The Flexible Investing Playbook: Asset Allocation Strategies for Long-Term Success

Chapter 11. Putting It All Together

CHINESE FOOD AND ASSET ALLOCATION—PERFECT TOGETHER!

Tom Keane was the governor of my home state of New Jersey during most of the 1980s. I remember that he did a series of commercials promoting the state as a tourist site. The tagline of the commercials was "New Jersey and you—perfect together." When I moved to Florida in 1997, there were three things my wife and I found we could not replace from our days in the New York area: pizza, bagels, and Chinese food. It is just not the same outside of the New York–New Jersey area. I cannot explain why.

Fortunately, some local Florida establishments have bridged the gap on the pizza and bagels. But Chinese food is the one that still leave us yearning for what we had up north. My mind working as it does, I naturally found an analogy between Chinese food, as it is served in the United States, and the concept of asset allocation. At this point, you are either very hungry or your stomach is turning from that attempted analogy. Either way, I have mentioned this to several financial advisors, and they agree that it makes sense to them.

Here is what I mean: when you go to a Chinese restaurant, whether you are taking out as we did traditionally on Sunday nights in New Jersey, or eating in, your meal is served as follows: you get a big container of white rice, which you are supposed to line your plate with. That serves as the base for your meal. Next, you take out of the container the type of food you want to be your ...