Rot. Ron Sanders, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones, discussed the economic outlook and opportunities in the coming months and years.The July 21, 2022, meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha was called to order by President-Elect Jim Cowan. Rot. Mitch Williams led the club in singing "End of the World", popularized by Skeeter Davis. Rot. Kory Kirkland delivered a Sunshine Report.
Rot. John Gorton reported on the inaugural event of the Newcastle Rotary Club. He expressed gratitude to Rotary Club of Chickasha for their support and invited members to visit.
In June, the club held a garage sale at the Williams Shoe building, with furniture, décor, and more being donated by area businesses. Unsold goods were picked up by Goodwill and a donation made to the Festival of Light on behalf of Rotary based on poundage. At this meeting, Rot. Ed Stanton presented Festival of Light Director Billy Elkins with a check for this donation, totaling $241.
Rotarian of the Day Robert Abraham introduced the speaker, Rot. Ron Sanders, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones Investments.
Before delving into his main topic, Sanders, who is also the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) coordinator for Chickasha Rotary, gave an update on Camp RYLA. Three juniors from Chickasha qualified to participate this year: Avery Jones, Alison Couch, and Dao Hong Lim. Sanders invited Jones to speak about the experience. Jones observed that the camp required students to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings. She appreciated how the camp encouraged each student to lead in their own personal way, and in its team-building exercises, would have different participants take on a leading role based on their unique skills.
After Jones finished, Sanders spoke on the topic of "Outlook & Opportunities". He stressed that while many wonder if the economy would recover from the events of the past three years, from a financial market perspective, the economy had recovered from similar circumstances before, particularly in the 1980s. In 1979-82, there had been 40 consecutive months with inflation rates of seven percent or more. He also mentioned that as a typical recession lasted 14 months, short-term circumstances would likely continue to decline in coming months.
Sanders also mentioned the subject of Social Security, mentioning that contemporary young people were concerned that benefits would no longer exist by the time they reached retirement age. He said that changes would need to be made in the next few decades to rework and maintain Social Security and other services. Since the beginning of Social Security, life expectancy has increased greatly, and thus a much greater proportion of the population now depends on it while a smaller proportion pays into it.
Nonetheless, Sanders was optimistic about the market long-term. He noted that the investment market makes its way back to "normal" eventually. He expects the economy to continue to grow.
President-Elect Jim Cowan led the club in the Four-Way Pledge and adjourned the meeting.
Catering for the meeting was provided by Chicken Express.