A day in the life...

By Mike Jones, posted July 17, 2015

Ninety-five percent of the time I absolutely love my profession. It was many years ago when that other 5% first presented itself and forced me to consider whether I was meant to continue in the investment world or seek employment elsewhere.

As an investment manager I consider it my duty and responsibility to stay acutely aware of all that is going on in the investment world and relate that information to the portfolios that I have the honor of  managing. As we have just come through one of those "5%" moments (regarding Greece) over the last couple of weeks I thought I would give you a glimpse into the life of an investment manager. 

My workweek typically begins on Sunday evenings at 6 PM checking investment futures (based on investment trading in Asia) to get an indication of what awaits us all in the United States come Monday morning. When I wake up early on Monday, the first thing I do is check the current equity markets, interest rates and currency futures once again to get a feel for how things are setting up for the day. 

Once I'm in the office, I monitor all of the investment models that my clients are invested in to be sure they are behaving within the parameters that we would define as acceptable. If not, then I must determine what adjustments need to be made and implement those changes as soon as practical. These decisions are critical. 

And all that's just a "normal" day. You can imagine that when things get crazy, volatile and stressful in the financial markets, my monitoring activities go on overdrive. For example, over the last several weeks while many of you have been enjoying summer vacations I have been reading countless articles on the potential Greek crisis. 

Although the ramifications of what ultimately happens in Greece represents a minor percentage of the assets in the world, the ripple effect in the European banking system and ultimately the United States made this situation one worth monitoring. Add to this the fact that the story kept changing daily and that the crucial decisions being made in Europe were happening at the very beginning of an investment quarter (when I re-balance portfolios), well, you can imagine the additional stress and importance deposited on each investment decision I had before me. 

Clients have made the comment that they are so thankful they have Byron and me to help them with their financial life. We also hear statements like "I'm so glad I pay you to worry about my money, that way I don't have to."  

Trust me, worry we do and hopefully we always will for as long as we serve you.

Mike Jones is Managing Director / Investing Group of Argent Advisors, Inc. Email him at mjones@argentadvisors.com. Write to him at 500 East Reynolds Drive, Ruston, LA 71270 or call him at (318) 251-5844. The opinions of any single advisor do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Argent Advisors, Inc.  No forecasts can be guaranteed.  Argent Advisors, Inc. does not offer tax, insurance or legal advice.  The information contained in this column should not be construed as a substitute for personalized investment, tax, insurance or legal advice.