| Hello everyone, I wanted to reach out as the third quarter of 2021 has just ended. The markets have been volatile lately. It’s common to see large swings during the month of September, but the recent debt ceiling debate has caused greater than average swings. Watching the news this morning, I heard some good advice… it’s probably not the best idea to watch your accounts on a day-to-day basis until things work themselves out. Have a bit of faith though, our government is imperfect, but we always seem to find a way to right things. The biggest news that I would like to pass along isn’t investment related. During the Covid pandemic, my family was stuck mid renovation in a 1,080 sq ft home. My wife’s full-time job necessitated me stepping back from the full time focus on my practice. I finished most of the renovation work and we moved to a new home in March of this year. Most financial advisors work with between 80 and 120 clients on a full-time basis. I currently have around 12 full time clients. Prior to Covid, I filled my spare time with volunteer work. I was PTA Treasurer, I worked on historic associations, and even taught financial literacy to refugees entering the country. When Covid struck, I couldn’t give during that time. Instead, I became the full-time dad with the luxury of being able to take care of my client’s needs. Our new home needed quite a bit of work to make it a home. Luckily, we’re finally getting past those issues. That has given the time needed to refocus my efforts on the practice. The first thing some of may have noticed lately is that I have not sent published newsletters as often lately. There were two reasons for this. The first is the fact that the political climate in our nation was delicate. I did not want to offend anyone during that time. The second reason is that I’ve decided to revamp my website. I put commentary on hold during the process. For most of the summer, I’ve been working with professional web designers who are creating the new webpage. While I may be an expert at financial planning, I am obviously not the best web designer. Now that my business has reached a truly profitable state, I am offloading tasks like these to other professionals. Within the next few weeks, the new website should be completed. Of course, some have noticed that another one of the websites used by my practice has changed recently. That website is the of our custodian, Folio Institutional. I informed everyone a few months back that Folio Institutional was acquired by Goldman Sachs. I heard little about the changes that this would bring afterwards. This weekend, while rebalancing tax sheltered accounts for the quarter, I was surprised to see that the Folio website had changed to the Goldman Sachs brand. I had no notification of this change. That in itself is another reason I’m leery to work with them. Goldman Sachs hasn’t been in the news lately, but I still consider them responsible for much of what took place during the Great Recession. While I have enjoyed working with Folio Institutional, I have always aimed to transfer to a different custodian once my practice reached a certain size. There were two reasons for this. First, there were only a couple of custodians willing to work with an advisor managing less that $10 million in assets. Second, Folio was the better option, but the expenses were higher than the other option. My practice is currently above $7 million in managed assets. Once I cross over the $10 million in assets mark, I will begin to work on finding a better custodial option. If you have any friends or family that are in need of a financial advisor, feel free to pass along the referral! Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate working with the friends and families I have been fortunate enough to work with. Feel free to reach out with any comments or questions. I always try to follow up within 48 hours. Have a great day! |
Third Quarter Update
- October 10, 2021