Financial advisers up and down the East Coast dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene today as many struggled with communication, commuting or power — and in some cases, all of the above.
Indeed, 5 million homes were without electric power after the Hurricane passed through coastal communities this weekend. Advisers and their businesses have had to rely on their cell phones and BlackBerrys to get by.
For instance, as of Monday afternoon, Bernard M. Kiely, an adviser with Kiely Capital Management Inc., is still without power in his Morristown, N.J., office and his Mendham Township, N.J., home. Clients are leaving messages on his voice mail or sending him e-mails, and the adviser has kept track of communications through his BlackBerry.
“I have no power and no phone,” he said. “The newspapers say we could be without power for two to three more days.” Still, the experience was a lesson learned: “I'm going to invest in a generator for my home, because if I have one, then I'm in business,” Mr. Kiely added.
Downed power lines and malfunctioning traffic lights were a problem for Joe DeDomenico, an adviser with DeDomenico Wealth Management, as he commuted to his North Haven, Conn., office from his home in Wallingford, Conn. His home had lost power but regained it Sunday.
Ron Palastro, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based adviser with R.S. Palastro Financial Planning Services Inc., wasn't among the 370,000 New York City residents encouraged to evacuate. However, he still prepared his second-floor office by closing the windows, powering down the server and shutting down workstations Friday.
Mr. Palastro, who lives six blocks away from his office, dropped by during Saturday to check up on his practice. There was no flooding or loss of power, but plenty of broken tree limbs and branches from 65-mile-per-hour winds were strewn “all over the place,” he said.
Clients, however, were a major concern for advisers who knew they had been in Hurricane Irene's path. While Mr. DeDomenico's investors were largely unscathed, Mr. Palastro has been reaching out to clients along the East Coast. He has yet to hear back from some New Jersey clients and an investor in North Carolina.
Though the Garden State took a lashing from Hurricane Irene, North Carolina bore the brunt of the storm's rage, bashed by 115 mile-per-hour winds and storm surge.
“Not everyone's gotten back to me yet, but I've reached out to those I thought were in harm's way,” Mr. Palastro said.
Wall Street workers rode five to a car, dodged downed trees and left makeup for later as exchanges opened after Hurricane Irene hobbled the nation's busiest transit system with flooding.
New York's subways were only partially open, while New Jersey Transit said rail service was suspended on all but one line and Metro-North trains were inoperable. Some financial professionals relied on cars to reach Manhattan, the center of the world's largest capital market — if they came in at all.
“The hardest part of getting to work this morning was the two blocks getting out of our street because there are trees down and a lot of flooding in New Jersey,” said Duncan Niederauer, chief executive of NYSE Euronext Ticker:(NYX), which owns the
New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Niederauer, who lives in Somerset County, N.J., spoke after being dropped off by a black sport utility vehicle at Wall Street and Broadway at about 6 a.m.
“We told most of our people to stay home and be with their families, except people who are responsible for the floor operations, because we thought it was important to open the exchange and have business as usual,” Mr. Niederauer said.
This story was supplemented with reporting by Bloomberg.
