Calm in the Coronavirus financial storm

A lot of people these days are worried about their physical health.

Many are also concerned with their financial health.

With the stock market taking crazed swings, retirement savings evaporating and 401k’s shrinking, it’s a stressful time all around.

That’s where Cade Wright comes in. Cade is a financial advisor for Edward Jones Investments in Wimberley.

“These are challenging times,” says Cade. “We definitely got some calls when all this starting happening in late February and early March. That’s when I started reaching out to people to reassure them.”

Cade’s office, in the Wimberley Mountain Plaza across from H-E-B, was flooded with calls on March 23, the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed out.

Calms clients

He worked to calm his clients and reassure them. Surprisingly, hardly anyone panicked and moved their investments to a low-earning safe harbor.

The coronavirus has definitely impacted the way Cade does business. While he still goes into the office most days, most of his communications with existing or new clients is done electronically.

More than ever he stresses the need for an emergency fund to get folks through hard times.

He hosts a weekly virtual coffee club where people can get updates and ask questions. “These are scary times,” says Cade.

Despite the financial turbulence, his advice hasn’t changed much: make quality investments, make sure you are diversified, and think long term.

Most of Cade’s clients are either retired, or about to retire, or are small business owners who want to secure their retirements. “I am definitely concerned about some of the small businesses here in Wimberley,” he says. “Many of them are operating on tight budgets and can’t afford even shortterm closures.”

Working with the office of Rep. Roger Williams, Cade made sure small business people in Wimberley received early and detailed information about the federal government’s Payroll Protection Program.

Personal experience

To Cade, protecting an individual’s wealth is intensely personal. Cade’s father was a professor at Texas State University who was heavily invested in technology stocks in the late 1990s. When the tech bubble popped he lost 80 percent of his savings. It’s a lesson Cade has never forgotten.

“My dad got some bad advice from a bad advisor. It had a real impact on me,” Cade says. “I had a bad taste in my mouth about what happened to my father. My dad’s financial advisor really dropped the ball and really changed the course of his life.”

Cade has a degree in economics from Texas Tech and worked for a computer software company before opening his Edward Jones office in Wimberley about four years ago.

He was born and raised in San Marcos and now lives with his wife Jen and three dogs — Rudy, Chloe and Ellie — in Wimberley.

The St. Louis-based Edward Jones company is employee owned and features both commission- and fee-based investments. “It’s a big company with a small company feel,” says Cade.

Cade knows these are unsettled times: “It’s hard to know what the new normal is going to be.”

To contact Cade call 512-847-8463 or visit his web page at www.edwardjones.com/cade-wright.