In photo: Chicory Wealth CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERs™ Daniel McNabb, Jacob Newcomer, and Dan Kirslis
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like 2019 flew by in about two days. But that can’t be true because we accomplished a LOT last year! Just take a look at this list:
- We added two new team members: Financial Advisor Christina Kramlich and Tax Specialist Jeff Audi. (We hired Jeff in 2019 but he started in early 2020.) Both of these people are excellent additions to our team, which has now grown to ten. We’re excited!
- Three of our team members passed the strenuous testing required to become CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERs™. Congratulations to Daniel McNabb, Jacob Newcomer, and Dan Kirslis (see photo above). That means we now have SIX CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERs™ on board.
- We published a book, Integrating Money and Meaning: Practices for a Heart-Centered Life, and an accompanying workbook. Find them both here. These books flesh out some of our thoughts on what we mean by our tag line “integrating money and meaning” and offer practices for doing just that. We partnered with the Worship Design Studio to create a worship series for churches to use the books. You can watch a cool video about that here.
- As a team, we trained with the nonprofit Money Quotient to better our skills at values-based, life-centered financial planning to help our clients live meaningful and purposeful lives. We believe in Financial Life Planning, which is so much more than figuring out when someone can retire, and Money Quotient did a great job of helping us sharpen our focus in this area.
- We partnered with As You Sow, an organization that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies. Through As You Sow, about 80 of our clients participated in shareholder activism in 2019.
- And speaking of clients, we welcomed many new households to the growing Chicory Wealth family. So to any of you new folks reading this (as well as those who have been around for a while), thank you for putting your trust in us! We continue to grow our team and welcome your referrals.
- Chicory Wealth was a sponsor for several worthy organizations this year, including Compassionate Atlanta, Corporate Accountability, Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool, the Wylde Center, and others, as well as promoting Maggie’s Giving Group’s support of the Atlanta Audubon Society and Lifeline Animal Project.
- We continue to focus our portfolio management on investing in companies that meet the highest standards for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) screenings. While ESG has really gained momentum in the wider investment community in the past year, we at Chicory Wealth have been working in this space for a number of years now, and we’re very happy to see that the broader investment world is (finally) catching up.
- Market-wise, 2019 was the mirror opposite of 2018. In 2018, not a single asset class managed to finish in positive territory. In 2019, EVERYTHING went UP. All I can say is that it is very difficult to predict short-term market movements, but it is likely 2020 will be more volatile and not as positive as 2019. So … stay tuned.
As you can see, we had a very full year. We had a nice holiday break in December, but we’ve already hit the ground running in 2020. We have some big plans:
- Let’s start with the market. Yes, 2019 was a good year for market growth, but 2020 promises to be volatile. We’re evaluating all of our models and looking to try and reduce risk somewhat, particularly for those clients who are in or very near retirement.
- We’ll always be looking for better ESG and socially responsible investment options that provide good results but are more supportive of the environment and our communities.
- We will continue providing shareholder activism opportunities for the clients who want it.
- We will hone and strengthen our Financial Life Planning strategies so we can help meet the complex needs of our clients.
- We will continue to stand by our values in the workplace – always a process of tweaking and growing — for businesses as well as individuals! We are working to become a certified B corporation, and our goal is to achieve this by the end of 2020.
- Given the strength of our team and our increased capacity, we hope to grow the Chicory Wealth family in 2020 with more new clients. We love referrals! And remember, we offer a free call with one of our advisors for any prospective client. Find our more here.
Overall, and most importantly, we plan in the next year and all the years to come to continue helping people align their financial lives with their hopes and dreams for the future – for themselves, for others, and for the planet. We want to deepen the quality of our conversations about what our clients care about for themselves and the world and help them achieve their heart-felt goals. We know that 2020 might be a bit of a wild ride, but we’re ready. Thanks for allowing us to come along with you.
Disclaimer: Chicory Wealth is a fee-only Registered Investment Adviser (RIA). Registration as an adviser does not connote a specific level of skill or training. More detail, including forms ADV Part 2A & 2B filed with the SEC, can be found at https://chicorywealth.com/. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (“CFP”) certificants must pass the comprehensive CFP Certification Examination, pass CFP Board’s Candidate Fitness Standards, agree to abide by CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, which puts clients’ interests first, and comply with the Financial Planning Practice Standards, which spell out what clients should be able to reasonably expect from the financial planning engagement. In addition to completing courses that cover the financial planning topics required for CFP certification, a bachelor’s degree (or higher), or its equivalent (in any discipline, from an accredited college or university) is required to attain CFP certification. The bachelor’s degree requirement is a condition of initial certification; it is not a requirement to be eligible to take the CFP Certification Examination.