In Part 1 of the series, I gave some unsolicited and probably unhealthy advice on how to benchmark your income to others. Comparing your income to others is not recommended, but we can’t seem to help ourselves. The gist of the article was that if you’re going to make a comparison, at least compare your income to people at different wealth levels. 

In Part 2, we shift our focus from income to wealth. 

“How am I doing?”

This is a question I hear regularly as a wealth manager. Today, Charlie happened to drop this question on me during one of our regular socially distanced walks at the beautiful park atop the Salesforce Transit Center. Charlie (not her real name) is a friend that I’ve been helping recently to get her personal finances in order. There are two things that get Charlie excited - sunny weather and personal finance. It was a rare sunny afternoon in San Francisco, so I was anticipating an excited Charlie to ask me about investments, tax strategies, or something related to her stock options.

Instead she asked this generic, yet important question. It’s one of those questions that can surface anxiety typically stored in the well beneath the surface. You hope for good feedback but at the same time fear the worst. I could tell Charlie was nervous to hear what I would say.

I manage money for Silicon Valley elites that often have income of $1M+ per year. When people find out what I do for work, their natural question seems to be: What’s a hot stock pick?