Clients and Partners,
As we all navigate the outbreak of the Coronavirus together, I wanted to share what’s important to us, what we’ve done, and what we’re doing.
What’s Important to Us
The health and wellbeing of everyone we work with informs our decision-making. Our clients trust us with their life’s savings, but also to be a partner in their journey for so much more. We value this relationship deeply, and we also feel a great sense of responsibility to do things that support the needs of those around us.
There are parts of our population that are particularly vulnerable to this virus, and we intend to do everything in our power to prevent the spread of the virus, or slow its progression.
Simultaneously, we see our partnership with our clients as a valuable relationship, and we intend to do everything necessary to ensure we’re available and ready to help you for everything ahead, financially, emotionally, and for your health otherwise.
What We’re Doing
We intend to support the intent and spirit of public health officials’ requests to perform acts of “social-distancing” to slow the spread of this virus. Additionally, an unprecedented level of restrictions exists today, including a significant impact on our ability to move freely and travel.
Based on these factors and more, we intend to hold a significant proportion of our client, prospective client, and other meetings virtually via Zoom meetings we host.
Such meetings are easy to join from your computer or mobile phone, and may optionally include video, audio, and presentation materials, as applicable.
Whether you’re an existing client or prospective client, just let us know you’d like to hold a web conference (or by phone call only, if you prefer) when scheduling a meeting with us, and we’ll handle the rest by providing instructions on how to access the meeting. If you do not ask us for a web conference explicitly, we may suggest such a meeting anytime you ask for a meeting at this time, until the recommendations from public health officials change and the situation/severity subsides.
What We’ve Already Done
As most existing clients are aware, stress tests have always been a common aspect of our work. Because this was deep in the culture of our organization, such stress testing has always been part of our internal processes along with the research and analysis we perform for our clients.
For our clients, this means we’ve long ago performed stress tests and sensitivity analysis studies for nearly all of you already about your vulnerability to certain levels of decline in the market value of your financial assets. If you have any questions about the results of any of your stress tests done, we encourage you discuss this further with your financial planner in your next meeting. This research informs nearly all of the financial planning we do for you, and is a large source of our own confidence in supporting a safer retirement plan for each of you.
For our company (which directly impacts our ability to serve our clients), we have been preparing for years for any scenario that might keep our staff physically unable to work together in the same location (for any reason). Based on this past contingency planning and pre-existing testing, we are already well prepared for any location disruptions.
We have several geographically dispersed locations today, and our staff are already able to perform client work and perform activities from home should the need arise. Importantly, all staff members are already equipped with secure computer hardware, special voice-over-IP phones, and secondary factors of authentication that ensure only authorized employees are accessing client information, wherever that might be.
Summary
We understand the current situation is worrisome, and we want you to know we’re here for you, whatever the future might hold. We’re prepared to continue our work and service to our clients and do everything necessary to ensure you are cared for.
Most Sincerely,
William A. Callahan, RLP, CFA, CFP®
President & CEO
Author: William A. Callahan, RLP, CFA, CFP®
William founded Callahan Financial Planning and previously served as President of the firm.