By Our office has been open for eight weeks now, and I am super happy to say we’ve had some new clients come in for initial meetings for the first time in months. People are coming out of their shelters and are comfortable sitting on opposite ends of our conference table at a proper social distance. It’s been great to have people in, and a big thank you to those who have taken us up on our invitation to refer your friends, family and colleagues to our team. And if you haven’t yet, please do. There’s a lot we can do to help out during these confusing times, and our team has the capacity for more investment and planning clients.
We are also beyond excited to have racing back at Keeneland this week! Below you’ll find my picks for today’s races, and as you gather at home or out and about with (socially distanced) friends for a hot brown, burgoo or Keeneland Breeze, we hope you’ll like my choices.
On an administrative note, I have three things I want to talk about today.
First, ironically, it took a global pandemic for us to finally be allowed to use electronic signatures for our documents, but we are thrilled to let you know we’re in the process of rolling out DocuSign. I’ve used it myself and it’s quick and easy.
Second, if you access your Pershing accounts via the Netx360 login, you’ll need to make sure you sign on at least once every 30 days to avoid being reverted back to a very basic level of user interface. If you miss a month, don’t worry – our team can restore the full access for you, but we wanted to give you the heads up. (We can finally use e-signatures, but we still have to send an email to restore account access for our clients. This is why I’m in counseling.)
Third, our advisors (including me!) absolutely love to hear from you, and answer any questions you have. Just as we’re taking measures to make things more efficient around our office, we do ask those of you who have our cell phone numbers to reserve calling those for after-hour emergencies – death, job loss, Covid, house fire, etc. Otherwise, now that we’ve reopened, please contact us through our main office number at 859.219.1006. If you leave me a voicemail or text on my cell phone, I likely won’t see it and be able to respond until I’m done with meetings hours later. If you call our main line, there’s a 95 percent chance someone on our team can help you right then. This is why we pay for a live person to answer our phones – so you don’t have to go to voicemail and can get an answer to your question in minutes, even if I’m in back-to-back meetings.
We truly appreciate you reaching out to us and we love talking with you. We simply want to serve you in the best and most efficient way possible.
And now, without further ado, my Keeneland picks for today’s races!
Race 1: This is a maiden race, and I like the #12 horse, King Uhtred. This Declaration of War horse will making his making his first start. I’ll take #5 Fauci (can’t make this up, folks) running second, along with #7, #8 and #9.
Race 2 is another maiden race, and I like #1 Malibu Anthem, and #7 Jeweled Princess. For the exacta box, take #1, #7 and #8, Thomasville. This horse will be the speed of the race.
In Race 3 I like the long shot #7, Coltonator, to pair in an exacta box with #8 and #9. If you love a long shot, I’d be remiss to not mention the #6 horse, Riverboat Gambler.
Race 4 is easy – might as well call this one the Dave horse – #8, Embellisher! Try pairing this horse in separate exacta boxes with #7, #1, #12, and #10 to see if one will hit.
In Race 5 I’ll take #9, Lady Oxbow. Pair this horse in separate exacta boxes with #10, #3, and #6.
Race 6 is another maiden and I like #1 Movie Moxie, #8 April in Paris, and and #4 Skinny Dip. Try all three in an exacta or trifecta box.
In Race 7, for all you Baptists who don’t gamble or drink (around other Baptists), you’ll have to take #11 Moral Reasoning. And if this horse gets in, take #12 Be Nimble as the long shot of the day to win this race. Pair in an exacta or trifecta with #7.
For those of you who don’t know, my birthday is in August, so I always take the #8 horse in Race 8 – Dos Vinos. (My translator tells me this means Two Wines!) In case 8-in-the-8 fails me, I’ll take an exacta box #1 Inthemidstofbiz, and #9 Lead Guitar.
In Race 9 I like #8 Fortuity and #11 Militarist, whose jockey/trainer combo tends to do well at Keeneland. For the trifecta, all you Episcopalians out there will want to pick #9 Exult.
Wherever you’re watching the races today, have fun, and I hope you enjoy my picks on the track as well as my picks in the stock market!
Article by David Smyth, CLTC, Senior Partner at Family Financial Partners — a financial services firm in Lexington, Kentucky.