Chief Investment Officer David Hay of Bellevue-based Evergreen Capital Management has 30 years of experience under his belt helping clients attain reasonable financial goals.
According to Hay’s weekly commentary, while the U.S. government continues to rapidly increase its indebtedness, consumers remain in the most intense deleveraging state seen since the early 1950s.
Hay offered some insight for the local Bellevue market.
“The recent downshift of the economy was basically on a global margin call and that is why it was so drastic,” he explained during a recent interview with the Bellevue Reporter. “The impact wasn’t lost on Bellevue.”
Investments halted, the housing market dropped, and several Bellevue developers postponed their ambitious projects spanning the downtown skyline.
“Look around at the skyline in Bellevue and you will see a significant oversupply in office space and condominium projects,” Hay explained. “There was an excess which needed to be worked off and we are just now seeing things pick up again.”
As a native of Bellevue and graduate of the University of Washington, Hay said he has observed a recent pattern of people holding tight to their earnings out of fear and reluctance of an unknown economic future.
“Now we have an inverse bubble where people are really giving up on this country and any recovery. We think that is wrong,” Hay stated in an interview for Forbes last February.
With over $500 million in assets under management and 375 clients, the Bellevue-based wealth management firm prides itself in often swimming against the financial stream to the benefit of clients.
Evergreen Capital Management was originally founded in 1983 as a registered investment advisor firm to help manage the investment assets of local cemetery endowment and trust funds. Hay bought into Evergreen Capital Management as the majority owner in 2002. Evergreen Capital Management seeks to preserve capital and generate income, with a focus on endowments, trust funds, personal accounts, and retirement accounts.
“Our company has not been immune to the financial market and I would say we are up as far as the total number of clients, but account values are down,” Hay said. “It’s probably fairly accurate to say we are down 15 to 20 percent from the peak. The problem now is that the fear factor has been so great, people are afraid to make a move and may be missing the market recovery.”
As far back as the 1960s, one of the best historical markers of a recession’s end has been the ratio of coincident to lagging economic indicators. Lately this measure has been displayed early signs of turning up, stated the Evergreen Capital Management May newsletter.
“In terms of housing, the local market held up somewhat well as opposed to nationally, but that also means a slower recovery,” he added. “If people are expecting a quick rebound they will be disappointed. We are seeing a slow gradual recovery.”
Hay remains positive.
“We do think the economy is turning up overall,” he said. “In general there are a lot of buds of springs and blossoms. It’s very promising.”
Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.
For information on Evergreen Capital Management visit http://www.evergreencapital.net/ or contact Jeff Otis at jotis@evergreencapital.net or at 425.467.4624.
