Good Harvest Financial Group, Inc. - financial services offering personalized planning, consulting and management services

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM RON STEIN

Maybe A New Day?

What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time, the financial world was sinking to its knees; Wall Street was in panic as main street investors everywhere suddenly saw the economic collapse move front and center in their lives. Fear was the order of the day. Not only did the massive collapse of stock prices shred asset values and wipe away many dreams of retirement; the fear of the future – loss of jobs, even fear of another great depression – loomed real and large. Americans, and their global brethren were reeling. The floor had been partially pulled out from under the developed world.

But we got through it. A year later, the financial world remains standing. Western and emerging economies, though all painfully impacted, are still functioning, stabilizing. Even the financial markets are working their way back. It is clear to many that our economies still have a long way to go, and clearer to more that we must insure that we avoid this calamity again. Investors are anxious – but it is a far cry from anxiety to dread.

Hopefully, what doesn’t kill us does make us stronger. For those running our financial systems, there must be more accountability, far more vigorous oversight, and the building of trust that government and the financial industry can hold up their part of the great contract with America. Investors observed almost every asset class lose badly in 2008: they are now faced with having to revisit long held beliefs, and change their assumptions. Many are changing retirement plans, changing expense projections, and destined to take far greater vigilance in how their investments are managed, and by whom. Proven clearly is that bigger – whether giants like Lehman, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch or AIG, or even Stanford or Madoff – is not better. “Better” is better.

Managing risk, careful selection of appropriate assets, ongoing assessment, and staying on top of the changing environment is key. Through hard work, minimization of risk and care for people, Good Harvest Financial Group did well guiding our clients through these difficult times. Here’s hoping you might have as well. This was a lesson to all that difficult times and radical changes are part of the investment landscape. Navigating around these landmines is a challenge for the best of us.

Meanwhile, we welcome you to our site. Please enjoy, and feel free to contact us with any questions!