With the 2024 General Election just a few weeks away and the economy playing a central role in the news, Oak Partners is working around the clock to keep its clients up-to-date, educated, and in the best position possible to understand the market and their finances.
A key part of that work is hosting events such as the 2024 Economic Update, hosted at Lighthouse Restaurant on Tuesday, October 15. The event delivered fresh insights on the market, including a discussion about the impact of the election on personal finances along with other updates delivered by guest speaker Dave McGarel, chief investment officer of First Trust Portfolios.
“I think it’s important that we have a mix of events for our clients; some are just fun, others are more educational,” said Jason Urbaniak, partner and wealth advisor at Oak Partners. “Today’s update is crucial because of the election coming up. It’s perfect timing to get our clients exposed to somebody informed about how the election related to the economy.”
Urbaniak explained that as a fiduciary, Oak Partners is bound to act in the best interests of its clients. To prevent conflicts of interest, it does not sell proprietary products or services such as mutual funds. Instead, Oak Partners wealth advisors turn to outside firms such as First Trust, and act according to every client’s individual needs.
More than 100 Oak Partners clients attended the event and enjoyed a meal as they heard from McGarel. He spoke in depth about an array of topics, offering data and analysis for clients to chew on.
“I love talking to advisors’ clients and giving them some of the data we’ve found,” McGarel said. “Whether it’s on the economy, the equity markets, the fixed income markets, or some of the economic and political things happening in an election year. It’s about giving these clients a view of the economy and where we go from here.”
McGarel noted that those in attendance at events such as the Economic Update are often those in a position to make the biggest impact on the nation’s economy.
“We partner with advisors like those at Oak Partners because we know that they have some of the most productive people on Earth as their clients,” he said. “To us, those clients are the ones who create this great country and its wealth. We love these types of partnerships.”
Oak Partner’s calendar is packed full of events – including another Economic Update session on October 18, featuring Bob Carey from First Trust. Other events, such as their annual Lace Up Your Skates ice skating, or their recent Oaktoberfest celebration bring out huge crowds for more casual evenings.
“With all the clients we have there are a lot of different personalities,” Urbaniak said. “Some of them use our events as a date night and like to come out to fun stuff like our March Madness event. Others are more like engineers; they like to get analytical and want some meat on the bone. They like coming out to presentations like this that have some details to them.”
Urbaniak, a founding member of Oak Partner’s Wealth Management Group, said that few things make him as proud about his job as the strong turnout at every event the firm runs.
“I’ve been at Oak Partners for 23 years and we’ve come a long way,” he said. “Nobody else in the area does events like we do, but it’s not just about the events – it’s about the participation. There’s going to be 110 people here tonight, and another 110 on Thursday. That’s just three weeks after we had 600 out at Bulldog Park for Oaktoberfest. Our clients always participate well, and that makes this job a lot of fun.”
To learn more about Oak Partners and its services, visit oakpartners.com.
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