Happy New Year!
I have never been so happy to put a year behind us as I am with 2020. All of us here at Navigoe hope that you and your family are all safe and healthy as we work our way through this pandemic.
Navigoe Update
Since early March of 2020, everyone at Navigoe has been working from home with the exception of myself. All the years of preparation, implementation, and improvements to our operational systems, designed with the intent of facilitating mobile work as extreme as from a sailboat in the South Pacific, has proven indispensable during this pandemic and allowed us to seamlessly pivot to abide by the stay at home orders. That said, we all look forward to a time that we can be together in the office and more importantly, to welcome you again in person. While we wait for in-person meetings to be allowed, we continue to have phone and video meetings.
Looking forward to 2021, we have two major developments that we are launching this year.
First, on the estate planning side, we have identified a trust document provider that will allow us to help you with your estate planning documents at major savings. We anticipate this being applicable for all but the most complicated estate plans. Additionally, I am in the process of becoming a California licensed Professional Fiduciary, which will allow me to serve as a trustee for those who are seeking a professional trustee option for their trust.
Second, we will be formally launching a sustainable investment strategy, for both individual accounts as well as for company 401k plans. Over the coming months, we will have some webinars further explaining the strategy and opportunities for current and future clients.
2021 Milestones
2021 is the 100th “birthday” of the Sweetser House, the historical home that is Navigoe’s office.
This year also represents the 25th Anniversary of Navigoe. While technically not Navigoe LLC, but 25 years since I started a financial planning and wealth management business that was the predecessor company to Navigoe.
Unfortunately, in 2020 we were not able to hold our annual End of Summer celebration. We are already looking forward to a major combined Sweetser House 100th Birthday and Navigoe 25th Anniversary party in September, as long as it is safe to do so. In addition to these reasons for celebration, if we are able to hold the party, it would also mean that the pandemic is behind us and we are starting to move back to more normal times; now that will be something to celebrate!
Financial Markets
If you only look at the value of your investment portfolio at the end of each year, you would not even have known that March of 2020 was one of the worst periods for financial markets in history. The speed and magnitude of market declines were unprecedented, only to be countered with an even larger unforeseen recovery which happened during a once in a century pandemic combined with the most contentious presidential election in memory. Last year is an excellent example of the difficulty of market timing, and that it requires predicting the future twice, when to get out and when to get back in. Fortunately, our approach does not require such foresight.
This now represents the third major test of our evidenced-based investment strategy since put into practice over 25 years ago. While it is always unsettling to see your investment values drop significantly, especially when accompanied by a constant barrage of negative news, the benefit of a strategy designed to weather the storm should have helped to provide peace of mind through the cycle. We continued to follow the strategy and purchase stocks in the downturn and realize capital losses when we could.
Looking forward to 2021, I would not be surprised if there is still major market volatility. This pandemic has taken a toll on the global economy. We have seen governments around the world provide unprecedented levels of stimulus. How the stimulus unwinds and the full effect on the economy will play out over the years to come. Rest assured that we will continue to manage your investments using sound, academic strategies.
Client Portfolio Report
Recently, we mailed the Client Portfolio Report to all clients. It is a high-level summary of your investment portfolio with Navigoe. This information, along with much more detail, is always available on-demand via the Navigoe Investment Portal and the Navigoe Advisor app. This report is also created on a quarterly basis and resides on the portal along with your TD Ameritrade brokerage statements. If you would like a tutorial on the portal or desire more information, please do not hesitate to call.
As we start the new year, this is an excellent time to review your financial goals and to make sure your portfolio is in alignment. We will be sending an email meeting invitation over the coming weeks, but you can always reach out sooner to schedule a meeting.
Stay safe. Do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions. We look forward to speaking with you over the coming months.
All the best,
Scott A Leonard, CFP
