Transcript
JP Swenson (0:00)
This episode of the Rotary Voices Podcast is brought to you by History Explorer. Learn more@historyexplorer.com.
Derek Kinney (0:10)
From Rotary magazine. This is the Rotary Voices Podcast. I'm your host, Derek Kinney, a proud member of the Rotary Club of Arlington. As America's financial educator, I'm a frequent guest on Fox, cnn, cnbc, and Yahoo. Finance, sharing my Middle Class to Millionaire playbook so people can grow their money.
James Bogart (0:30)
And do more good.
Derek Kinney (0:32)
I'm also the author of Good Money Revolution, a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller. Over the past few months, the market volatility around the world has sent many investors on an emotional rollercoaster as they figure out what to do about their investments and retirement accounts. In today's episode, I'm joined by certified financial planner James Bogart. James is the founder and CEO of Bogart wealth, which is widely considered one of the top financial planning firms in the country. Bogart wealth is an independent, the only wealth management firm guiding corporate executives, professionals and families on their paths to and from retirement. James and I will have a practical money conversation to address your concerns and help make things easy to understand in.
James Bogart (1:20)
The market and and in the economy right now. I'm excited about our conversation today, James.
Derek Kinney (1:30)
Because there's so much going on in.
James Bogart (1:32)
The market and the economy right now.
JP Swenson (1:34)
Well, thank you for the very kind introduction, Eric, and I appreciate the opportunity to be here.
James Bogart (1:39)
First of all, for many people, 2025 is not going how most people expected it to go and consumer confidence has dropped. We've got quite a bit of market volatility and of course, tariff worries. But first of all, let's talk about the overall economy. What's your perspective on where things are at right now?
JP Swenson (1:59)
I have to say, I think 2025 is actually playing out in line with anticipation. I mean, it's one of those things where we knew at the outcome of the election that we were going to experience dramatic change. And now no one could quantify what that change actually would mean or the manner or even the duration or frequency of how that change would be. But yeah, as we came into the year at Bogart wealth, you know, we flat out said volatility is going to be the norm as opposed to what we've been experiencing recently, especially because 2023 and 2024 were, were very much what we would describe as anomalies of a year because of the way market volatility was so muted relative to normal expectations. It's actually more common to have 10% swings intra year than it is not to have that and why I say 2023 and 2024 were anomalies simply because those were two consecutive years where we didn't have volatility more than 10%. And so a lot of the conversations we've been having with our clients have been around just framing of this environment. Yes, this is different. And I'm going to argue every single time that we've seen volatility of over 10% and it's been different. The catalyst is different. It's something new. What I will always say with any one of our clients is, is you need to stay rooted in the fundamentals, stay rooted in your plan and have the components built into your portfolio that will allow you to remove emotion from investment decisions. Because the number one detractor from long term performance is and will always be emotional involvement. It doesn't belong with investments, it never should. And what we find in these types of environments, whenever you amplify volatility, and again, name the catalyst, right, Geopolitical, Fed tariffs, the catalyst can all intertwine. And of course, the more uncertainty we have, the more volatility we have. It's one of those things where if you're not preparing prior to those environments, then you're going to be more emotionally responsive when these environments actually happen. That's when I think about dependent upon where you are in your journey of thinking about retirement, planning for retirement or accumulating for retirement. It could be a very different perspective along the way. Our younger investors, you're getting a discount, right? Like, let's find ways to get money invested because we have a longer term perspective on this than somebody who's actually in retirement in that deaccumulation phase of life where they're needing their money to generate an income in paycheck for them.
