Dear Bernard,,

How do you define a friend?

Growing up we had good friends, best friends, neighborhood friends, and so on. Along came Facebook, and suddenly anyone who we made a connection with became a friend (Do you remember when people would ask you how many friends you had on Facebook?).

I was thinking of this during the week as a friend Karen and I made this year is planning to leave the country. While we have known him for only a few months, he left a permanent mark on us.

It feels like this has become a lost art. Too often we are identified by our politics, our religion, our race, and other variables. We live in a land where "all men (and women) are created equal" but so many of us forget to act that way.

In a similar way, we have made certain choices that are unique for our business. In our industry, so many of our fellow advisors segregate their clients based on their assets or income they generate. Their top tier of 20% may be their "A" clients, the next 60% their "B" clients and the remainder "C" clients. This has always struck me wrong. Why should your value to me be based on the size of your portfolio?

As such, for the above, we have never used account size to determine who we provide financial leadership for. We proudly state that our goal is to "Build, Grow, and Serve Relationships." We strive to make sure that every one we come in contact with can feel our desire to be the type of person they would want as a friend.

So as our friend heads home to his native country, we hope that he feels how much we will miss him in person. Yet, through technology, we have the ability to keep in touch and keep him close.

We also hope that we give you the same feeling if importance to us. After all, it is the person that matters most.

Furthermore, this is the season for goodwill towards all.

As always, thanks for reading.

Bernie & Chad