A Year of Blessings!!!!
Reflecting on 2018, it was truly a year of blessings and celebration for our company!
January: Josh and Heidi attended the TD Ameritrade National LINC Conference in Orlando. They came back with new ideas in research, practice management and technology.
February: Arthur (and Holly) welcomed little Addison Marie Strauss, and learned what it feels like to get no sleep!
March: Capital Gains premiered, our new monthly educational video series hosted by Arthur and Josh.
President Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, with the goal of protecting American industries. This resulted in market uncertainty, particularly in the industrial sector. As a result, we sold most of our positions in that sector.
April: We raised our cash position as a defensive mechanism and created available capital to purchase good, quality companies at a discount that have the potential to sustain a competitive advantage, even during a market downturn. We shifted a greater percentage of assets to a balanced fund that has an increased emphasis on Utilities, a sector associated with higher dividends, and one that has historically weathered downturns more effectively.
May: Josh was featured in Citywire USA, a publication that reaches thousands of investment professionals across the world. Josh also traveled to Haiti to deliver care packages and build a new roof for his charity, Trezo.
June: Josh attended an Investment Conference hosted by Citywire at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago.
July: Our team celebrated our 30th Anniversary at Highlands Bar and Grill.
Strauss Exchange, our new quarterly publication, was introduced.
August: A big month for the Strauss family as we celebrated the marriage of our daughter Brittany in Switzerland. The wedding took place in the same little church that her Swiss born grandmother married her American Serviceman grandfather in 1946.
September: Strauss Financial was voted by Birmingham Magazine Best of Birmingham 2018 as a finalist for the Best of Birmingham Financial Advisor.
Kristin and Josh both became proud parents to two little baby boys, Wyatt and Anderson.
October: Giving back to the community is a core value of our company, and we provided diapers to Bundles of Hope, a charity that helps provide diapers to those in need.
Due to increased market volatility and climbing interest rates, our advisors took additional steps to get more defensive for many client portfolios and utilize investment vehicles that were not as correlated to the stock and bond markets.
November: Strauss Financial celebrated their 30th year in business with clients and friends at the Grand Bohemian Art Gallery. A wonderful time was had by all and we were very touched by the great turn-out.
John also celebrated his 70th birthday with a surprise bucket list gift from Heidi and children to attend the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.
Arthur and Josh attended the educational Southeast RIA Summit in Atlanta, and John obtained many good ideas on alternative investments and tax strategies at Source 50 in Naples, Florida.
December: SFG took part in our holiday gifting to UNICEF, Trezo, and the Salvation Army. Our team also gathered donations and delivered unwrapped Christmas toys to the Oak Mountain Mission Ministries.
Our annual Christmas party was hosted by Arthur and Holly and steaming hot chili, chocolate desserts, Dirty Santa, and great fellowship made the evening a special one.
