By SJS Founder & CEO Scott Savage.
As the sun sets on an indescribable 2020, we collectively hold our breaths for a successful and rapid rollout of vaccines to combat COVID-19. To sum up, I am awestruck by many of the events of the past year. Public and private leaders leaned into the coronavirus crisis, quickly pivoting to deal with the public health, economic, employment, and financial market disruption that began in February. Legislation, leadership, innovation, agility, emotions, divisiveness, and human fragility were on full display over the past 10 months—a short time that feels like a lifetime. And oh, by the way, SJS celebrated 25 years of business!
The reason we exist is YOU, and we were pleased to send each of our clients an American flag as a symbol of our gratitude and our pride in living in the greatest country in the world.
Your reaction was humbling: notes, calls, texts, emails, and kind words in person made us feel that we “hit the mark” as a way to celebrate 25 years of serving you, in the midst of a pandemic. I have compiled a few themes from your responses that I feel compelled to share:
Practical reactions to receiving the flag
Many of you shared the tired condition of the flag you already owned or the fact that you had never owned a flag and had long intended to buy one. The pictures, stories, and patriotic sentiment jumped out at me, tugging at my deep love for our country. Thank you.
Appreciation for our team at SJS
Your appreciation for the team at SJS was central to many of your kind words. I hear such sentiment often, and never get tired of hearing it repeated. I agree and often am heard saying that I will stack up our team against any team, anywhere, anytime!
Letting us know how long you have been a client
Whether it is a relatively new relationship, or one that goes back decades or even to our beginning in 1995, many of you shared the duration of our relationship and how that has made you feel. I was happy to know that many of you are keeping track!
Personal stories
Thank you for sharing personal stories and SJS moments that you remember and carry in your heart. Your words make me feel that the vision, effort, dedication, hard work, innovation, and bumps along the road that weave the fabric of SJS have been a worthy endeavor thus far—an SJS-spangled banner to call our own.
And we are just getting started! I look to the next 25 years with grounded optimism. There is much to worry about and fear, but there is also much to anticipate and hope for. Your team at SJS is committed to continuing to give you our best each and every day. We are here for you and for your family and friends if you believe we can be of help. As a dear friend reminds me often, onward and upward! Forever may she wave!
Important Disclosure Information:
Hyperlinks to third-party information are provided as a convenience and we disclaim any responsibility for information, services or products found on websites or other information linked hereto.
Suggested Reading
One of The Ability Center’s services is the Assistance Dog training program, which helps individuals with disabilities achieve greater independence.
When working with investment managers, we want them to share that same client-first philosophy and sit on the same side of the table with us.
We want to emphasize some best practices that can help us work together to ensure your information and assets remain safe.
The Outlook includes our evolving MarketPlus® Investing philosophy by standing on the shoulders of giants, and ways to help protect your personal information and financial assets. We also highlight The Ability Center and look forward to Q2 2024.
SRDAX is a shining example of the value alternatives can bring to traditional stock and bond strategies.
As we begin the new year, we have some ideas for concrete actions to start your new year on the right foot, financially.
Isn’t this picture magical? It's Main Street in Sylvania, Ohio, the small town where I founded SJS over 28 years ago!
The SJS Q4 2023 Outlook includes our insights on small town values, MarketPlus® Investing, and planning financially for the new year. We also highlight new SJS Team members and look forward to Q1 2024.
To help you financially plan for 2024, we provide this resource with important numbers for the upcoming year.
SJS Investment Services has been recognized in the Forbes / SHOOK 2023 list of America’s Top RIA (Registered Investor Advisor) Firms.
In addition to family gifting, many individuals support giving to organizations that aim to help their communities. We highlight some strategies to make the most of your giving dollars.
You can consider putting excess cash into a money market fund, short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, or a short-term bond mutual fund / ETF.
The future of the housing market is uncertain, and its resilience will be a crucial factor in the broader economic landscape.
The SJS Q3 2023 Outlook includes our insights on gifting and charitable contributions as well as U.S. real estate. We also look forward to Q4 2023.
SJS Investment Services has been recognized in CNBC’s 2023 FA 100 list, an annual ranking of registered investment advisory (RIA) firms within the United States.
International Samaritan is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is working to break the chains of poverty and improving lives, particularly within garbage dump communities worldwide.
SJS has been recognized in Financial Advisor Magazine’s 2023 Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) Ranking, an annual ranking of independent investment advisory firms within the United States.
The SJS Mission is to empower you to build a better life. That extends to our teammates, clients, and community members.
The SJS Q2 2023 Outlook includes our insights on building up our local communities as well as market performance so far in 2023. We also share even more members of the SJS family and look forward to Q3 2023.
It’s important to recognize how difficult it is to predict what will happen in the short-term for investment markets, and how much margin for error there should be for any prediction.
Leadership Toledo is an organization that connects individuals with the community, engaging and involving them with initiatives that make the Toledo region a great place to live, work, and enjoy.
The SJS Annual Report provides updates on the SJS Team, MarketPlus Investing®, SJS purpose, mission, & values, multi-family office services, and SJS community involvement.
The SJS Q1 2023 Outlook includes our insights on planning for your legacy, tomorrow’s headlines today, how the SECURE 2.0 Act may impact your finances, and looking forward to Q2 2023.
If you are lying awake asking yourself in the quiet of the night, “What should we do with our wealth when we die?”, please read on because in this article you will find potential answers, next steps, and resources.
The market’s reaction to tech in the first quarter is another reminder of how hard it is to time and predict the market, even if you “know” what is going to happen.
In efforts to further improve retirement plan saving and investing, the SECURE 2.0 Act was signed into law in December 2022. We want to highlight how this act may impact your finances.
The SJS word of the year for 2023 is GRATITUDE! Gratitude for our health, families, friends, faith, country, the SJS Team, and most importantly You, our loyal client who trusts us to do what’s in your best interest day-in and day-out.
The mission of Courageous Community Services is to provide meaningful, inclusive opportunities for individuals with disabilities and their families through advocacy, education, and engaging recreational experiences.
The SJS Q4 2022 Outlook includes our insights on the U.S. bond market over the past year, steps to help you plan financially for the new year, a thank you to Bev Langley, and looking forward to Q1 2023.