Our team talks often about viewing our engagement with clients through a lens ofcare. We genuinely believe our greatest responsibility to clients is to care for them, and our team’s vision is stated as such: we exist to care for our clients, teammates, and community with compassion and excellence. We celebrate anytime we get to love on and care for you!
Yes, we are financial advisors, and there are many ways we serve our clients. Constructing a well-diversified portfolio, building a financial plan, facilitating estate planning discussions—we love serving in these ways. But we get the same joy and satisfaction by caring in other ways, too. Our ultimate viewpoint on care comes from a background of faith. We believe there is a Creator and that each of us were created in the image of God. As such, all humans deserve dignity and respect, and we can show that by serving, loving, and caring for one another. We take honor in supporting you during your most vulnerable and uncertain times. We desire to be trusted friends, always there when you need us most.
Care became front and center to me when I was diagnosed with throat cancer on March 15th of this year. When I couldn’t work for a few months, my Perry Richey team carried me, lifting my work responsibilities and caring for me and my family. I also received much care from our clients, getting so many text messages, cards, and phone calls. Our family felt incredibly loved during the most difficult time, and for that I am appreciative.
I have since completed chemotherapy and radiation treatments and recently received an all-clear PET scan and heard the words cancer free. I was able to see our vision statement play out in my own life, and lessons come to us when we least expect them. Here are a few things God taught me through this trial:
- I am a very impatient person. I have become more patient over the last 6 months but have much more work to do.
- I was humbled by the number of people praying for me.
- I have always been a person who sees the value and importance of handwritten notes and tries to send many. I found myself really enjoying being on the receiving end of this kindness.
- I am not self-sufficient or independent. I am needy.
I read a book a couple of years ago,From Strength to Strength. It was a wonderful book so I re-read it again this year, uncovering the following excerpt that I had underlined previously:
People don't realize their unhealthy attachments in life until they suffer a loss or an illness that makes the important things come into focus. Most researchers have found that most survivors of illness and loss experience post-traumatic growth. If you talk to them, they will say they no longer bother with the stupid attachments that used to weigh them down. The threat of losing their lives prematurely took a jackhammer to the jade encasing their true selves - thewhyof their lives.
I'm grateful to be on this side of cancer, and thankful to be back at work caring for our clients and my teammates—both of which are a big part of my why.
Shawn M. Perry
VK2023-1009