By Jill Nagy
\nRetirement Planning Group LLC, has been on the move, both physically and technologically, this year.
\nIn January, they moved their Saratoga County office from Saratoga Springs to a building on Route 9 in Malta. More recently, the company moved its Glens Falls offices to 238 Bay Road from a previous space on Glen Street.
\nBoth moves resulted in larger buildings and better parking facilities, according to James Corcoran. In Malta, for example, there is space for two or three more offices.
\nAt the same time, working with PrimeLink, the company increased the technology in the conference rooms, created an audio studio for podcasts and radio broadcasts, and installed an internet-based telephone system. The new system allowed employees to take their telephones home and work from there.
\nLast January, David Kopyc, president of the Retirement Planning Group LLC, wrote an article warning readers of \u201cblack swan events\u201d\u2014unexpected developments. \u201cLittle did I suspect that we would have one in just six weeks,\u201d he said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.
\nWhen the \u201cblack swan event\u201d arrived, the company was ready. They instituted bi-weekly conference calls with clients who could send questions ahead of time by email. Clients kept in touch by telephone or through the internet.
\nSo far, the company adapted, and the group is \u201cholding our own\u201d during the shutdown, Kopyc said. Half of the six employees worked from home at any given time. The other half were in the office, appropriately spaced apart.
\n\u201cWe are making sure everything is wiped down\u201d and disinfected, he said. There were no face-to-face meetings with clients, he added, but there is a way for them to drop off documents, checks, and the like.
\nDuring the shutdown, the offices were further modified. When they reopened in June, things looked very different. The conference rooms are now \u201cCOVID-19 compliant,\u201d Corcoran said.
\nThere is a plexiglass \u201csneeze guard\u201d around the conference table, with curtains at either end. There are facilities to check people\u2019s body temperatures as they arrive to check for signs of a virus, and there are procedures in place to disinfect the area afterward.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to do our part the best we can,\u201d Corcoran said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird,\u201d Kopyc said. But, without the means to reach clients remotely, \u201cWe\u2019d really be in deep weeds.\u201d
\nKopyc\u2019s advice for clients is not very different during the COVID-19 shutdown than in more normal times.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t overreact. Don\u2019t allow your emotions to make decisions for you. Hold on to your investments,\u201d he said.
\nBeing in the retirement business, \u201cWe have a lot of seniors who are clients,\u201d and Kopyc worries about their welfare. He is also concerned because \u201csome people are just not suitable for risk,\u201d but \u201cthey gravitated toward risk\u201d because low-risk investments, like certificates of deposit, were paying almost no interest.
\nWhile fairly hopeful about the rest of the market, he noted that stocks in fossil fuel-based companies, especially fracking, were \u201cdecimated by this.\u201d
\nSome businesses have been hit especially hard by the economic shutdown. Restaurants and bars, he pointed out, were \u201ctotally decapitated, probably on top of my list.\u201d
\nEven the partial opening has brought problems for local businesses, Kopyc said.
\n\u201cEmployers want to bring people back and they won\u2019t come\u201d because they can earn more from unemployment and safety net benefits. He advises employees to think more in terms of their long-term economic stability. When the benefits run out, the job may not be there.
\nKopyc predicts, \u201cWe\u2019re going to look back on this and think: It changed our lives, but we made it through.\u201d He has faith that American ingenuity will come up with medications and a vaccine.
\nKopyc and his colleagues share their thoughts and advice on a Sunday morning weekly radio program on Glens Falls regional stations WCKM 98.5 and WDKM 92.5. Saturday morning, the program airs on Albany radio on News Radio 810 and WGY 103.1.
\nRetirement Planning Group can also be reached online at www.rpgretire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jill Nagy Retirement Planning Group LLC, has been on the move, both physically and technologically, this year. In January, they moved their Saratoga County office from Saratoga Springs to a building on Route 9 in Malta. More recently, the company moved its Glens Falls offices to 238 Bay Road from a previous space on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n