I love spring
I love spring. There is a feeling of renewal and starting afresh. The trees are budding, the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, the temperatures are rising, and Madigan got a new haircut.
And of course, baseball is on. I don’t expect too much from the Tigers this year, but I’m always hopeful. Golf league has started, too, which means that I can spend time outside cursing with friends again.
The daily routines of life are settling in for the new season. And so it is at the office, as well.
After the whirlwind of the holidays and tax season, this time of year we focus on financial planning and portfolio rebalancing.
As a planning-focused firm, we start with goals. How soon until retirement? What is the budget for the new house? How much will it cost to send a child to college? We all have many different financial goals. After we identify them and prioritize them, we then look at how much is allocated to each goal and determine a strategy for accomplishing all of them.
Ryan Balks is the lead of our planning division. He loves digging into cash flow scenarios and asset allocation. If you need to dust off your financial plan, give us a call to schedule some time with Ryan. He is also an important part of the investment research arm of the firm and is integral to how we manage portfolios. Given our 18-month outlook, we have been rebalancing portfolios by locking in higher rates in bonds and hedging equities.
If you know Mo Parisian, you know two things: one, she has the best laugh in the world; and two, she keeps all of us in the office in line. But her main role is to provide outstanding service to all of our clients. She will be sending out an email in the coming days to let you know when we would like to schedule your annual meeting. In that email, she will also offer up some additional topics for you to consider before we get together. We have been putting excess cash to work, for example. With some of our clients, we have been using life insurance policies that have long-term care provisions included, as well. Mo will provide a list of various topics to spur some thought so we can add them to our agenda, if they might be of interest. Of course, we welcome talking with you anytime, so if you have anything you’d like to go over before our scheduled meeting, please don’t hesitate to call or stop by to see Maddie.
As you may recall from a previous note, we expanded our team in February and brought on Kendra Osowski to lead our retirement plan division. In the short time she has been with us, she has already helped our retirement plan clients conduct employee education meetings, implement new strategies, and save money for both plan sponsors and participants.
Kendra has been a great addition for both our staff and our clients. With our expanded team, we now have more capacity to serve additional clients. If you know of anyone who can benefit from our services, we would very much appreciate a kind word.
So as the weather heats up and we await summer, we will keep our eyes on the Fed and the markets, and continue to provide personalized service to the best clients in the world. We are grateful for your trust and friendship, and thank you for your business. We all look forward to seeing you and catching up with you soon.
Joe
PS, if you are a finance geek like me, you might be interested in this short video from Commonwealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Brad McMillian.
Smalley Investments is located at 213 E. St. Joseph Street, Lansing, Michigan and can be reached at 517-487-4850. Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser.
