Accountability
There’s been a lot of talk recently about accountability. From the police to the protestors, from politicians to the public, actions (or lack thereof) can and should have consequences. If you’re doing the right thing, the consequences may be that you get a promotion, you get re-elected or you start a movement. If you’re not doing the right thing, those consequences could be just the opposite: you lose your job, you lose the election or your efforts are derided and scrapped.
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I commented last week on the protests and made a comment about the things we can do to make positive change. One thing that we all can do is vote. It doesn’t matter what party you’re affiliated with - voting allows us to hold politicians accountable for their actions, policies and votes. We all know that no politician is perfect – far from it in fact. But at the end of the day, they answer to you and me, and we must be prepared to judge them based on their actions versus their rhetoric. We should want to engage whenever possible and to educate ourselves on the issues instead of voting a party line.
And this applies equally from local elections of mayor, city council, etc., to state positions all the way up to President. They all matter!
At Earth Equity Advisors, we’re accountable to our clients – and that’s not just rhetoric, it’s how we’re organized. The firm is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), which means that we are a fiduciary – we can only make decisions that are in our clients’ best interest. We are only paid by our clients and not by mutual funds or other entities – this eliminates conflicts of interest.
Contrast this with the big investment firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley or Wells Fargo which are considered broker-dealers. Broker-dealers use a much looser standard called suitability which does not put the client first and leaves room for conflicts of interest.
I am grateful for your decision to work with Earth Equity and to invest responsibly, and everyone at the firm understands that we are accountable to you and only you. We take this responsibility very seriously and especially during times of volatility and uncertainty, we gladly put your interests above everything else.
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The votes are in
Last week I asked if you were interested in having a Zoom Q&A session with me and the Earth Equity team. The answer we received was yes, but not immediately. So, the plan is to wait until after the 2nd quarter ends – this means that we’ll have a time on the calendar for the second week of July. We’ll keep you posted to the exact day and time.
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Another year down
This month, we celebrate sixteen years in business! I started the firm back in 2004 at my home in Roanoke, Virginia. I remember the excitement of launching Krull & Company and the gratitude I felt when so many of my clients came along for the ride. 2020 has been unlike any year we’ve ever had, but we continue to grow – in fact we’re actually getting considerably more new business inquiries recently. Thank you all for your friendship, business and introductions over the years!
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The original advertisement announcing Krull & Company in June, 2004.
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On to business…
Well, it looks like the second wave of the pandemic may have arrived. Reopening the economy early against health-expert advice, the cavalier use (or lack) of face masks and social distancing, and the protests all have played a part in a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the country.
The market had actually regained its losses over the past 2½ months on the hope that the worst was behind us, but that abruptly ended yesterday. With the S&P 500 down over 5% today, it’s clear to me that we have more volatility in store for us.
What does this mean for our clients? Well, not much actually. Our diversified mutual fund portfolios are still in capital preservation mode, so volatility should be kept to a minimum. Most of those models pushed through to a positive YTD return over the past few weeks and while we will see some returns given back, I’m confident that our conservative stance will hold up well while the market sorts everything out.
Remember that our Green Sage portfolio is always 100% stocks, so it will feel the impact of this market volatility as well as portfolios from our colleagues at Green Alpha Advisors.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to keep a close eye on the news, markets and the portfolios. Should I need to make additional changes to the models, I will do so, but I don’t see that being necessary.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks again for your business!
My Best,
Peter Krull
CEO & Director of Investments
Earth Equity Advisors, LLC
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