By Daniel A. Barnes

Sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith. Other times, you don’t have to, but you feel you “should.” The latter compelled me to sign up for my own radio show on KDIA AM 1640 last month.

I don’t know what came over me.  I mean, I like to talk, but, radio?

What I really don’t like to do, though, is to cold-call people.  I hate it.  I think in my five years in business, I haven’t even made 100 cold calls.  I just hate, it, so I’m obliged to build a business the meek-fashioned way, write a newspaper column, and hope my phone rings!

Well, maybe reality is actually a bit different than that, but you get the point: I’d rather market by teaching people some things about money than by talking about how great I am and asking for their signature.

Radio seemed like a great idea. I’d develop a new skill, talk on the air, and meet new people.

And so far, so good.  My show will be live on KDIA for the next 15 weeks (14 by the time you read this). It airs at 11 a.m. on Saturdays.  Downloadable recordings of the show from my website should be available by the time this issue arrives in your mailbox.

First Show

My first show was March 5th.  I decided to speak about gas prices, gold, real estate and retirement planning.  It started off without a hitch; or so I thought until after the show.  I asked about a copy, and it appears the first show didn’t get recorded.  Snafus happen!

Sputtering out of the gate, I welcomed my audience and shared the question: “Are rising gas prices inflationary or deflationary?”

It’s a good question, and the answer is that they are deflationary because taking money out of people’s pockets and putting it into the pump is reducing the amount of money we have to buy other things.

Hence, higher gas prices are a brake (or a wet blanket) on the economy. But alas, I sputtered with the analogies a bit.  It was, after all, my first radio show segment ever.

Boy was I thankful as we broke for a commercial!

The second segment was about gold.  Now I’m more of an expert on gold than I am on gas.  I started by asking my fabulous board operator Clifford, who has a beautiful booming baritone, what he thought an ounce of gold might have bought you in Roman times.

Alas, I think I caught fleet-speaking Clifford a bit flat-footed here, because the answer is as simple: A very fine set of clothes.  In that day, it would have been the most proper “toga.” Fast forward 2000 years, and an ounce of gold once again buys about the same thing: A set of very fine clothes from Nordstrom’s (for $11400+ bucks)

We talked about how in the last bull market in gold, gold rose from $35 to $850 an ounce, an increase of 24-fold.  The current gold bull market began with gold at $250. I do believe that gold could easily see $6,000 an ounce before this bull market is over.

Then we talked about real estate.  Real estate is difficult because it so entirely depends on a person’s situation.  While this is true of all investments, it’s especially true of investments where the roof can leak and the toilet may back up!  As an advisor, I told my radio listeners that I help clients assess whether they really want to manage properties and the recurrent maintenance and even liability issues associate with investment properties.

Finally, we talked about retirement planning.  Retirement is all about crafting a life after work, or a second career, within the constraints of living within your means.  I honestly don’t remember everything I talked about, but retirement planning is going to be something I talk about frequently on the show, as retirement planning is a major focus of our core strategy, which is to create a rising paycheck that replaces our clients’ salaries as they enter into retirement.

I think this is going to be a fun venture, this radio thing.  In any case, I’m banking on the time-tested value in taking “a leap of faith.

Tune in next week at KDIA AM 1640 on Saturdays at 11 a.m., and send me your questions to radio@barnescapital.com.

Barnes Capital LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor located in downtown Lafayette in the Bay Area.  We manage trusts and retirement income portfolios. Financial planning is an integral part of our process. We protect client capital using municipal bonds, high-quality dividend-increasing companies and precious metals which have protected wealth in every epoch spanning five millennia of bankruptcies, inflation and other forms of attrition. Call 925-284-3503 and visit www.barnescapital.com.

 

Barnes Capital is a Registered Investment Advisor located at in downtown Lafayette. With RB Capital Management, Barnes Capital develops custom tailored portfolios for its clients. Specialized in retirement income portfolios, financial planning in an integral part of our process. Call 925-284-3503.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Monthly Column. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.