Many of our clients, friends, and team members have pets…dogs, cats, horses, fish, and many others. Our family has been blessed with a wide range, including fish, turtles, bearded dragons (Puff & Flame), a rabbit (Thumper), and a European Blue Butt Potbelly pig (Corny)…topping out at 350 pounds plus.

Sadly, last week, we lost our closest and most senior family pet, Teddy the Miracle Yorkie, after 15 amazing years of love and companionship. Teddy was a miracle because I’m allergic to almost every dog…except Teddy! We populated many of our friends’ homes with our six prior attempts at living with a dog. Jeana is a true Master Trainer, and she bore most of the pain as these dogs brought joy to others. Most of them lived long, wonderful lives with their ultimate family, and we had the opportunity to see them regularly…just not under our roof.

Teddy remains the best birthday present my wife, Jeana has ever received, and Teddy was a blessing to all of our kids. I could go on about his gentle nature and soul, his warm and friendly demeanor, and his ability to bark like a dog ten times larger than his 9-pound frame. If I continue, I will cry more than I am now. So, I will turn you over to a friend of our firm who you’ve heard from before, John Jennings, who also recently lost a dog, Dylan. John eloquently shares ”Six Life Lessons from Dogs,” which he originally wrote in 2022.

We’d love to hear your pet story!

Do me a favor.

Try to remember a time when you read or heard something about money in the news, you acted on it, and then, with the benefit of hindsight, you were glad you did.

This could include any number of things: the latest IPO, bear markets, bull markets, mergers, market collapses.

Go ahead, I’ll wait. Close your eyes and think about it.

I’ve done this experiment hundreds of times around the world, and I’ve only had one person come up with a valid example. It was news about a change in the tax law.

That’s it.

Isn’t that interesting?

Think of all the financial pornography out there, think of all the dental offices that have CNBC playing in the background, think of the USA Today Money section. Almost all of it is noise. Almost none of it is actionable.

Sure, every once in a while, there is this little teeny tiny speck of information that might be useful. But you sure have to wade through a lot of garbage to get to it.

This leads to one obvious question: Why are we paying attention to the noise in the first place?

It might be fun, if you’re into that kind of thing. You know, like going to the circus. But most likely, it’s just a waste of time.

What if, instead of obsessing over the news, you used that time to work on that list you have…

You know, “The List.” The one that has all the really important things you actually want to do with your time.

Doesn’t that sound so much better than spending another hour watching the news?