Wanting to get to know your podcast hosts a little better? This episode does just that! Josh & Austin take a tiny step back from looking at financial topics and instead catch up on each other’s personal lives. You’ll hear them talk about their families, fun vacations, and their personal goals going forward. Of course, they couldn’t totally get away from looking at financial topics, so they discuss the market and the ups and downs of being in finance during a pandemic. Tune in now to catch up with Josh and Austin!
Main Talking Points
[1:35] – Catching Up with Josh & Austin
[10:11] – How’s the Podcast?
[14:00] – Dad Joke of the Week
[15:29] – Vacations
[24:15]- Fall Activities
[30:20] – Goals
[33:23] – The Market Going Forward
[44:29] – We Love Getting Emails!
Links & Resources
Invest With Us – The Invested Dads
Free Guide: 8 Timeless Principles of Investing
Social Media
Full Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to The Invested Dads Podcast, simplifying financial topics so that you can take action and make your financial situation better, helping you to understand the current world of financial planning and investments. Here are your hosts, Josh Robb and Austin Wilson.
Austin Wilson:
All right. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to The Invested Dads Podcast, the podcast where we take you on a journey to better your financial future. Today, we have a special edition of our podcast. Josh, what are we going to be doing today?
Josh Robb:
We are going to just be spending some time together, hanging out, catching up.
Austin Wilson:
Man, I love doing this.
Josh Robb:
We realized that early on when we started the podcast, we talked a little bit about who we are, how we met, and what we do to get started with this podcast. Since then, we’ve been really tackling some really good and fun topics, but we thought it’d be nice, midway through the year, I guess we’re a little past midway, to take a break, just spend some time catching back up with you and I and letting our listeners get a little bit deeper into our lives and who we are.
Austin Wilson:
It has definitely been an interesting year, I think, to say the least.
Josh Robb:
We chose a good year to start the podcast.
Austin Wilson:
The bold predictions we made for 2020, those are out the window, so when we revisit that at the end of the year-
Josh Robb:
Don’t listen to that episode.
Austin Wilson:
Or do listen to it just to laugh at how far off we were because this was all pre-COVID. Anyway, COVID has taken over the world, as far as it’s all anyone talks about, it seems. It’s all the financial markets care about. It’s pretty much what clients want to hear about and everything. How has the year been for you and your family, and your job? How’s that going on your end of things?
[1:35] – Catching Up with Josh & Austin
Josh Robb:
For me, as a reminder, I have four kids. In the beginning of this year, so when COVID first started, I had two of them in school, one in preschool, and then the youngest one is still at home. The two started homeschooling at the end of the year, let’s say homeschooling. We were schooling at home, but the teachers provided the curriculum and did all the heavy lifting. Then during that same time, we started working from home as well. I had my office, which was up in my bedroom, which was a door with a lock to could keep especially my youngest away. When she knew dad was home, she wanted to be there all the time. I was there. Then my wife who did an amazing job took care of doing the majority of monitoring their schoolwork, making sure they’re getting everything done.
Again, when you have two different classes, two different grades and then a preschooler who has their own stuff they got to do, and making sure everybody’s on track, it was a lot of work. They finished well. That was probably the biggest disruption. We all like to have habits and routines and to have all that thrown out the window was rough. Then heading into the summer … Early on, if you would have asked me, well, I never would even thought I’d be working from home, but throughout all that, I thought by this summer, we’ve got to be back to normal. Then, sure enough, the summer hit and we were still continuing through this and so we ended up having to cancel our vacation, visiting my brother in Texas.
There was a lot of things that changed, that just disrupted and threw off this whole year. Watching my kids as they transition out of the school year into the summer, it was good that they could get outside, play in the yard, ride bikes, do those things, but it was a different timeframe. Two of my kids have birthdays in the summer. They weren’t able to have parties or anything like that really, have their friends over. It was a change. Then going into this year, my third born was in kindergarten, so now we have three in full-time school and our school is doing half days. It’s been a transition. Now they get on the bus in the morning and then they’re home by 12:30. Then in the afternoon-
Austin Wilson:
Weird.
Josh Robb:
They come home with assignments. Certain classes are in-person. Certain classes are done virtually. They have reading and different work they have to get done once they arrive home. It is still a transition. You feel bad for my kindergartener, in that it’s his first experience in real school.
Austin Wilson:
Is this what school is like?
Josh Robb:
It’s totally disrupted, but he doesn’t know any different. That’s the plus side. He doesn’t know any different. It’s done well. They’ve all been troopers. Our family has done well, but in general, I never would have imagined all that’s come out of the virus, the changes. What about you?
Austin Wilson:
It’s been interesting as well. The ironic thing is that in the middle of last winter, I think it was, my wife and I were like, “Hey. Let’s get your office put back together and get it all nice and painted, and organized.”
Josh Robb:
Your DJ booth?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. It’s really good. I had it all done so I could play guitar in there and practice guitar in there for church music and stuff like that. It was all done and put together and really nice. I never planned on having to use it. Then when we were working from home for a while, it was a pretty easy transition. I have a nice door that shuts. My wife, Jenna, was wonderful to just play and hang out with our daughter all day and let daddy get his work done, but it was totally different than I had ever experienced, for sure, but that went okay. I think a lot of people think that when you’re working from home, it’s just a cakewalk and you can pretty much do whatever you want. I think that’s the impression, but that was some of the hardest days of working, just because there was so-
Josh Robb:
For you.
Austin Wilson:
Much going on in the financial markets. Things were changing every hour, it seemed like so. It was a lot of work, but it was good and we were able to keep on top of things. I think that overall, what the country and really the world has learned is that a lot of things can be done from home. That’s going to change the way we look at things a little bit, but we’re back to the office in a 2020 way and I think that that is a good thing. There are definitely things that you miss about being around people as much as you can.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
It was good to get back into what we call the ‘new normal.’
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
Some of the challenging things for our family is my wife and daughter were home all the time. They’re usually out, running around and doing a lot of things. Some of the things that they needed to do they weren’t able to do as much. That was really hard, especially when things were shut down, shut down.
Josh Robb:
Yes. On top of that, working from home, especially for you, you have a really nice setup here in your office. You’ve got multiple monitors. You have all the stuff you need for the research and the analysis. Prior to all this, if you were home, you didn’t have as much access to that. Now you could log in and see things, but not to the extent here. You were able to separate work from home, but when you set everything up at home, there’s that overlap. I think I’ve heard from a lot of people that the work-home situation got blended, which isn’t always a good thing, in that disconnecting and being fully invested in your family when it’s family time is hard to do because-
Austin Wilson:
It was.
Josh Robb:
The office is just right over there. If an email pops in or something like-
Austin Wilson:
You’ll do it.
Josh Robb:
I can go do it.
Austin Wilson:
It was a lot different. With my actual technology set up, it was humorous. I have a very nice iPad and I can access pretty much anything, a lot of stuff if I want to read. I have a four-monitor computer set up with Bloomberg Terminal and everything’s all in. I’m really quick because I know where everything’s at and I have it set up in my office. Then I had to physically, when we were home-
Josh Robb:
Clean it up.
Austin Wilson:
I had to take a truckload home of computer monitors or computers and stuff like that. Set it up. We were working from home for a long time. Then tear it back down.
Josh Robb:
Bring it back.
Austin Wilson:
Bring it back to the office and set it back up. I hope to never have to do that again because I looked funny carrying all that stuff to the car.
Josh Robb:
I helped you. I remember.
Austin Wilson:
I know. It was a lot. We’ve been to a 2020 normal groove. I think one thing that’s been nice for us is that obviously, a lot of businesses have reopened, so that feels good. Put on a mask and go to the store. You can go to the store. You can go to a restaurant. These kinds of things are … In Ohio, that’s where it’s at. You can pretty much do what you could.
Josh Robb:
Parks are open, so you can go outside and get some fresh air, but also have your kids play.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly.
Josh Robb:
Do stuff. Go for a walk in the park or in the woods. We have nature trails around here. Things like that, you can actually do and get out. You’re right. For a while, you were just stuck inside. I mean it was February, March. I mean it’s not like you needed to be outside for those things, but as the weather turned, that was the outlet that was needed to get the people out and about.
Austin Wilson:
It was really a big step in the right direction for our family when churches were able to open back up. That was awesome. We’re loving being back in that and just being around people again. It’s just a gift. That’s COVID life.
Josh Robb:
Well, speaking of that, you attend a larger church, a bigger church who had online capability.
Austin Wilson:
True.
Josh Robb:
You were streaming prior to this-
Austin Wilson:
Correct.
Josh Robb:
For people who wanted to see it or on vacation or anything like that-
Austin Wilson:
Yes.
Josh Robb:
People that are maybe elderly, who’s stuck and can’t travel. That was great for you. My church is a little bit smaller. We had not done online stuff and so that was something new. A positive came out of this. We now stream and we’re going to continue to, even now that we’re opened back up for in-person worship. That, to me is a benefit out of all this. Now there’s people that can connect live with our service, that maybe couldn’t before. You take some positives out of something.
[10:11] – How’s the Podcast?
Austin Wilson:
There’s some learning, I think, that a lot of people have had to do and a lot of it was trial by fire. No one expected this to happen the way it did. Businesses have had to adapt. Churches have had to adapt. Families have had to do adapt. I think that despite a lot of the challenges economically or obviously, a health crisis, there’s a lot of group growth in certain areas that has come out of it as well. Trying to look at it a little bit positive. We’ve had a lot of episodes so far, Josh. How many so far?
Josh Robb:
We’ve had 42.
Austin Wilson:
This is episode 42.
Josh Robb:
This one we’re talking right now, we’re in episode 42. You may say, “Wait a minute. You started at the beginning of the year. It’s not been 42 weeks.” Now, we did a couple of extra ones in there.
Austin Wilson:
True.
Josh Robb:
Especially during COVID, we did a couple of emergency, or whatever you want to call them, special broadcasts. We’re about one every week. Every Thursday is what we’re trying to do and hope to continue to do.
Austin Wilson:
What is your favorite episode so far?
Josh Robb:
I have a four-way tie. Let me explain why-
Austin Wilson:
Wow. Goodness.
Josh Robb:
It’s a four-way tie.
Austin Wilson:
Might as well pick them all.
Josh Robb:
All of them, really. It’s a four-way tie. The four that I loved were the ones where we interviewed somebody. We did two different book interviews. We did Jess, one of the other advisors here at Hixon Zuercher, where we work. Then we also did our intern, Maddy, for a college edition. I love bringing someone else in to talk with us. It’s fun because they’re passionate about something. For instance, Maddy was the most recent one that we did and she was an intern. She also was a college student.
We talked to her about, “Hey. What would a college person have questions for?” She brought in some great questions and we worked through it. I just loved that because those are, again going back to … We’re always asking you guys for topics. We would rather talk about the things you’re interested in and something that we think about. To me, those were always fun ones because those are things that came up, that someone was passionate about and we could spend some time hearing about that passion.
Austin Wilson:
I think we’re actually at five because Adam, our CEO-
Josh Robb:
That’s right. We did a COVID one.
Austin Wilson:
Was on the COVID on.
Josh Robb:
That’s right.
Austin Wilson:
Between then and the two book ones, we did Joe Sangl, 20/20 Money and we did Ben Carlson.
Josh Robb:
With the bubbles.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, about Asset Bubbles?
Josh Robb:
Yes, about that.
Austin Wilson:
I’m all for it. That was a really good one. It’s been a good year for episodes. Out of those 42, I would say that my favorite was the autonomous vehicle one.
Josh Robb:
That was a fun one.
Austin Wilson:
That was a fun one.
Josh Robb:
007?
Austin Wilson:
I think it was 007 and I got to roll in a James Bond theme into it. It was a fun one to edit and put together, as well as … That episode was actually recorded before Tesla went bonkers. If you have not been following Tesla stock, it’s been a rocket ship since that episode got everyone’s interest started.
Josh Robb:
Is that an Elon Musk joke?
Austin Wilson:
Yes, it’s an Elon Musk joke. That was a really fun episode to put together, but statistically speaking, because I can nerd out sometimes, our most popular episode outside of the trailer has actually been episode five, which is Dividend Investing for Dummies. Dividend investing is something that we’re very passionate about. That’s a cool thing so far, but other statistics about our podcast is that thus far, we’re 42 episodes into this and we’ve achieved nearly 6,500 downloads already-
Josh Robb:
That’s amazing.
Austin Wilson:
On these episodes. We’re thankful for all of you guys listening in each and every week because we couldn’t obviously do it without you.
Josh Robb:
It’s exciting for us to see that number grow. I mean that’s more and more people that are finding it and that’s more and more people, hopefully, that are getting a little more insight or knowledge into some of those investing topics.
Austin Wilson:
We actually have listeners from all over the world, which is something that’s really exciting to us. Obviously, we’re based in the United States. We’re based in Findlay, Ohio, so we have a lot of local listeners and a lot of people from the United States, but we’ve got listeners from Australia and Canada, and France, and Brazil, and other places in the world. It’s just awesome.
Josh Robb:
A lot of those are consistent weekly. I mean it’s the same people-
Austin Wilson:
True. Exactly.
Josh Robb:
Listening. Shout-out to all of you outside of the US. We’re glad you’re listening.
Austin Wilson:
Always.
[14:00] – Dad Joke of the Week
Josh Robb:
Yes. I think it’s time to take a break. Again, maybe we should ask what our favorite dad joke is, but let’s do a dad joke of the week. I have a special one here for you. It’s just a thought I had. Kleptomaniacs. All right.
Austin Wilson:
I don’t know what that is.
Josh Robb:
They tend to steal things. All right. They’re people who steal things.
Austin Wilson:
Habitually?
Josh Robb:
Yes. They just have this thing. They always are taking things. You can’t tell a pun to a kleptomaniac because they take things, literally.
Austin Wilson:
They take things.
Josh Robb:
Literally.
Austin Wilson:
That’s funny. Literally. Wow. I learned a new word, man. Now I know what a kleptomaniac is.
Josh Robb:
I can’t spell it, but I’ll tell you what it means.
Austin Wilson:
I hope you guys tell these jokes to your friends, just to get a good eye roll because they’re classic.
Josh Robb:
That’s right.
Austin Wilson:
They’re classic.
Josh Robb:
I will say my favorite dad joke, only because it was my son who told it to me first, was-
Austin Wilson:
The motorcycle?
Josh Robb:
The motorcycle.
Austin Wilson:
OI, classic.
Josh Robb:
I know. That’s my favorite one.
Austin Wilson:
Go ahead. You might as well say it.
Josh Robb:
Why couldn’t the motorcycle make it up the hill?
Austin Wilson:
Josh, I don’t know.
Josh Robb:
You do know, but I’m going to tell you-
Austin Wilson:
I know.
Josh Robb:
Anyway. Because it was too tired.
Austin Wilson:
Too tired. That’s so-
Josh Robb:
The motorcycle.
Austin Wilson:
Funny and so fitting because I am a motorcycle enthusiast.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
In 2020, that’s something that has not been off-limits.
Josh Robb:
That’s right because you got a face mask.
[15:29] – Vacations
Austin Wilson:
I wear a helmet all the time. I guess that’s a side personal note, is that the weather has been generally very, very nice this year, so I got to take my … We’re going to talk a little bit about vacations.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
We can go ahead and do that next. One trip I took was in early June. I went down to North Carolina, in the Asheville area, the Black Mountain area, with my dad and my uncle, and my cousin. We took a motorcycle trip and we just went around the mountains for a few days and it was really, really awesome. We try and do that about once a year. The weather was just great. It’s been great to be able to get out and do that, something that you can do in COVID world. My dad and I have been riding our dirt bikes a lot, again this year and that is so awesome. It’s just so much fun to get out. You get to definitely workout and you get to enjoy being outside in the woods and nature. It’s just been a blast. That’s something that has not been cut off.
Josh Robb:
You had a nice bruise from one of those trips you showed me.
Austin Wilson:
You don’t stay up on the dirt bike all the time. Josh, how was the vacation for you this year? What did you do? Where did you go? What did you eat? That’s the key thing that I’m hinging on.
Josh Robb:
We did two trips, one with my parents and then one of my wife’s parents. It’s great that we’re able to go on trips with them and we’ve done that in the past. My kids love it, seeing the grandma and grandpa and being there with them. With my parents, we did … With everything going on, you’ve got to rethink what you’re doing. Again, we were going to hopefully go visit my brother. We had to readjust that. We actually did a camping trip because what’s fun with camping is you set up your own little spot and you’re distant just by default. We went camping with them and it was great. We did a lot of just hanging out. There was a river there you could go tubing in and so you just float down. It was awesome.
Austin Wilson:
Favorite thing you ate while camping.
Josh Robb:
We cooked out the whole time. We brought food to eat and we did two things that were fun, cooked right over the fire. That, I enjoyed. One was, and this brought me back to Boy Scouts, the foil dinners, where you put everything in a foil pack and then throw it in the fire, and just let it cook.
Austin Wilson:
The only thing was to put butter and eat.
Josh Robb:
Just go. It’s good. We did that. It was a mixture of vegetables and some sausage and a lot of good stuff. It was really, really good. That was just fun because it brought me back to Boy Scout, Cub Scout days where you were-
Austin Wilson:
Two or three years ago.
Josh Robb:
When I was younger. Always, to me, that’s a camping meal. Then the second one was … We did pizza pies, where you-
Austin Wilson:
With the little cast iron and clamper thing?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, little cast iron and clamper thing.
Austin Wilson:
Oh.
Josh Robb:
For the kids, it’s so much fun. They get to put those little things in there. Build it and then hold all the fire and cook it. It’s just bread and pizza sauce, and cheese, and pepperoni in there, whatever you put.
Austin Wilson:
I’ll make that tonight.
Josh Robb:
Just because you’re cooking at a fire and you’re out there camping, it just makes it that much fun. Those are the things that make you enjoy. Now, we were there during my oldest daughter’s birthday. We ended up bringing a cake and celebrating one night there. We didn’t make that there with a fire, but we had it. It was very good. We enjoyed that.
Austin Wilson:
Is it how the Uncrustable was created?
Josh Robb:
You wonder.
Austin Wilson:
Because it’s the same thing.
Josh Robb:
It is.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, those are so delicious. It’s fall now. It’s starting to cool down in the evenings. We were talking about having a bonfire and I think it’s about that season.
Josh Robb:
That was a fun weekend trip we did with them. Then also we, just recently, as states were opening back up, went down South to South Carolina with my in-laws, my brother-in-law, and my mother and father-in-law. We went to a small little island and it was great. Again, this is how we’ve always vacationed, but it made it that much easier in 2020. You rent a house that’s professionally clean. They had the whole fun thing about why that is all clean now, but you go to the beach. They have a pool at the house. I said, “I think I spent less time around people on vacation than I normally do just here in town,” same thing. We ate dinner together. For me and the kids, it was great because it was just so much time with them on the beach and the pool. We did a …? What do they call that? There’s a term for it, a Southern broil.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, where they boil everything?
Josh Robb:
Oh yeah. It was crab legs and shrimp, and potatoes, and corn, and all that with the seasoning. That was good. Those were really good meals.
Austin Wilson:
Any donuts?
Josh Robb:
There was no bakery on the island, so we did not-
Austin Wilson:
You went a week with donuts?
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
I thought you looked thinner when you got back.
Josh Robb:
I did not. I did bring a ton of snack food, so I made up for it with every other junk food you could think of, but there is no bakery on that island. They did have ice cream which the kids loved, but other than that, that was our two … What we did. Again, just disconnecting, spending time with the family, that’s something you and I … It helps refresh you and motivate you back to … Part of why we do this is, one for the enjoyment. We love what we do, but the other one is for the families. To be able to reconnect is always great.
Austin Wilson:
As you were coming home-
Josh Robb:
We crossed paths.
Austin Wilson:
We crossed paths at some point because I was also headed to South Carolina. My wife and our three-year-old daughter, and I headed down with, not with because we were in separate cars, but with her parents. We went down to Hilton Head for a week and we had a nice condo, right between the pool and the beach. It was awesome. We went down to the beach for a week and I got sunburned, so I’m still peeling a little bit from that. It’s hard not to.
Josh Robb:
You guys sit in the shade. That’s where it’s at.
Austin Wilson:
I know, but I was like, “I’m going to get my money’s worth.”
Josh Robb:
SPF 50, baby.
Austin Wilson:
By the end of the week, I was putting on-
Josh Robb:
That’s my default with this.
Austin Wilson:
Do we have SPF 150?
Josh Robb:
You just start with that and just put on that with a paintbrush and throw it on.
Austin Wilson:
It was a lot of fun. We were down there for about a week and we ate a lot of food. We spent a lot of time at the beach. Favorite thing I ate probably was … I ate a lot. I love seafood. My wife’s not a huge fan of seafood. You can’t really get great seafood up here.
Josh Robb:
In Ohio.
Austin Wilson:
It’s not seafood.
Josh Robb:
You get fish, but you don’t get seafood.
Austin Wilson:
There’s no sea. We’re by the ocean there. You can get seafood everywhere, so I did. We went to Salty Dog, which is very famous. I got a shirt, of course. You got to do Salty Dog shirt. I had grits and shrimp, which is a staple down there at flatland or something like that, in the marshes. It was so delicious. I also had some swordfish and some flounder. It was just, oh, top-notch stuff. I ate my weight in food that week, but it was a lot of fun. We got back. Like you said, it was just good to get a week away and be refreshed. It was really nice to go with my in-laws because Jenna and I were able to get away and have dinner, just the two of us. We could … In the mornings, usually, at home, we get up and run or whatever, but we have to alternate because one of us has to be home with my daughter and my dogs can’t watch her.
Josh Robb:
Well, they can. They’ll just watch.
Austin Wilson:
They won’t do much. We alternate in the mornings really early, but on vacation, we were able to go running together or whatever in the morning, on the beach and my in-laws would be there with my daughter. It was cool.
Josh Robb:
Who’s faster?
Austin Wilson:
It depends. I feel like on vacation, I was much slower, but in normal life, I’m faster. My vacation body was dragging from all that fish. One of the coolest things that happened throughout the week was we were on our way back to the condo from our run. Often, in the distance, I saw a dolphin, which was really cool. It’s not uncommon. There’s dolphins all around, but it was the only one I saw. I was like, “That’s awesome, a dolphin.” Then we keep running and we saw more and more pods of them getting closer to the shore, as we got closer to our condo. By the time we got to where we were going to turn to our condo, there was a pod of dolphins fishing in the shallows, 10 feet from the shore.
Josh Robb:
That’s crazy.
Austin Wilson:
It was really, really cool. I’d never seen wild dolphins before. We saw wild dolphins and we can check that off the list. That was probably one of the coolest parts that my wife and I got to see while we were down there. My daughter just loved the sand. Multiple times, in the beginning, we were like, “No. You cannot eat this. This will not taste good.”
Josh Robb:
After a while, you were like, “Just try.”
[24:15]- Fall Activities
Austin Wilson:
That won’t prevent a three-year-old from trying, but it’s great. Now we’re back in the groove and we’re just getting stuff done. It’s been pretty good. What about your kids? Any other activities going on this fall?
Josh Robb:
Well, here in Ohio, again, where we’re at, they are allowing outdoor sports. Again, my three older kids are all playing soccer right now and so that’s always fun. They’re enjoying it. They’re being able to go out and play. There’s certain rules they’ve got to abide by, wearing masks on the sidelines and all that fun stuff, but to be able to get out and play has been good because all the spring stuff was canceled, so it’s been a little while since they’ve been able to participate.
That’s been good. Then, in general … My third, he’s five and he learned how to ride a bike a little while ago, but the training wheels were iffy. Then wanting to keep up with the older kids, he said, “I got to do this.” We took bikes when we went down and so they were able to ride on the island and he’s been really liking that. Having to be able to go on bike trips and stuff has been, to have one less person on training wheels that you have to worry about.
Austin Wilson:
We rented bikes down there, on Hilton Head and it was funny because then we got a baby seat, not a baby seat, a kid seat for my daughter and we put it on my bike. We were going down. First of all, she did not like a helmet. No three-year-old likes being in a helmet. She has this amazing bunch of hair.
Josh Robb:
Yes. It’s crazy.
Austin Wilson:
I think she was probably just like, “Dad, this is my thing. Don’t cover up my hair.” Then I covered it up and she got mad, so she was kicking me as we were riding bikes for five miles. I don’t know.
Josh Robb:
Maybe she wanted to go faster.
Austin Wilson:
I don’t know.
Josh Robb:
Maybe that’s what it was. It might have been faster.
Austin Wilson:
She has a need for speed. I’ll tell you what, we go for a walk about every day after dinner and if I’m not walking fast enough, she’s like-
Josh Robb:
She lets you know.
Austin Wilson:
“Dad, we got to get it done.”
Josh Robb:
The wind is not blowing in the hair. Let’s go.
Austin Wilson:
Lots of soccer.
Josh Robb:
Lots of soccer. That’s an every-night thing.
Austin Wilson:
What about your dog?
Josh Robb:
We got a dog in February. Prior to everything shutting down, pre-COVID really, we got a dog. We had a dog before and it passed away and so we got a new one. It’s a Bernedoodle, Bernese Mountain Dog, a poodle mix. We got this little puppy and then COVID hit.
Austin Wilson:
A little puppy.
Josh Robb:
It was a little puppy when we got it. Then COVID hit and the kids are home and so this little dog … The whole family is there all the time. I’m working from home and the dog is there. They’re loving it. The little puppy is now a big puppy,85 pounds.
Austin Wilson:
We’ll put a picture in the post.
Josh Robb:
We should. He’s 85 pounds. He’s not even a year yet.
Austin Wilson:
That’s so crazy.
Josh Robb:
He’s loved this whole summer. Now that the kids are back to school, he is so confused. My wife tells me, “When they leave, he just wanders the house.” Now, my youngest is still there. She’s two. They interact, but in a violent manner, from a two-year-old. She just tackles him. He’s a great puppy. He’s very good with the kids, but the older ones are the ones he plays with fetch and all those things and they’re gone, so he just wanders the house a lot. It’s been a change for him. He wasn’t used to it, but he’s great. A very strong dog. They’re work dogs and so they pull. They’re very muscular. The other day he was sitting on the couch. Getting on furniture is his thing. I guess it’s my fault. I let him on there once, but anyway, my wife could not get him off the couch because he decided he wanted to be there and he was not moving. He was sitting and saying, “No.” It was just funny to watch.
Austin Wilson:
That is funny.
Josh Robb:
Yes. What about you? Do you have dogs?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. We have a three-year-old. Is he three or four? We have a four-year-old, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Josh Robb:
That’s a lot of words.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, it’s a lot of words. His name is Samson. He’s huge and strong, and mighty. I thought of this name. His name is Samson because he’s huge and strong, and mighty. Actually, he’s funny and lovey, and couldn’t buy anything if you want him to. He’s very small. He’s less than 20 pounds. He’s four years old. I was trying to backpedal to when we got him. I think he’s four now. He’s cute and fun. His middle name is James because when we got him, LeBron James was playing for the Cavaliers, so he’s Cavalier King.
Josh Robb:
Makes sense. King Cavalier James.
Austin Wilson:
His name is Samson James Wilson.
Josh Robb:
Makes sense.
Austin Wilson:
That’s Samson. He’s funny. He’s pretty much been raised. We’ve never had any formal training for him. He’s pretty much been raised by his older sister, so he’s got some Australian Shepherd-ism to him. We also have a 13 … That’s old.
Josh Robb:
Old dog.
Austin Wilson:
A 13-year-old Australian Shepherd named Sophia. Really, she’s so sweet and she’s really beautiful. She’s got the Australian Shepherd eyes, blue and half brown. She’s gorgeous and amazing, but she’s really old, so she’s going deaf. I’ve always thought that she had, I’m doing air quotes on a podcast, ‘selective hearing’ or whatever, for me if I call her to come in the house.
Josh Robb:
Maybe don’t want to.
Austin Wilson:
Now, I’m like, “No. She just can’t-
Josh Robb:
Can’t hear anything.
Austin Wilson:
“Hear me” because I can come down and go out and running or whatever, in the morning. I come down into the kitchen where she sleeps. I can come up right to her.
Josh Robb:
Nothing?
Austin Wilson:
Nothing. No movement. I’m like, “Are you breathing?” That’s Sophia. She’s 13. She’s old. We call her granny. She is starting to get to the point where she’s not loving stairs, really steep stairs anymore, but she’s so funny. Those are our dogs.
Josh Robb:
Good dogs.
Austin Wilson:
They’re doing good. We like to walk them every day when we take our walk. We do a couple of mile loop around our neighborhoods. We take our daughter and our two dogs and we just looked like this crazy family going down the street.
Josh Robb:
A happy family going for a walk.
Austin Wilson:
We have a lot of fun.
[30:20] – Goals
Josh Robb:
All right. That’s just a little catch up to what we’ve done, where we’ve been this year. Now turning towards looking forward, what do you have from a goal standpoint? Anything you’re hoping to accomplish in the near term?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. Actually, at the end of this year, everything has been postponed, but I will be sitting for my level two of my CFA exam.
Josh Robb:
Wow.
Austin Wilson:
I’ve been studying for that. It’s not super easy. It’s pretty challenging stuff and they’re pretty comprehensive. There’s just a lot of stuff there.
Josh Robb:
It’s very difficult.
Austin Wilson:
I’m looking forward to continuing that process for that certification, over time. I’m personally just trying to get a good balance of getting the things I need to get done, done at work, but also being able to be there as my three-year-old daughter grows up because she just loves being home or she loves it when I’m home. Just getting to spend time with her is the main thing for me. A balance of all of that, but everything’s going pretty good. What about you? Any goals going on?
Josh Robb:
Yeah. For me, on the advisor side, I got my CFP, Certified Financial Planner designation this year, which was a couple of years in studying and taking the classes, and taking the exam for it. Then prior to that, there were some other educational things I was doing. I was at that break and that’s where I’m at now. Not that I stopped doing everything, but I’m not targeting any special designation or anything like that right now. What I’ve been trying to do is take what I learned and say, “Where are the weak spots? What do I need to learn more about?” I’ve been focusing on some of those planning features that we do in full financial planning and say, “Which ones would I love to learn more about?” I’ve been taking courses in some educational stuff on just specific topics, which has been good as I’m slowly getting better and better at learning all those different pieces. As everything’s changed, this is a great year, as tax law changes and all that fun stuff, making sure that you’re aware of how that impacts everybody has been good.
Then personally, as everything has been going on, it’s what you said, is that focusing. What do I do now that takes up time, that I could be doing something better with my time? Reevaluating that. I serve on some boards and stuff and just checking to make sure that each of those things, prior to the time, is something that I enjoy doing. I’m coaching two of my kids’ soccer right now. I love coaching. It takes up a lot of time, but if I prefer to do that for my kids and for the other kids on the team, what are the other things to just to make sure that I’m being balanced in everything that’s there? Reevaluation and being stuck at home for COVID gives you appreciation for family time as well because again, when you’re doing a lot of stuff, you can spend a lot of nights rushing around and miss out on just family time. I’, making sure we keep that going as well.
Austin Wilson:
We’ve all only got 100%.
Josh Robb:
Yes. that’s right.
Austin Wilson:
Our families are a big portion of that.
Josh Robb:
Well, I always joke with my wife. I say, “I go 110%. That’s why I need some rest every once in a while.”
Austin Wilson:
That’s why you need a nap.
Josh Robb:
Take that 10% from somewhere else in the future.
[33:23] – The Market Going Forward
Austin Wilson:
That’s a nap. It’s a 10% nap. Overall, it’s been a choppy year, to say the least. The market fell apart in March, bear market territory, over 30%. Rebounded to all-time highs. Now things are looking a little uncertain again. Maybe I should say how are you and clients feeling about the current situation, the current markets, the potential for some continued volatility? In case anyone didn’t know, there is an election coming up.
Josh Robb:
That’s right. Soon. I think it’s a twofold question. For clients, there is that uncertainty, heading into this year, even prior. Last year, people were already talking about the election. They knew it was going to be a year of some volatility and then COVID happened to really just turn that dial way up. Having been through that shortest bear market ever or fastest, however you say it, shortest, fastest-
Austin Wilson:
It was both.
Josh Robb:
It’s everything.
Austin Wilson:
It was the fastest drop and then the shortest recovery.
Josh Robb:
That probably brought to reality some of people’s concerns about volatility and so we spent a lot of time with our clients talking through that and the what-ifs, but the thing I like coming back to is the financial planning aspect. Although there is some shorter-term stuff that happens, a lot of it is longer-term planning. We’re looking, not only just for what’s happening now, but preparing for the long-term future. Having that conversation and saying, “Yeah, there is volatility, but there’s always been volatility. What we’re looking for is what is your retirement going to be like 40 years from now?” Those types of questions, saying, “Yeah, the markets are going to go up and down and they’re going to continue to go up and down, not only up to when you retire, but while you’re retired.”
“Let’s talk through that, work through that idea.” For clients, it’s making sure the focus is on the right things. Then for me personally, I feel like I always do … I like that you’re doing a lot of the research in the house and stuff because if you asked me today or tomorrow what’s the market going to do, I don’t know, but it is that short-term versus long-term. I like to focus on the planning. I like to focus on those aspects that we can just say, “Okay. Let’s mute the noise for a minute.” Going back to when we were talking with Joe Sangl, about the 20/20 Money, it was the idea that setting those goals thinking, getting your mindset at least to think outside towards those long-term goals, that’s huge.
I’d rather have those conversations. Let’s start dreaming and let’s talk through, and then work backwards. What do we need to do now to get there? To me, that’s where my passion is. Also, you can get progress down because you can get so caught up in everything that’s happening now. You can just freeze. You can have that, what they call analysis paralysis, where you just spent so much time thinking through it and nothing happens. What about you? Because you are deeper into some of this stuff than I am.
Austin Wilson:
Well, I’m going to burst your bubble and I’m going to tell you that it might be a surprise, but I don’t know what’s going to happen-
Josh Robb:
What?
Austin Wilson:
The next day either.
Josh Robb:
Man.
Austin Wilson:
Man, I know. Now you think less of me.
Josh Robb:
All right.
Austin Wilson:
For real, it’s been interesting. I think that anyone that claims they know what is going to happen should immediately be questioned because there are too many unknowns to know, for sure. Does that make sense?
Josh Robb:
Too many unknowns to know.
Austin Wilson:
I think that what happened in the sell-off in March told me that people anticipated, investors anticipated that things were going to be bad. Then we saw, yeah, it was bad, but it was bad with an explanation that we can get our mind around and a lot of support from the government. That sent markets back up. Maybe virus numbers weren’t as bad as feared. The economic shutdown wasn’t as long as feared. Those kinds of things came in. That sent the markets up for a long time and the markets were up really, really strong into the end of August, at least. All-time highs for the S&P 500. All-time highs for the NASDAQ since July or June. Craziness. What happened, I think is that they oversold, which caused the big bounce, but then people overbought, which is causing some of this-
Josh Robb:
Pullback.
Austin Wilson:
Big pullback we’re seeing right now. NASDAQ is down but after a huge runup. I think that things are just … That’s typically what happens in the markets. They go too far one way and they go too far the other.
Josh Robb:
Pendulum swings back and forth.
Austin Wilson:
There’s a rubber band effect. Overall, the economy is still in tough shape, but getting better. It’s healing, but I think there’s a lot of uncertainty with the election. That’s going to bring some volatility. Regardless of your opinion on how that’s going to go or who should do what, it is uncertainty.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
We’ve got uncertainty around that, as well as we’re seeing some continued impacts of the virus, not just in the US, but some resurgence in Europe and things like that. I think that that’s causing a lot of investors to just go, “Maybe this isn’t quite as rosy as we had made this out to be and the way we had let the markets get.” They’re taking a little bit of profits, I think, at this point. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I think that we’re going to see a lot of ups and downs of some decent magnitude probably into next year, at least.
Josh Robb:
I agree. That’s a good prediction for 2020.
Austin Wilson:
I’m not going to say it’s going to be up. I’m not going to say it’s going to be down. I’m going to say you’re going to have a fair bit of both. I’m going to say though that we have seen some significant support from both the monetary and the fiscal side of government intervention. Our financial markets, despite equity markets selling off once in a while, they’re healthy. They’re stable.
Josh Robb:
That’s a normal part of the long-term process. This isn’t the first time markets got overbought, which caused a sell-off to bring it back down, closer to where they need to be. It has nothing to do with the health of the overall economy, like you’re saying. The underlying is our government stepped in to support on the recovery and have done so to bring the economy back, heading in the right direction.
Austin Wilson:
I mean the government was pretty much saying, “You guys, people in the economy and companies in the economy, did not cause this pandemic, so let’s not penalize you for what is happening because no one can control that.” The government is helping out. I think that there’s going to probably be some form of additional continued help, whether that be through … Obviously, we’re going to get continued monetary policy through quantitative easing, through interest rates being at zero pretty much forever, not forever, but for a couple of years, anyway.
Josh Robb:
They’re not showing any time soon.
Austin Wilson:
They’re going to be low for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some sort of fiscal aid because the small business impact … Obviously, you’re seeing big companies continue to make huge profits, and these tech companies are just growing and growing and growing because their businesses can thrive in this environment, but the small mom and pop shops, they are not doing so hot. They’ve been more impacted by some of the shutdowns than some of the bigger companies, so I think that some aid for those is probably what’s needed in the next round, but these are all things that-
Austin Wilson:
Again, if someone claims to know what’s going to happen, they’re crazy because this year is one year that you really can’t call anything. All I can say is that we’re keeping a close eye on things. This kind of stuff happens and this kind of stuff works itself out. Even pandemics happen. We’ve not seen numbers like we’ve seen on this, as far as an economic impact on stuff like this, but we’ve had other pandemics to different extents over time and those have all been put behind us. We have much better medical technology than we did when those other ones happened.
Josh Robb:
Now, you wonder what some of the lasting impacts will be. I had this conversation with some friends, but do you think our generation will consistently own more toilet paper than we need, going forward in the future? Will that be what …? If you think back to your parents and grandparents who went through other events where they did things, you just looked at them like, “Why do you do that?” From that upbringing, certain things just triggered in their mind.
Austin Wilson:
Those people who lived through The Depression.
Josh Robb:
Saving, reusing everything, all those different mindsets. Now, for us, it’s always, “I need an extra case of toilet paper in my closet just in case.”
Austin Wilson:
Oh, man. I do not know. All I can tell you is that I’ve not run out of toilet paper yet and I’ve not been a crazy person who bought it all.
Josh Robb:
I have a household of six people.
Austin Wilson:
I know. We don’t use a lot of tissue.
Josh Robb:
We need a lot of toilet paper to keep. When they had the restrictions of one four-pack per person-
Austin Wilson:
That’s a day.
Josh Robb:
I was like, “Can each of us in my family come in and buy one.? We need some.”
Austin Wilson:
That is one of the biggest surprises of 2020. It’s humorous.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
That was a classic example of overdoing, the reaction of stockpiling because in no way, shape or form was the grocery store going to be deemed unnecessary or whatever, so you were going to be able to go to the store. If people wouldn’t have done that, you would have always been-
Josh Robb:
Never been an issue.
Austin Wilson:
Able to get a normal amount. That’s one of the funny-
Josh Robb:
Weird, but it’s worth wondering if in the future there’s those types of things because we’re here, again in the Midwest. You get a snowstorm. You got to go out and buy your bread. You got to buy your milk. You got to buy your eggs because those are the things that are perishable, but you never hear, “I got to hurry and go buy toilet paper.”
Austin Wilson:
Toilet paper.
Josh Robb:
Maybe that’ll add to the list though. Worth looking.
Austin Wilson:
That is how, in a nutshell. I’m feeling. I’m feeling like I really don’t know. I can’t tell you for sure what’s going to happen and I’m okay with that, by the way.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
I think that we all should just say that we know that it’s going to be interesting. We know that it’s going to continue to be interesting and the data is going to continue to evolve, but over a long timeframe, I’m talking decades, the US economy will heal itself. The US economy will grow and the companies that are participating in that economy are going to get better and stronger, which means the stock market will go up over time.
Josh Robb:
Yes. I mean that’s what our whole company is built on, is the innovation and advancement of our company, coming up with new, better ideas. If you believe that will continue, that’s what you’re investing for and that’s where we fall in the same ideas. Over the long run, that’s where we’re going to be.
[44:29] – We Love Getting Emails!
Austin Wilson:
I mean when you retire in 25, 30 years, whatever that this, you’re going to look back. Obviously, you’re going to have funny stories and memories, and interesting thoughts about 2020, but when you look back at your portfolio balance 30 years ago, you’re going to be like, “Oh, what’s that blip? Oh yeah. That was COVID-19.” It’s going to be okay. That’s what we can say. You know what I like to do?
Josh Robb:
What’s that?
Austin Wilson:
I like getting emails.
Josh Robb:
Emails.
Austin Wilson:
I get a lot of emails.
Josh Robb:
Just in general? I don’t like to say, “I love emails.”
Austin Wilson:
I get a lot of emails. I like getting emails from listeners, with topic ideas. Do you like that?
Josh Robb:
That is my favorite thing because again, coming back to helping people, we could pick up topics. We have things that are going on in our lives. That’d be a good podcast. Write it down. We have a sheet of list of things we wanted to talk about, but what we always push to the top of list and make sure that they’re there is whenever someone sends us an idea, a topic, or a question about, “Hey. This is what’s going on. What are your thoughts?” Please, if you’re out there and have a thought or have something going on in your financial life, where you said, “I would love to learn more about this,” let us know. Shoot us an email.
You can go to hello@theinvesteddads.com. There’s a spot there to reach out to us, to contact us. Tell us your thoughts, your questions. If you do so from now, through the end of October, we will give you a free t-shirt as thank you for sending a topic. Now, we do have to put all these little Asterix along there, the biggest one being, it has to be a new topic. It can’t be something we’ve already talked about. If you do send us a question and we’ve already talked about it, we’ll definitely direct you towards that podcast, but to get a free t-shirt, it’s got to be a new topic.
Austin Wilson:
Unfortunately, for our international listeners, which we love and thank you, the shipping costs make this restricted to North American subscribers only.
Josh Robb:
If you have a PO Box here in the US, we’ll send it there.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly.
Josh Robb:
You have to come get it.
Austin Wilson:
Yes. Send us an email to hello@theinvesteddads.com with a podcast topic idea. We would love, I mean love, we read every email that comes in, we’d love to hear from you. As always, check out our free gift to you. It’s a brief list of eight principles of timeless investing. These are overarching investment themes meant to keep you on track and meet your long-term goals. Check it out. It’s free on our website. Josh, how can people help us continue to grow this podcast and continue to help people through the end of the year and beyond?
Josh Robb:
Like I mentioned, email us any ideas hello@theinvesteddads.com. There’s a link on our website, hello@theinvesteddads.com, for you. If you’re listening on Apple Podcast, leave us a review. Whatever you listen on, make sure you subscribe. That way, every Thursday, you get an alert for our new episode. Then again, if there’s a topic that you know you listen to and it comes up, direct somebody to it and help out because we try our best to get it out there, but again, it’s really just word of mouth. It’s someone that’s looking for some sort of financial discussion that would find us. Share it with your friends and family.
Austin Wilson:
All right. Well, have a great weekend. We’ll talk to you next Thursday.
Josh Robb:
Talk to you later. Bye.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to The Invested Dads Podcast. This episode has ended, but your journey towards a better financial future doesn’t have to. Head over to theinvesteddads.com to access all the links and resources mentioned in today’s show. If you enjoyed this episode and we had a positive impact on your life, leave us a review, click subscribe, and don’t miss the next episode. Josh Robb and Austin Wilson work for Hickson Zuercher Capital Management. All opinions expressed by Josh, Austin, or any podcast guest are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions.
Clients of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions, or forecast provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment. Any investor who attempts to mimic the performance of an index would incur fees and expenses, which would reduce returns. Securities investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principle. There is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.
