The Banker and the Fisherman

An interview with author and wealth manager, Ron Rogé. As Published in Business Opportunities Journal. March, 2009.

Ron Rogé, R. W. Rogé & Company, an independent wealth manager with more than 150 clients, has written a new book, TheBanker and the Fisherman: Lessons in Life, Happiness & Wealth in the 21st Century. In the book, Rogé provides a tutorial on how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls that self-sabotage investors as they pursue their financial goals. The book starts with the fable of the fisherman who is scolded by the banker to spend the next 15 years toiling away, building his business, so he can get to a point in life he has already arrived at living “in a small coastal village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, go for romantic walks with your wife, and in the evenings you could sip wine, play guitar and sing songs with your friends.”

BOJ: How did this book come about?

Ron: We’ve been writing a newsletter that our clients love, since 1995. We publish it quarterly. I was looking at this pile of information that we’ve had over the years and some of them have gotten really good feedback from the clients. I said “You know, I have all of this source material.” So what we decided to do was to go through it and see what might be relevant in terms for a book. We put the book together, and then went through and edited everything and rewrote it to make it timeless. It’s based on the premise that most of us are going to spend 100 years on the planet. You know, what do we want to do with that time? You have a finite amount of time to deal with your life. You’re going to spend the time anyhow. You might as well be happy.

BOJ: And being happy involves choices?

Ron: People don’t realize they’re capable of doing things and they don’t because it might be difficult to make the move or there’s certain things that hold them back. People are capable of making choices. People always think they’re stuck in a situation. There’s something blocking them from moving. They have to address the issue that’s blocking them, and when they address the issue, then all of a sudden, this weight comes off their back, which is a tremendous epiphany.

BOJ: What if someone has just lost their job, or has a financial set-back? What choices can they make?

Ron: There’s an article about downsizing. People accumulate all this stuff. You go to a home where people have been there for 30 to 35 years and they’ve just accumulated all this stuff and now it’s time to get rid of it. They just get stuff and want to buy something else. It’s a question of identifying what you need. Is it really going to add value to your life? There’s another article in the book where we know the price of everything but the value of nothing. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a pyramid that shows at bottom people need nourishment and safety and the next thing is for shelter; at the top is self-actualization. When you get to the point of self-actualization, where business is going well, you’re very successful, people are looking up to you, but you’re probably looking for something else, maybe something spiritual. You’ve seen this with the Beatles and with Madonna. All of a sudden, the income changes and you can’t afford to do these things. You’ll actually feel better when things start to stabilize. You’ve got to get yourself to a stable situation. That’s the real message.

BOJ: How can one reach stability?

Ron: Part of it is managing your expenses and just not accumulating stuff. Don’t waste money on things you don’t have to. What happens is you’ll overreach. For example, you’ll want the bigger house. We try to counsel people to get a 15 year mortgage, because the real trick here is that after 15 years the house is paid off. Then you can deal with the college expenses. You’re going to have a house that has equity in it. Most of the time they say “I’m going to take the 30 and make the extra payment,” but guess what, they’ll never make the extra payment.

BOJ: What advice do you have for young professionals planning for retirement?

Ron: Well, they have to take care of themselves first. Their retirement is going to be real important. Otherwise, they’re going to be a burden on their children later on. Everyone tries to do everything, all at once, which is usually not possible. You need to address your own retirement situation first because people are living longer and in retirement there are situations going on now that we never had to deal with 30 years ago. We have clients in their 70’s who are retired who have living parents, and those parents have run out of money and they’re trying to help their parents. We have things like the unexpected boomerang kids, and when I say kids, they can be in their 60’s, coming back home again because they’ve lost their jobs or they didn’t have a retirement plan. So we have some adult children that are in their 60’s actually being a burden on their parents who are in their 80’s. People are just living longer. Years ago, we ran retirement projections to get the person 100% funded for their ideal retirement. Whatever that was, a million dollars, two million dollars, five million, whatever it takes to do that. Now we are recommending that they be 120% funded because everyone is living longer. You have a 20% cushion for those unexpected expenses that may occur over that 35 or 40 years in retirement.

BOJ: Does your message of balance and stability apply to financial planners themselves?

Ron: Whatever skills you’re going to need, you’re going to have to have a good balance between the right and left brain. Most financial advisers probably come from the accounting side, or the brokerage side. The finance side tends to be left brained, very numbers oriented, but they don’t deal with the emotional side, the right side of the brain. Having a good balance between your right and your left brain is really a characteristic for you to be successful as a financial adviser. It’s required! | BOJ