“Good people bring out the good in other people.”
The First Sip
Hey Sunday Brewers!
Read on to find out why you should be spending more time with your dog…
A simple way to make your marketing more memorable…
And the secret tool that’s helping one advisor land 10 new appointments per week…
But first a quick story to remind you that there are still plenty of good people in this world…
Once a child in the U.S. foster care system reaches the age of 13, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll ever be adopted.
In fact, as many as 20,000 teenagers age out of the foster care system each year when they reach legal age…
…which is what makes the story of Leah and Monyay so extraordinary.
Leah is a caseworker who helps connect children in the foster care system with foster parents.
Monyay is a 19-year-old who has been in the system for most of her life.
Six years ago, Leah was assigned to Monyay’s case and the two formed a close bond.
Today, they’re officially mother and daughter.
“I made her a promise that I would find her an adoptive family,” an emotional Leah said.
“I just didn’t know that I would be the adoptive family.”
Because of her position as a case worker, Leah had to wait until Monyay turned 19 and aged out of the system to officially adopt her.
But with no more hurdles in the way, Monyay’s new life lies ahead.
“Everything is official, the one thing that I wanted since I was a kid has finally come true,” she told a local reporter.
1 Caffeinated Neurohack
Looking for a way to squash stress almost instantaneously?
Spend time petting a dog or cat.
Researchers have found that just 10 minutes of interacting with a pet produces a significant and lasting reduction in cortisol (the stress hormone).
Other benefits of spending time with animals include:
🐶 Better immune functioning
🐱 Lower heart rate & blood pressure
🐴 Less physical pain
🐰 Deceased loneliness
🐷 Increased happiness
Next time you feel stressed…take a break and hang out with your pet…
You’ll feel better! (And so will Fido.)
☕ TL;DR: Spend 10 minutes with your pet and watch your stress slip away.
Marketing Psychology Quick Hit
Your brain stores a TON of information and data.
So it’s constantly looking for ways to be as efficient as possible.
One of the interesting ways it does this is by categorizing long-term information in mental “clusters.”
This enables the brain to quickly thumb through all like-instances when it needs to remember something.
And once it finds an item from the cluster, it can easily locate all of the rest.
From a marketing perspective, you can use the idea of mental clustering to increase recall in prospects online.
The best way to do this is by clustering similar information together.
For example, rather than sending out a long email with three or four paragraphs discussing different ways to maximize Social Security benefits…
…just insert a simple bulleted list.
The brain will naturally cluster these items together and the prospect will be more likely to remember the information.
If you want to “nerd out” on the science behind how this works, just check out this study on semantic clustering. 🤓
☕ TL;DR: Use bulleted lists and information “clusters” in your marketing to improve a prospect’s recall.
Weekly Industry Catch-Up
Major stock exchanges picked up steam…
Altcoins like Ethereum and Dogecoin saw massive spikes…
And states were warned to “use it or lose it” in regards to vaccine doses…
Here’s what else happened over the last seven days:
🔹 You’re hired. In yet another sign that the labor market is returning to pre-pandemic levels, jobless claims fell below 500,000 this week.
The total jobless claims of 498,000 is the lowest since before the COVID crash…and well below last week’s tally of 590,000.
In related news, another 1 million $1,400 stimulus checks were sent to Americans, bringing the total number of new payments issued to $386B.
🔹 Thanks, grandma! Savings Bonds – once a favorite gift of grandparents all around America – are making a comeback…
Well…sort of.
While they didn’t ever go away, rates are now looking up.
The Department of Treasury just announced that Series I savings bonds will now earn a composite rate of 3.54% over the next six months (up from a measly 1.68%).
Series EE bonds will continue earning 0.10%.
Both rates are designed to track with inflation.
🔹 How much ya got? Curious how your clients stack up compared to their peers?
The latest report from the Federal Reserve Board indicates the median U.S. household net worth is $121,700. That number increases to $266,400 for Americans in their 60s and 70s.
Average consumer debt? That checks in at $90,460.
The bottom line is that most Americans are wildly unprepared for a comfortable retirement.
Keep doing your thing.
What’s New In #SHIFTnation?
99+ other advisors already know the secret…grab a recording before it goes into our content vault.
Check the comments to see the solution. (Hint: It’s just a tiny tweak.)
Stay well,
Jeremiah
