401(k) Surgery Checklist

My daughter’s softball season is now in full swing. When the weather cooperates, I have the pleasure of attending two to three of her softball games every week.

At one game last week, I sat next to a client of mine who also has a daughter on my daughter’s softball team. I have not worked long with this client and I don’t know him that well. We get along great; but we are still in the “getting to know you” stage of our investment advisory relationship.

As the softball game progressed, our conversation quickly turned to the investment moves we had recently made in this client’s Minnesota company 401(k) retirement plan account.

As our conversation continued, the client stated that he was completely happy with the fact that he finally had an investment management process that he understood. 

He stated that he was comfortable with the sales of his poor-performing mutual funds that I advised him to make last year. He then related that the subsequent purchase of “better” mutual fund options has helped his company retirement plan performance.

The client’s next comment completely surprised me. He stated that he finally felt that he had a “checklist” that he could follow in the investment management of his largest financial asset—his company retirement plan account.

The softball game ended and “we won.” On the way home, my mind was still racing about the “checklist” comment that my client had made to me.

It finally hit me after dinner. My client is a surgeon. He follows a “checklist” of procedures when he operates. He sticks to the checklist during operations in order to avoid surprises and accidents. He follows his procedure “checklist” no matter what the circumstances are.

I guess that I really do provide a logical, organized, and disciplined investment management “checklist” to my individual company 401(k) retirement plan advice clients.

So, I learned something new at my daughter’s softball game. Guess who I will try to sit next to at the games this week?

Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.