How could I not see The Wolf of Wall Street? The protagonist, Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), was my childhood playmate in Bayside, New York.
The movie, an over-the-top indulgence of the senses, makes its mind-numbing point over and over, but for a good reason: Most of us really want to make more money and we understand Belfort’s wish to be quickly catapulted to success. While the brokers in the movie are at fault for manipulating and cheating their clients, their customers are greedy and gullible. That’s a dangerous combination: brokers who can’t feel the pain of the people they are manipulating and injuring, and customers who can’t say “no” to a too-good-to-be-true opportunity.
Money and Purpose
If we’re lucky, there comes a time in our lives when we realize that another dollar will do little to enhance our sense of purpose, happiness or security. From my almost 30 years of working with clients, I have seen few examples where an additional $100,000—or even $1 million—has produced great change.
That’s a great realization. When we let go of the fantasy of what a homerun investment will deliver, we begin to focus on (boring) investment strategies that have actually worked over time. That’s the moment we find fulfillment in other areas of life and don’t look to our investment life for excitement. Ironically, that’s also the beginning of making much more money.
When More Money Does Matter
When does additional money make a difference? When there’s a vision for what that money will produce. For example, a friend who takes his profits from commercial real estate and dedicates himself to improving the prison system, a client who has an extra $100,000 per year to give to empowering women in resource-poor areas, and another client who has dedicated the surplus earnings from his Abacus Rainbow Portfolio® to organic farming.
When I think about The Wolf of Wall Street, I regret all the money that was lost and never used to make a difference. Client losses from Belfort’s company, according to the SEC, total over $200 million. Had that $200 million that was lost by 1998 been invested in the simple S&P 500 index, those individuals would now have approximately $400 million instead of zero.1 Imagine how those dollars could have been used philanthropically to impact the world!
I’m committed to doing all that I can to increase my clients’ investment returns and free up their time to realize the greatest good for themselves, for others and for the planet.
1 – This was calculated by using the yearly historical returns from the S&P 500 index from 1998 to 2013. You can find the historical returns here.
