Brian Scribonia, founder of Scribonia Financial, talks about his new book on smart money choices, common financial mistakes, and retirement planning. He covers how people mismanage their finances and what actually works for long-term security.
Mark on money. Brian Scribonia is with me this afternoon, the founder of Scribonia Financial. He's got a new book out called Common Sense youe Guide to Making Smart Choices with youh Money. Brian, how are you?
I'm great, Mark. Thanks for having me. I appreciate your time.
I think when we sat down recently for lunch, I told you I could write the opposite book, how to Make Terrible Choices with youh Money. That would be Mark Reardon's book.
That could be a book a lot of people could write, I'm sure.
Well, that's probably true. And that's why maybe this book is helpful because. Let me ask you why you wrote the book. A lot of people do make mistakes with that money, right?
Yeah, absolutely. And you know where it all began was over the last 20 years, I've had hundreds of meetings with new clients who bring me their investment statements and they ask dozens of questions about their money. And what's interesting is that regardless of whether or not they have a financial advisor, people often seem to be confused about what they have and what they should be doing. So I wrote the book with the goal of empowering people with a mindset about money and one that would offer filters for sorting through all the information they receive, which enables them to make smart choices with their money.
It's a very user friendly book. It's not, it's not a. A big heavy book and it's really easy to get through the chapters and I think people will have, they'll learn a lot here. So what do you hope the takeaway is from this book?
Well, when it comes to saving money, anybody can do it. And that's what I try to communicate to people. You can put money in a cookie jar and save money. That part's super easy. However, the mindset you use to accumulate assets is not the same mindset you use to distribute income for retirement. You have to transition from growing and accumulating assets to distributing and preserving assets. And so this book really helps readers understand the proper mindset for planning for retirement.
What's the biggest mistake that people make when it comes to those issues and properly planning for retirement?
Well, the biggest problem I see is that people live in a world of information. We have information overload and people are confused, they're paralyzed. They don't know with any confidence what to do with their money. Again, the book helps sort through the fog and helps people create what I call filters for making those smart choices to knowing what to look for and what to avoid.
Give me your quick assessment here as we wrap up 2013 of where the stock market is right now. I've even seen some headlines about maybe Dow 16,000.
Well, we've hit that mark. But the funny thing is that we all have different thoughts and opinions about what's going on with the market. Really, it serves as a good social debate. But what we have to do is realize that there are certain things we have control over and many things that we don't. And when it comes to politics, the markets and the economy, we simply have no control over anything that happens. And so we need to be aware of what's going on. But our focus has to be on what we do have control over, which is our behavior with money, our investment allocations and the plans we put into place.
Brian Scribonia, the book is called Common Sense, your Guide to Making Smart Choices with youh Money.
Where can they find the book@common sensestl.com commonsensestl.com Easy to remember.
