Hello from Woodward Financial Advisors! We hope our quarterly newsletter finds you well and enjoying the start of summer.

When our clients meet with their advisory team, it's more than simply reviewing net worth statements and investments. Below, Joe Marques, CFP®, describes the shape and aim of those conversations. Next, meet several new team members around our office for the summer! Finally, we've included several reminders for clients as well as what some of us are reading in "What’s On Our Nightstand." 

Customized, conversational, and realistic financial planning addressing what’s important to you. That’s our goal.

Like a Savile Row tailor, we’re striving to provide a custom, tailored outfit that makes you look and feel great rather than a stock, off-the-shelf suit that doesn’t fit quite right.

We strive for our advice to be:

Whether it’s during our periodic meetings, on a phone call or contained in an email exchange, we’re striving to connect with you and meet you where you are. One can get decent financial advice in lots of places. But knowing you and caring about your well-being is what we hope sets our advice apart. We can’t wait for our next chance to take your measurements!

We're thrilled to introduce you to our summer intern, Sawyer Tremaine! Sawyer is a rising sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC, he is a business administration major with focuses in finance and consulting. His hobbies include hiking, playing golf, and most anything outdoors. Please join us in welcoming Sawyer and read more about him below.

Favorite charity to support? The Be Loud Sophie Foundation, supporting teen cancer patients at UNC hospitals. 

What book are you reading right now? Shoe Dog by Phil Knight.

Secret/hidden talents? I have played the piano for over ten years.

Favorite quote? “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky.

Fun fact about you? I biked 1700 miles from Wilmington, NC to Mt. Desert Island, ME last summer.

We're equally delighted to introduce you to our second summer intern, Ava Miller! Ava will begin her senior year at Trinity this fall. Her hobbies include soccer, cooking and baking. Please join us in welcoming Ava and read more about her below.

Favorite sport to watch? UNC football and basketball.

Favorite board game? Clue.

Favorite charity to support? TABLE - I go and help organize incoming grocery items and bag items to go out to kids who are less fortunate.

Biggest pet peeve? When people don't clear the timer on the microwave.

Fun fact about you? I've snorkeled in the biggest coral reef in the world while visiting Turks and Caicos.

Every newsletter a couple members of our team share a brief introduction to a book they have been reading. We hope you may find something that piques your interest, and we would be delighted to hear your recommendations.

Veronica Pflueger - Verity by Colleen Hoover

These days when I’m reading, it’s usually for entertainment purposes and I’m usually reading some kind of suspense/psychological thriller. My mom and sister-in-law both recommended I read Verity, a book written by an author who typically writes romance-type novels. I was a little hesitant at first because that’s not usually the genre I go for, but I was proven wrong very quickly once I realized this was a psychological thriller – this was the first book I’ve read in a long time that I could not put down. Without spoiling too much, the book is about a struggling author who goes to live at the home of a very successful author to help write and complete the remaining books in a series after the author was injured in a bad accident and no longer able to write due to being in a coma. The author discovers an unfinished autobiography of the author in a coma buried in piles of papers and realizes that it’s probably something that was never meant to surface. The book is disturbing and dark but in a way that makes you unable to put it down. If you like psychological thrillers and quick reads, I highly recommend this book (you can even borrow my copy!). 

Maggie Wilkins – Send Out Your Light by Sandra McCracken

Sandra is a favorite singer-songwriter of mine; when I learned she'd recently written a book, I eagerly added it to my nightstand. In Send Out Your Light, Sandra writes about the shape of her life in three parts: the becoming, or creation; the disorientation of loss, displacement, and the dark night of the soul; and in the final section, reorientation through the paths of songs and scripture. I found it enjoyable to hear the music playing in my mind while reading the stories and inspiration behind the lyrics to several of Sandra's songs.