Fullen Financial Group held a town hall-style meeting for clients on August 12th 2020 to discuss the Coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on financial markets. The discussion covered market results for various time periods, significant market events through the pandemic, and the federal government's response. Also discussed were the impacts of presidential elections on financial markets and the "winners bias" of index investing.

When individuals consider joining the military in some capacity, many will consider the benefits one receives by serving, such as money for college, military discounts at retail stores, the opportunity to see more of the world, etc. However, many currently-serving or future-servicemembers don't realize the full extent of resources available to those who serve. Below are some of the biggest benefits available to those who choose to pursue military service in the US Armed Forces, as well as some considerations to keep in mind.

 Over the years I have read about and observed a number of successful people.  During that time I have noted their habits.  Appreciate that not all these habits were in play all the time, but there was definitely a current underpinning their behavior that was on display.  Ironically, many of these are self-evident and resemble what our mothers and fathers may have told us when we were younger.  Interestingly, it appears if your goal is to be successful, our parents may have been right. 

However, even if we have not subscribed to these yet it is never too late.

To that end, here are 10 of the most often-cited habits of successful people (not in any particular order of importance).

The Coronavirus pandemic has required everyone to adapt to a new reality, and the financial planning profession is no different. Some firms, like ours, have been working with remote clients for years and have lots of virtual meeting experience. Others may be scrambling to catch up, but the new normal has been a learning experience for all of us. For us, it’s clear that to serve clients successfully in a virtual environment, we need to focus on four essential competencies.

We might call them heroes - but most of them would be embarrassed.   They think they are just doing their job. Some appear to be fearless, but most are very aware of the risk they are taking and exercise what cautions are available to them.   At the end of the day they are exhausted, but they rest and do it again the next day. Some are seeing death everyday but keep on giving it their all to try to prevent it. Some don’t make it themselves. Many can’t see their families and friends because they are considered high risk. But they will just keep doing their job for as long as it takes.

You can’t praise these people enough, even though they usually won’t acknowledge they are any different than anyone else. A few Fullen Financial employees have family much closer to the pandemic than we wish they were. We also have many clients themselves, or their family members, directly involved in the effort to keep the pandemic at bay and trying to lessen the suffering.

We wanted to post some brief stories of who these people really are. If you are fortunate enough to have no one personally at risk I encourage you to read these.   It can be humbling to see how small we are. We will start with three individuals very close to Fullen Financial employees.