   Mackey         back to top

Go Green Visits to the bank can result in one of the largest sources of wasting paper! Here are a few simple steps to prevent wasting paper.    1. Don't take ATM receipts. Simply jot down your withdrawl in your checkbook.   2. Request automatic deposits for your paychecks.   3. Get paperless bank statements.   4. Use electronic payments instead of paper checks.   5. Take advantage of electonic tax refunds.   6. Use online banking.       Practical Prosperity   As we approach what has been called the “most important Presidential election in 50 years”, the United States economy and stock market has fallen on volatile times.  History has shown that whoever moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a year from now has little impact on the economy.  Republicans and Democrats have each held office in both robust and sluggish times.  In the market we see today, the “ups” tend to be significant as do the “downs.”  While seeing these often triple digit numbers on CNBC might make our hearts race and tempt us to run to the nearest community bank and open a CD, its important to ask how much of this volatility is really warranted?    One key statistic economists follow is the monthly Labor Department employment report.  If jobs are created, the market celebrates, if jobs are lost, the market is punished.  Important to note however is that these reports aren’t always correct.  The initial report for August 2007 showed payrolls fell by 4,000, however revised data actually shows that payrolls expanded by 93,000!  On September 7th, the day the initial number was reported, the Dow Jones Average and the NASDAQ Index fell 1.87% and 1.86% respectively.  In essence the market took nearly a 2% dive on what we now know should have been very positive economic news.  Similar inconsistencies in employment reports suggest that this is not at all uncommon; in fact it’s pretty normal.   Our country’s GDP and consumer spending numbers can also be misleading.  On December 11th when the Fed cut rates, it did so based on slow consumption growth in September and October and predictions of 0% 4th quarter GDP growth.  Now get this my friends, 3 days later, new reports showed that November retail sales were huge and September and October should be revised significantly higher.  After all of this, the Fed seems possibly poised once again to cut interest rates, yet this so called “consumer slowdown” is nowhere in sight, and the housing crisis has yet to cause a broader issue.   We only need to connect these figures with the fact that productivity, wages, incomes, and profit margins are strong, to see that the gloom and doom, rate cuts, and market volatility is a bit of an overreaction.   Whoa, don’t go running to all of your friends and relatives saying that Mackey Advisors™ says that 2008 is going to be a great year.  Mind you that as portfolio managers and investment advisors we have to sort through this often flawed information to base our decisions.   There are some observations we can all make that might be just as good of an indicator of economic prosperity or the lack thereof.  When you go out to eat are you, your friends, or the people around you paying with credit cards? (The rapid rise of the debit card makes this observation a bit challenging.)  What was your company Christmas party compared to 2006?  Are your neighbors’ lights glowing on a Friday or Saturday evening when they used to be dark?  How are your peers’ vacation plans shaping up?  These are real indicators by real people of their thoughts on personal finances and economic strength.  This might seem like grassroots, non-technical economic analysis, but it just might be every bit as reliable as a federal government employment report that might be who knows “off” by 90,000+ jobs!  That would be some rounding error.   Regardless of how 2008 shapes up both politically and economically, in less than a year it will be past tense, old information.  Our economic controls have evolved significantly since the Great Depression, and will likely prevent a time like that from ever occurring again.  When we take an 80 year look back at the S&P 500 (which includes our darkest economic years) the average annual return is roughly 10%.  A good asset allocation policy and proper management could likely trump that figure.  No one will disagree that there is always cause to monitor our short-term outlook, but history has proven that the future can appear nothing but promising.  Happy 2008 to everyone.   By Andy Pulsfort     back to top

Buy the Book    The Dynamics of Money    Mackey's new audio book, The Dynamics of Money, gives you the power to discover your personal key, unlocking the door to your true potential for unlimited prosperity. Through the power of the Narrative Tradition of the Enneagram you will hear three exemplars of each of the nine personality types sharing their unique perspectives on the subject of money and prosperity. Order your copy now! The Intersection of Joy and Money    Warning! This book will: Expand your confidence around financial decision-making Increase your prosperity consciousness Create a more prosperous and abundant life Change your relationship with money today!  On sale NOW for the holidays!   back to top Hear Me Speak     Saturday - January 12, 2008 - 7:40 AM Interview on LOCAL12 Newscast with Bob Herzog Topic: Strategies for Saving Money and Advice for Your Finances in the New Year! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________       Thursday - January 17, 2008 - 6:00 PM Cultivating Prosperity Walton County Chamber of Commerce   Location: 132 East Spring Street  Monroe, GA  30655   Mackey will be presenting her speech, Cultivating Prosperity, for The Walton County Chamber of Commerce's 60th Anniversary.  If you wish to join Mackey, please contact the Chamber at 770-267-6594.   Thursday - January 24, 2008 - 6:00 PM Cultivating Your Personal Prosperity  Parnell Memorial Library   Location:  277 Park Drive   Montevallo, AL  35115   This powerful presentation is one dynamic evening that is sure to increase your prosperity.  Included in this evening will be lessons on: The Five Secrets of Building Wealth Using the Rules of 72 & 115 to double (and triple) your $$$ The Bulletproof Portfolio How to Make the Most of Your Financial Life The Necessary Ingredients to Make Future Dreams a Reality back to top