Bill Schultheis - The Coffeehouse Investors Ground Rules: Save, Invest, and Plan for a Life of Wealth and Happiness

Bill Schultheis

Copyright 2021 by Bill Schultheis. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119717089 (Hardcover)

ISBN 9781119718055 (ePDF)

ISBN 9781119717119 (ePub)

COVER DESIGN & ARTWORK: PAUL McCARTH

Bill Schultheis starts his book with a simple reflection: We are changing the world, one investor at a time. Over the past 20 years, on countless exchanges I have had with Bill in person, over the telephone, and through our emails as we discover new and better ways to help investors reach their lifetime goals, we always seem to end by voicing the same intention.

We are changing the world, one investor at a time.

Our connection goes all the way back to 1998. That was the year I wrote my first book, The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need. That was the same year Bill wrote his first book, The Coffeehouse Investor How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On with Your Life.

Our books had at least three things in common: both attempted to explain complex investing concepts in a layman's manner; both highlighted the wisdom of capturing market returns through index funds; and both were published in the middle of a raging bull market fueled by the dot-com boom, when few investors paid much attention to efficient markets and index funds.

The bear market that followed was the catalyst for investors to seek out a smarter way to build portfolios. We were prepared with the solution.

Bill Schultheis possesses the unique gift of simplicity in his writing. He takes dense financial terms bandied about on Wall Street and turns them upside down, so that after reading his work, you turn away from standard deviations, alphas and betas, to focus instead on wealth-building components that matter most of all in life.

For this reason, my firm, Buckingham Strategic Wealth, invited him to St. Louis in 2001, to speak to our clients. True to his book, Bill's presentation of stocks, bonds, and asset allocation evolved into a deeper exploration of using your financial resources to live a more meaningful life.

The late Jack Bogle spoke of the missionary zeal that he hoped to inspire, of taking the time to share with others the simple tenet of using index funds as building blocks for portfolios.

When I reflect on the past 20 years, Bill is near the top of a luminous list of authors, advisors, and academics in his passion for carrying on the work of America's legendary stalwart.

Our shared investing experience is based on decades of financial research, showing that markets are efficient. In an investing world consumed with owning the top stocks of leading industries, building lasting wealth requires a patient commitment to capturing the returns of global markets.

The investing process, however, is only one component, albeit an important one, to building lasting financial wealth. As Bill vigorously points out in this book, the primary benefit to embracing efficient markets in portfolio construction is that investors are emotionally freed to turn away from random, short-term volatility of markets, and focus on financial planning issues that are essential to lifetime wealth accumulation.

This is especially true for women, as Bill points out in

Bill Schultheis is uniquely qualified to discuss the challenges investors face in building lasting wealth. Working as co-owner and advisor of Soundmark Wealth Management in Seattle, Washington, he sees the same complexities faced by clients of Buckingham Strategic Wealth, of integrating tax-management solutions within the portfolio design of your comprehensive financial plan.

For 20 years our investing and financial planning discussions always seem to move to conversations about life. Bill has always pushed me to climb the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. I encouraged him to join me rafting the white waters of the Colorado River.

There comes a point in white-water rafting (and Bill has shared the same in his mountain-climbing experience), when you are in the danger zone; you have to slow the mind down, focus on what is at hand, breathe, and push on.

That is the experience facing the investor today. The global economy is in turmoil from the virus pandemic. Interest rates are at an all-time low. The Federal Reserve is flooding the economy with money with the fear of inflation emerging. Significant tax law changes loom large on the horizon. Wall Street is inundating unsuspecting investors with meaningless and expensive financial products.

It is time for investors to slow down, breathe, and push on. The Coffeehouse Investor's Ground Rules will guide you to a life of wealth and happiness over the next two decades and beyond, as Bill's first book did for its readers.

I encourage you to grab your fresh-brewed coffee and enjoy Bill's thoughtful musings on investing and life. I have seen the impact these timeless Ground Rules have had on the lives of clients at Buckingham Strategic Wealth. They will have the same impact on yours.