Welcome to Hyper-Change!

Nobody likes change and it seems to be especially true as we age.  What the world is witnessing right now is not just change, but hyper-change, and ready or not it is coming for you.

Change is coming in the way we communicate, work, shop, and invest.  A recent survey on the habits of retailers showed that 80% of consumers do NOT plan on returning to the way they shopped in the past.  It turns out many people did not enjoy grocery shopping and now they can order online (save a weekly shopping list for easy reordering) and have their food delivered to their car or home.  And it is not only food.  Weekly trips to Target, Walgreens, the hardware store are all now done remotely by millions of people and they are embracing the change.

We always enjoyed meeting our clients in person, shaking hands, hugging, sharing coffee and getting caught up were the highlights of our day.  We thought our clients would never want to change this – they would always want to see us in person and meet in our office.  As it turns out, that is not really the case for many of you.  The response we have received about Zoom meetings has been interesting and a bit surprising.  We learned our clients do not miss their 30-minute drive (each way) to our office, especially when it is snowing or raining.  Many of you have told us you not only love the convenience of meeting online, but you also like the efficiency of sharing documents electronically.  Our firm has invested a significant amount of money into technology, especially over the past few years, we thought it would be utilized more by our newer clients.  What has surprised us is the large number of long-term clients who are enjoying the efficiencies of using technology and have embraced the change.  Our firm will continue to change and adapt to provide you with the level of service you have been used to over all these years, even if it means we do not see everyone in person as often as we used to.

However, because we DO miss you and our community outreach, we are planning an outdoor, in person, mask mandated, and socially distanced event.  Sometime in November, we will have a drop off event.  We will accept food donations for the local food shelf and winter items for families staying at People Serving People, a homeless shelter in Minneapolis.  We are also adding a document shredding drop off for those who donate.  Members of our team will take care of your donations and documents for shredding.  We will also pass out a few small tokens of our appreciation.  We hope to see many of you at the event so we can waive, say hello in person, as well as assist those in need and help reduce your paper clutter securely.  Details with a date and time will be sent soon.

This is the longest we have gone in several months without mentioning Covid or the election!  Hopefully, the election results will be known by this time next week.  With regards to Covid we know this will be a long winter full of many challenges.  In conclusion, we are grateful for how fortunate we are to have the technology that allows us to manage this hyper-change so we can effectively service our clients now, through the pandemic, and in the future.  Please feel welcome to reach out to our team if you have questions about how to use Zoom, Black Diamond, or the Schwab app.  We want to help you be comfortable using these resources so you can stay connected and engaged, not only with our team, but with the outside world.

Take care, stay safe and be well,

The Bond&Devick Team