Celebrating 15 Years!

By: George Edmiston

Happy Birthday to Carolinas Investment Consulting!  Yes, we are 15 years old.

As many of our longtime clients can recall, we opened our doors on May 11, 2001, right in the middle of the Technology Bubble bursting and four months before Sept. 11, 2001. The Dow Jones average was at 12,630 (today over 18,500), and the 10-year Treasury was yielding 5.25% (today at 1.5%).

When we started the firm a lot of people questioned why we would do this in the middle of a recession.  All that we knew was that we believed a private, independent firm would best serve our clients and offer our employees a better future.

With the encouragement of our clients, six of us, including Jeanne Kelsey, Lyric Martin, and Chris Grogan, started the firm with approximately 150 families and institutions, overseeing around $350MM in total assets.

From that beginning, the next 15 years were quite amazing. We all experienced two distinctly different Presidencies, four major tax law changes, the Great Recession, the bankruptcies of once-admired U.S. companies, the introduction of social media and smartphones, and much more.

During these events, because of your loyalty and faith in our firm, CIC continued to grow and prosper.  Today 26 of us, many of whom have brought to our firm legal, accounting and trust backgrounds, serve over 500 families and institutions, including about 1,500 children and grandchildren, covering 26 states, and responsible for $1.4 Billion in assets. Even though we have enjoyed this growth and the increase in capacity to serve, our most important focus will always be our intimate relationship with our clients.

We have all enjoyed and been blessed to have advised our clients in their money management, financial planning, charitable giving, and educating the next generation.  We also thank the various institutions who have entrusted us to be part of their mission in serving their foundations and endowments.

That being said, we are just getting started.  The entire CIC team and I are excited to carry this firm into the future.  We believe that we have never been stronger and it is our hope that you will get to know every member of our CIC family.  We invite you to visit us in Charlotte any time.

Once again, thank you to those who have allowed us to serve you over the last 15 years.  May the next 15 be as exciting!