“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set your free.” John 8:32
While I’m far from a theologian, I know this post will certainly be borderline heretical as I apply this Bible verse completely out of context to the financial industry. But, I digress.
Last week, my firm celebrated its 18th year in business. My business partner, Adam Zuercher, and I started Hixon Zuercher Capital Management in 2002 with zero clients, zero investments to manage, a phone, a computer and a passion in our hearts to help individuals make wise decisions with their money.
The first few years were tough. Think back to the year 2002. Our country was still heavy hearted after the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and we were engaged in a war on terror. From a stock market perspective…ravaged. The tech bubble that had burst in 1999 was still on the mend, then the terrorist attacks had caused a double dip. For perspective, the Dow was trading in August of 2002 at 8,990 (today it trades at 28,300).
But we trudged. 25 years old at the time and a fire in our bellies, we hit the streets, telling our story to anyone who would listen, and slowly…yet surely…we began to gain a few clients. Then, about the time we felt pretty confident in our plan…2008. The worst stock market crash since the Great Depression. Our business was on life support. But, we believe then as we do now that mindset matters. The biggest battle is between our ears and what we do as a reaction to those negative thoughts would determine our success or our failure. We could have easily turned tide and ran. But we believed in our mission. We believed in helping others. We believed that investing truths such as You Can’t Time The Market and Invest In What You Know were still intact. We put our heads down and our feet forward trying our best to operate a business of integrity and continue to provide valuable investment management and financial planning services to those who found value.
Eighteen years later, we’ve successfully navigated the many ‘crisis du jour’ that plagues our newsfeeds. Today, we help over 275 families and steward over $200 million of their hard-earned investments. These clients are entrepreneurs, medical professionals, engineers, teachers, retirees…friends. We employ a team of 9 people, each putting their unique abilities to work everyday for the betterment of our clients. Adam and I owe them a debt of gratitude.
We’re not in the convincing business. We’re in the truth business. If I have to convince a person that the long-term compounding machine known as the stock market is the place for their wealth, we’re likely not a good fit for them. But for those who have trusted us, who have benefited from us executing on the timeless and truthful investment principles we’ve put into practice since 2002…I say thank you. These past 18 years have been fun! And, as always, I believe that the best is still to come!
