Phil Grossfield's Blog

Get Motivated Like The Miami Heat! 

The Miami Heat overcame diversity (and terrible officiating) to win last night. They were on the brink of elimination but they persevered and won. As Lebron James put it, “we left everything on the floor.” They gave everything they had and now they have forced a game 7.

My post yesterday entitled Get Off Your Butt! invoked a lot of chatter…some LOs feel defeated and although I can relate at times to the feeling, it is obviously not the attitude associated with being successful. 

Instead, find motivation to expand your business. If you feel your back is against the wall, then you need to dig down deep and give it everything you’ve got, like the Miami Heat did, and find a way to win. Each day is like a game of basketball…you’ll win some and lose some.  But if you keep giving it everything you’ve got, you at least give yourself a shot at the Championship ring.

My biggest complaint about King Lebron James is his complaining about the officiating. Even though I agree he is getting hacked, he can’t cry about it and let the Spurs force the ball into an easy transition. He has to resist complaining and run like hell to get into the defense and stop the ball, not stand still and throw looks at the officials. My analogy is this…don’t complain about the market…just run like hell and get new business.  If James (and Wade at times) can do this they will win Game 7 by 10 points.

Again, I am setting up presentations on (1) How to Be Successful In The Future Market, (2) Where to Look For Additional Referral Sources, and (3) How To Distinguish Yourself From Other LOs.  Let me know if you’re interested in a presentation….

My Market Watch:  Bonds Down – Rates Better. Lock Now if Needed Before the Fed Statement on QE The 30-year bond is down -38bps this morning in anticipation of the Fed statement at 11:30a. But Interbank published its rates before the downturn so our pricing is actually better than yesterday. If you need to lock a loan, DO IT NOW before the Fed statement.

Today Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, will make a statement about monetary policy…specifically about Quantitative Easing.

For a detailed explanation about QE and the effects of Bernanke’s statement, read my post from yesterday.

I really hope he reaffirms QE in some unreserved fashion. Any statement giving inarguable confidence to traders that QE is not going away will benefit bonds…rates will get better, much better. However, if the emphasis of his statement is on the tapering of QE, meaning the reduced buying of bonds, then we’re in trouble, big trouble…rates will get worse. My gut is the former.

My Schedule:  I have a presentation today at 11:30a and a meeting to follow…I will be unavailable until 3p.