Welcome to the Spring Edition of The Ultimate Guide For the Successful Steward, Fourth Dimension Financial Group’s newsletter.
Stewards – Here and Abroad
One of our Stewards, Kathleen, proves over and over that there are amazing travel destinations that many of us never even consider when planning our bucket list trips. This year, she traveled to Myanmar and Cambodia! The photos are stunning and eye-opening. While in Siem Reap, Cambodia, she took these photos of her copy of this newsletter and the amazing tree in which it found itself, proving that the Steward is almost everywhere!
Thanks, Kathleen, for including us in your vacation. It’s certainly a pleasure to see you living out your dreams.
I’ve never talked about it publically, but Fourth Dimension Financial Group came to be as a result of one of the most painful experiences of my life. While our twins were in the Intensive Care Unit at Toledo Hospital, given a 20% chance of survival, the owner of the firm where I worked decided he needed to move forward without me. It was devastating, not just for the fact that I was without a platform with which to serve my clients (and earn an income), but because my family’s very foundation appeared to be crumbling beneath us. How could I concentrate on finding a way to earn money while we were in full crisis mode with our pound-and-a-half babies in the ICU and three other young daughters at home? To put it simply, any and all strength I had within me was necessary to navigate this chapter of my life.
A very long story made very short, I began a consulting practice for other advisors, which allowed me to work from home, while serving the families that stuck with me through many months of professional and personal uncertainty. If you’ve noticed that I often share my gratitude with you for trusting us with the planning of your life savings, this is where that deep, persisting gratitude comes from. I was extremely humbled then and still am now.
While working as a consultant to other advisors to help them build their practices, it struck me that I should be investing more into my own business. From those ashes, Fourth Dimension was born. And as these things tend to go, the opportunity to ‘start over’ with fewer and only the most committed clients, was a great blessing, allowing me to narrow my focus to serving a very specific client, people nearing or in retirement. Prior to that, I was a generalist like most advisors are. After all, if I had less time to focus on my work because of family needs, I’d better get really good at doing my work and at the highest level possible.
I share all of this because we’re seeing great changes in our world, politically and economically. A new political era coincides with rising stock markets and pressured bond markets. Because of this, we’ve invested in additional relationships and resources in order to better help you navigate these dynamic times. In this edition, you’ll hear from Stephen Hanley, our in-house Investment Strategist with Evergreen Wealth Management. In fact, he’ll have a regular featured article in each Steward. He has a lot of wisdom to share with us as we consider investing through times of great volatility and rising interest rates. Additionally, our good friend, Richard Chamberlain, will bring us insights from the realm of estate planning. This is an integral component of a successful plan and is also a planning area that is ever-changing.
Part of the reason we’re having this conversation is because of the pain of great changes I’ve experienced in my life and career. Just as I have a story, you have yours. As we continue to serve you in ways that help you positively shape your story, we’ll get to hear Stephen and Richard’s insights as well, adding depth and breadth to your financial planning.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…I’m so deeply grateful for the trust you’ve placed in us and in me. We often don’t appreciate the light until we’ve experienced the darkness.
All the best,
Adam B. Cufr, RICP®
