In December, 2006 I attended an industry conference in Las Vegas. Excellent event. It was at that event that I took a good hard look at the future three years in the mortgage industry, and a cold chill went down my spine. Not because of any great insight that I had; but because an industry veteran, Bill Dallas, gave a talk. He said, in essence, ‘you do not want to be in wholesale going forward, and you do not want to be a broker. You will survive (maybe) as a retail loan officer – if you really know your stuff’.
I took note. You see, Bill founded a large and (reputable) subprime lender, First Franklin. He sold that to National City Bank, and then started Ownit Mortgage. Two days after that talk on stage in Vegas, Ownit was the first of the big lenders to be forced to close their doors. That was December, 2006. I was a bit nervous.
Now for the purpose of this post. On the final day of that conference, Ben Zander gave a talk. All I can say is, “How Facinating!”. First off, he was an excellent speaker, and I had never heard of him before attending the event. He surpassed Tony Robbins, who opened the event.
Ben said that he teaches his students, when faced with an unpleasant turn of events, to avoid getting negative and instead accept each event and just say, “How Facinating!”
Sound corny? That’s because you weren’t there.
Okay, in fairness, the idea was to remain completely open to learning and gaining more experience and knowledge – and wonderment – from each experience. It keeps one humble; and that keeps us from becoming cynical toward life.
Well, I don’t know about you, but the last three weeks I have been Facinated by the wild gyrations in the stock market. And, I watch the bond market closely, because that is what moves mortgage rates. You probably don’t, so let me tell you, the movements have been just as wild and, yes, just as facinating.
I do not want to make light of the hurting economy, and the effect it has on our ability to make a living, and our savings. But, it is no less facinating to me. So, as I watched bonds go from positive to very negative to moderate losses today; and the past several days, I cannot help but sit back and wonder, “How Facinating!”
How Facinating that there are so many intelligent people who cannot predict where the markets will take us one day to the next, nor one hour to the next. How Facinating that so many people are letting factors completely outside of their control dictate what they do in their daily lives and businesses. How Facinating to contemplate the fragility of the things we put our trust in, and how the eternal truths fly in and out of our lives like we day trade them. How Facinating!
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