Portfolio Design

Back when I was a financial advisor, I had a client named Maxine. I’ll never forget the first time she came into my office with a banker’s box full of opened letters, unopened envelopes, bills, bank statements—you name it.

She told me that her husband, who had always handled their finances, had just passed away. There was pain in her eyes, and a healthy dose of confusion. I asked her if I could hold onto the box until our next meeting.

Over the next couple of weeks, I put all the scattered pieces of Maxine’s financial life into a recognizable order. When she came back, I handed her a neat and tidy three-ring binder and walked her through it.

I remember looking at Maxine after we finished the last page and closed the binder. She looked at peace.

“Thank you,” she told me. “You have no idea how much this helps.”

Maxine’s situation is not at all uncommon. Most people’s financial lives are just as chaotic and disorganized. We have old stocks, retirement accounts from jobs left long ago, a mutual fund from a parent, a mortgage, a handful of hopes and dreams. Even if it’s not in a literal banker’s box, it might as well be. The pieces rarely seem to fit together.

WHEN A REAL FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL DESIGNS A PORTFOLIO FOR A CLIENT, THEY TAKE THAT CHAOS AND GIVE IT ORDER. THE RELIEF PEOPLE FEEL WHEN PRESENTED WITH A NEAT AND TIDY PORTFOLIO IS HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS.

I don’t think Maxine ever looked at that three-ring binder again. But just knowing it existed, just knowing that her financial life was neatly organized, provided a ton of relief at a time when she needed it most.