| In the last three weeks the world has come to recognize the risk posed by the COVID-19 becoming a threat globally and the situation is evolving rapidly.
We first want to reassure you that operationally we are well prepared to ensure business continuity for you and all of our clients. We have a Business Continuity Plan and have tested it over the past two years. We have the ability for all staff to work from home using company owned computers. We have taken proactive steps to limit non essential business travel and track staff personal travel. And we have also determined that our investment service suppliers have taken the same measures. We are confident that we will be able to continue operations in this manner as required and to remain accessible to you.
The growing number of people infected with the virus outside of China has caused governments and institutions to react with significant measures to try to contain the virus. The negative economic impact from the COVID-19 outbreak, and the recent fallout from an oil price war triggered by the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia, have rattled global equity markets.
At the moment, the investment world is chaotic. We want you to know that we are not chaotic. We are organized. We are studying the market carefully and staying in touch with our sub-managers. We are focused on ensuring that our portfolios are well diversified, managed by conservative investment managers and that there is a good level of liquidity and quality in the holdings. Our managers focus on investing in companies that are financially strong and run by good management teams.
Most importantly, we are staying focused on sticking with a sound long term plan and adhering to our investment discipline. We have managed through volatile markets and a severe market correction before in our company’s 40 year history and will continue to apply our conservative long term approach to manage this uncertain time in the best interest of our clients in the same manner.
We will be here to work with you in all ways to protect your investments and answer your personal finance questions. Please don’t hesitate to call us at any time.
Yours sincerely,
Krista L. Kerr, CA, R.F.P., CFP, CFA, TEP |
