Quarterly Letter from the President: Q1 2024

For our valued clients,

It is my pleasure to announce the launch of the first “Quarterly Letter from the President” within our monthly client Connects newsletters. My goal for the quarterly letter is simple: to provide you with deeper insight into the mission and values of Focus and offer perspectives on what is happening at our firm and throughout the financial industry.

I write from a voice of passion for what we do, how we do it and our collective goal to enhance your Focus experience. For those who have been reading our educational materials, you may already be familiar with the financial planning and investment related topics we highlight each month, and we hope you find them valuable. For those of you who this is your first exposure, welcome, we hope you enjoy!

I’d like to share some background about this newsletter to better explain our mission - we call it Connects for a reason. We created the Connects brand to reflect our motivation to regularly connect with you and foster a learning and engagement platform. We intentionally ask questions in our annual client experience survey to learn what is on your mind and what hits the mark for the content we deliver to you – knowing client preferences are not all the same. Your feedback fuels us to create written communication, deliver virtual live webinars and create specialized series on specific topics, from cybersecurity to college planning.

In order for us to meet your needs, we are purposeful in investing in our internal thought leaders to deliver the most robust and necessary educational materials. These industry authorities work directly with your advisory team and serve a critical role in supporting a variety of fields of study in order to better serve you.

Speaking of our team of thought leaders, I am excited to announce that we recently added Rob Bertman, director of family budget services, to our internal thought leadership. Rob will support Focus’s community of wealth advisors with new tools to help with clients’ budgeting conversations. He has joined our advisor solutions team that includes service areas like business valuation, institutional, retirement planning and integrated tax planning. You have likely heard from our Chief Investment Officer Kevin Grogan and Chief Planning Officer Jeffrey Levine in our webinars and through published articles. They serve as our investment and planning gurus and ensure the educational content we deliver is timely, trusted and offers the latest insights into investment and economic developments. It makes me proud to have this arsenal of thought leadership supporting our advisors and, most importantly, supporting you.

We understand that everyone’s financial journey takes a customized roadmap, and our hope is that with these insights, and your advisor by your side, you can achieve your financial goals and aspirations.

As you review our latest thought pieces, please reach out to your advisor with any questions or feedback on how we can support you better.

Until next time, with gratitude,

Wendy Hartman, President of Focus Partners