Congratulations to our very own Parker Trasborg, who was elected to serve as the President of the National Capital Chapter of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) for 2020.  The Washington Chapter is one of the largest chapters in the U.S. with more than 800 members.  Parker has served on the Board of Directors since 2013, holding various committee positions over the years, including membership director, when the membership reached the highest level that it had been since the financial crisis of 2008-2009.  It is an honor to be recognized by your peers in the FPA, and Parker continues CJM’s long tradition of FPA leadership as he will be the sixth person from CJM to serve as President over the past 30 years (joining Dick Cooper, Tim Jones, Bob Albertson, Tracey Baker and Brian Jones).

So congratulations to Parker as he leads the National Capital Chapter over this next year.  And congratulations to CJM for supplying great leadership to the association over the years.  Now we will have to find someone here who can follow in Parker’s footsteps.  Dave Greene?  Jessica Ness?  Stay tuned – we’ll see who steps forward in the future.

By: Timothy W. Jones, CFP®

As many people reading this are already aware, I am “retiring” from direct work with clients at the end of 2017.  So what can I say about our business after 30+ years?

First, there have been many changes since 1978.  The growth of automation with computers and software has been staggering, and all this automated support allows us to analyze more numbers and define alternative choices for our clients.  There are multiple ways to achieve an objective, and some of them are easier and faster than others.  Helping you define the best way to accomplish your objectives is more possible today than it was in the past.

The CJM organization is much larger than it was when I started, and much of that growth was in the last 20 years.  The keys to that growth were work and effort, and getting the right people on our bus.  It took hard work to attract smart, talented, and motivated people who accepted and adopted our core values and culture.  We wanted to “feel” like a small, caring business as we grew in size so that we could maintain our independence into the future.  I’ll let the people reading this who have been with us for 15+ years evaluate how well we have done that.

There are many things that did not change at CJM over the years.  We have always been a financial planning firm since we started almost 40 years ago.  We help you with your investments and income needs, integrating those with good estate planning and tax planning along the way.  We have always been committed to providing you quality personal service and doing that in a timely way so that your needs are met, if not exceeded.  And all of these corporate efforts are driven by the fact that in our business, the client ALWAYS comes first.

I will still “consult” with CJM in the future (an average of one day per week), which will allow my wife and I more time for other things including some additional travel.  Thank you for being part of my journey and the CJM story.  I am confident that our firm will continue to provide you excellent service and support in the years to come.