I Was Struggling…

Photo Credit: Johnny Milano for The New York Times.

I was struggling with a theme for this quarter’s letter until I saw this picture on October 15th.  The tall pilings of a house on 36th Street in Mexico Beach, Fla., helped it survive Hurricane Michael relatively unscathed.

As many of you know I split my time between the mountains and the beach, and my beach is in the Panhandle area of Florida, just 76 miles from this devasting scene.

When I left the mountains, Hurricane Michael was a “disturbance” off the Yucatan peninsula. In just 4 days the “disturbance” was upgraded to hurricane Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 & finally Level 4 headed straight for my beach gathering steam from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Fortunately, we were already scheduled to stay with family a day’s drive away, so we had shelter from the storm as we watched it gather momentum & veer to the east making landfall at Mexico Beach just shy of Category 5 with winds of 155 mph.

What does my story & this picture tell us about financial planning, investment markets, and life? Strong relationships, like tall & deep pilings and sturdy storm-tested foundations, help us weather the inevitable storms. That is what we strive to provide to you our clients as we weather the storms of life and the investment markets together and give back to those less fortunate with our time, talent and treasure.

Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and investments carry the risk of loss, including the risk of loss of invested capital.

Sources: The New York Times.

Author: Senior Vice President Senior Wealth StrategistPhyllis had been associated with W&A for a number of years before joining the firm, acting as a consultant to the company in its formative stage and subsequently as a client. Prior to joining W&A, Phyllis served as Vice President, Corporate Finance at Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. She was involved in all aspects of its investment banking activities, including mergers and acquisitions, valuation studies, and initial public offerings. She earned registrations in NASD Series 7 (Registered Representative) and Series 63 (Blue Sky). Phyllis holds an MBA in Finance as well as M.Ed and BBA degrees from the University of Memphis. She is a Chartered Financial AnalystTM(CFA®) and a Certified Financial PlannerTM(CFP®) Licensee. She is past-Chairman and past-President of the Mid-South Society of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and served on their Board of Directors from 1995 to 2000. During her term as President in 1998, the Mid- South Society of FPA was chosen the Outstanding Society of the Year by the national FPA organization. Her community volunteer activities include MIFA and the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, where she served as Treasurer, Chair of the Finance Committee and currently chairs the Investment Committee. She also serves on the Board of Governors of The Seaside Institute in Seaside, FL.

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