The worker, according to court documents, felt threatened: His superior came at him “with clenched fists, piercing eyes, beet-red face, popping veins, and screaming and swearing.” He thought he was about to be hit. Instead, his angry co-worker stormed out of the room.

But it wasn’t just any room: It was in a hospital, adjacent to a surgical area. The screamer was a cardiac surgeon, and the threatened employee was a perfusionist, a person who operates a heart/lung machine during open heart surgery. In 2008, the Indiana Supreme Court ruling inRaess v. Doescherupheld a $325,000 settlement for the perfusionist, who said he was traumatized.

It’s enough to make any patient wonder: Just how well does my health care team get along?

Read full article

Courtesy of
Kim Painter, Special for USA TODAY

It used to be that men were on top in the Industrial Age where brawn and muscle mattered more than brains and interpersonal skills. Today, the better paying  jobs with greater stability require competencies typically associated with women-deliberate thinking rather than overly decisive and impulsive thinking, confidence rather than overconfidence, negotiation rather than duress, dialogue rather than debate, collaborative decision making rather than expert decision making, and many more qualities that differentiate men from women at work.

In the United States, regardless of what any politician promises of any party, heavy manufacturing is not returning to the Rust Belt, labor intensive farming is not coming back to the Deep South and the Heartland, and highly automated back office jobs in financial services, customer service, and legal services are not going to rebound resulting in tens of millions of new jobs.

The future is very likely to be most promising for those who earn at least an associate degree even to work in manufacturing and the future is very likely to be most promising to those who cultivate some of the attributes typically associated with women. Women and men are different in many ways and similar in many ways. The workplace is now recognizing these differences but not quite at the highest levels, that is, executive floors and boardrooms.

Be Well

Marty Martin

The Inner World of Money:

Taking Control of Your Financial Decisions and Behaviors

Marty Martin

Praeger (2012)

ISBN: 9780313398247

New Book Offers Helpful Financial Behavior Questions & Answers

Marty Martin’s “The Inner World of Money” is really a look at the inner world of people and their relationships with and beliefs about money. Rather than being a book about how to invest with explanations of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, it explores the real role of money in our lives, the reasons for the roadblocks people create by being financially irresponsible, and whether money really can bring happiness. Ultimately, Martin shows readers that money has its place in our lives, a place we should not exaggerate, nor underestimate. We must not look to it for happiness, but we do need to be financially responsible, prepare for retirement, and understand the consequences when we do not.

“The Inner World of Money” is a great start for the person wanting a better understanding of money and its role in our lives and especially the person who has realized it is time to pay attention to finances, to quit struggling financially, and to begin saving for retirement. In addition, a helpful chapter is provided for parents about how to teach their children financial responsibility, including what lessons and information are appropriate to teach children at specific ages and stages of development.

With debt being a major concern among Americans today, Martin devotes a lot of space to consumerism, defining it as the buying of items that are not truly necessities, with the surprising statistic that 70 percent of what we spend our money on qualifies as consumerism. He offers practical advice for how to curb spending by discussing the difference between compulsive and impulsive buying and his 30-day and 24-hour rules for determining whether you really need or want something.

One of Martin’s insights about spending that I especially appreciated was the discussion of our digital lifestyle where credit cards have begun to take the place of cash. Martin advocates for paying cash whenever possible because credit cards make it easy to forget how much money we are spending or have, leaving us surprised when the credit card bills come in. But beyond this aspect of how technology has changed our relationship with money, he points out that while we own so many things we don’t need that many of us now have storage units, with the digital age, we can now house whole libraries and music collections on our digital devices, which means we don’t have to think about where we will find the space for everything we want to buy, a concern that in the past often helped to curb spending.

Martin also asks what he calls “stretch questions” to make us think about what truly makes us happy, what is really important, and what is the real place of money and possessions in our lives. In one of these powerful stretch questions, he uses the scenario of fleeing from a hurricane with only a car for transportation, to ask: “What would you pack if you had less than 12 hours to prepare your home for rain and 100 mph winds?”—remembering you may not have a home left when you return so anything you don’t pack you might lose forever. Most people would take their family members and then their pets, but that doesn’t leave room for much else. Items like children’s drawings usually win out over televisions. Asking yourself this question really helps to put things in perspective, and it’s just one of many similar insightful questions in the book.

An entire chapter is devoted to the role of happiness and myths about its relation to money, such as winning the lottery. Martin discusses how true happiness can come from being in control of our lives; we don’t feel such happiness when we are in debt, being tempted by consumer ads we can’t resist, or being owned by our possessions. He asks us to do a gratitude inventory of all the things that make us happy in our lives which also helps us to realize the role of money in relation to our happiness.

As a former clinical psychologist who is now a financial adviser/psychologist, Martin is well qualified to help his clients (and readers) understand the role of money in their lives, how to reduce their debt, and how to set financial goals. He is so dedicated to his work that he has even gone on “shopping tours” with some clients to understand what triggers them to buy specific items. Readers will be in good hands while reading this book. Anyone who wants to get a better handle on his or her relationship with money, so it serves its purpose in making our lives better without becoming our purpose in itself, will find this book of great value.

— Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and author of the award-winning “Narrow Lives”

similar to the multi-million dollar lottos across the nation. The

difference is that behind the miracle of Facebook was a vision,

failures, successes, sacrifices and hard work. Are we willing to

bring these same qualities to our everyday life at home, work,

and school? Imagine if the vast majority of the U.S. population

were to create value rather than simply shifting value around or

in some cases destroying value.

Since the financial crisis of 2008 and even before with the dot.com crash of before and even Black Monday in October of 1987, investors are increasingly skiddish about their investment portfolios and their financial advisors. Financial advice similar to other advice provided by lawyers, accountants and physicians involves uncertainty and risk. In the case of a physician, most individuals have a primary care physician who looks at the big picture and coordinates all of the information and recommendations from the specialists and sub-specialists. Do you need or even want to have more than one primary care physician to serve as the coordinator and to view the big picture? In the case of an attorney, you may seek advice on an estate planning matter and then solicit a second opinion to provide some reassurance that you have not left any stone unturned. Even in the case of financial advisors, a recent phenomenon is to get a second opinion on a financial plan or a specific financial decision.

According to a report entitled “Taking On The Role of The Lead Advisor: A Model for Driving Assets, Growth and Retention” published by State Street Global Advisors based upon a survey distributed to 2,196 financial advisors and 776 ultra-high net worth investors, nearly one-fifth (17%) use two or more advisors, half (49%) manage their own investments, and a third (34%) work with a single advisor. Furthermore, the majority (55%) of those using more than one advisor have not let the other advisors know about each other. Interestingly, among those with multiple advisors, nearly two-thirds (65%) regard one of the advisors as their primary advisor. Is this similar to the role of a primary care physician? The survey did not address this analogy but it is worth pondering. Of note, the number one reported reason for using multiple financial advisors was to diversity risk.

What type of risk might you diversity if you have more than one financial advisor? Let’s review the major types of risk for investors of all types. Risk is inseparable from return.

• Inflation Risk
• Interest Rate Risk
• Sector Risk
• Diversifiable Risk
• Tax Risk
• Event Risk
• Liquidity Risk

Inflation Risk

As prices rise, then spending power decreases. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk. Asset allocation will reduce this risk assuming that you have investments which are hedges against rising inflation like TIPS.

Interest Rate Risk

As interest rates increase or the cost of borrowing money, then the value of bonds decreases. They are inversely related. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk. Bond laddering will reduce this risk.

Sector Risk

Allocating all of your assets in a single sector like banking can yield very high returns under specific conditions and dismal returns under other conditions. These conditions are beyond the control of you as an investor and any financial advisor and even multiple advisors. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk. Asset allocation and diversification of the assets in your portfolio with investments in different sectors will reduce this risk.

Diversifiable Risk

This is also called systemic risk. This is risk that can be managed based upon asset allocation. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk unless they engage in asset allocation as an investment strategy. Again, asset allocation based upon an Investment Policy Statement will reduce this risk.

Tax Risk

Some investments are more tax efficient than others. This means that you have a bigger tax bite with some investments. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk. Investing while considering the tax implications now and in the future will reduce this risk.

Event Risk

9-11 and the earthquake in Japan are catastrophic man-made and natural events. Events of this magnitude and scope have an impact on investments. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk. To be honest, a single advisor will not reduce this risk. Asset allocation by focusing upon global diversification based upon weather patterns, political risks, and geographic risks will reduce this risk.

Liquidity Risk

Cash is king. If all of your net worth is tied up in your house or a 5-year CD or in a trust that you cannot get access to for another 20 years, then your investments are illiquid. In short, you have the money but you can’t get your money. Multiple advisors will not reduce this risk. Purposeful financial planning supported by an Investment Policy Statement and coordinating with estate planning professionals and tax professionals will reduce this risk.

If having multiple advisors will not reduce these risks, then what risks are being diversified as discovered in the State Street Global Advisors Survey. It is more than likely diversifying dependence upon one advisor to create a greater sense of ease given increasingly turbulent markets or it is a contest between the multiple advisors to determine who generates the greatest raw return during any given time period.

If you decide to have more than one financial advisor and these multiple advisors are essentially providing the same service unlike the relationship between a financial advisor and an estate planning attorney, a CPA, a real estate professional or financial therapist, then you have to be clear on what the other advisor(s) are providing you in exchange for their fee.

In our work with clients, most of whom have other professionals as part of their Brain Trust and a few who have other financial advisors, we see our role and responsibility as follows:

Role

• To serve as the coordinator, integrator, synthesizer, and conductor of all the services provided by the Brain Trust while being the trusted guide to support our client achieve their life-enhancing financial goals based upon their financial plan which includes an Investment Policy Statement.
• To serve as a fiduciary always holding the best interest of our client as the first and foremost priority.

Responsibilities

• To identify the individuals and organizations in the Brain Trust of the client.
• To establish high-quality, coordinated relationships with members of the client’s Brain Trust.
• To develop in collaboration with the client an Investment Policy Statement incorporating all assets in the client’s entire portfolio including those managed by other advisors.
• To collect, monitor and report on a quarterly basis the performance and related risks of the entire portfolio including those managed by other advisors.
• To identify and recommend any conflicts arising from managing multiple portfolios with multiple advisors.
• To calculate and share with the client the cost of services provided by the Brain Trust.
• To evaluate with the client about adding, changing or deleting members of the Brain Trust as the client’s life and financial situation changes.
• To partner with the client to enhance the communication with the members of the Brain Trust and how to get the most value from the Brain Trust.