Sheltering-in-Place Newport Coast Style
Along with 1 out of 2 Americans, including the entirety of the rest of the State of California, Aaron and I have been sheltering-in-place and practicing social distancing. Given that we spent a vast portion of our lives together living semi-retired, this is not a significant change for us. If anything, it feels like a return to our Missouri days, especially considering that after two years in the heart of Newport Beach, we decided not to renew the lease on our existing place and, instead, move up to Newport Coast so we can decide if that might be where we ultimately want to buy a house once our kids are born. It’s only a few miles down the road – minutes from the heart of the city and our old place as we just have to drive down the mountain with these incredible views up to Los Angeles and beyond on a really clear day – but it’s so much quieter as its entirely residential surrounded by running trails and parks.
Seriously, this will be one of the ways we can commute to work …
This really doesn’t do it justice. To the left is open ocean with views of Catalina Island. As you come down off the mountain, on a clear day, you can sometimes see downtown Los Angeles in the distance.
That transition was interrupted – we still have both places and will for a bit – as was our move into our new offices. Kennon-Green & Co., our asset management firm, has been growing and succeeding so rapidly that it was time for us to put down roots. We entered into a five-year commercial lease in the 5 Park Plaza building and were supposed to open in April but time has become less defined lately so we have no idea when we will actually begin managing capital from there. That’s not a huge deal because we can easily work remotely. Today, for example, after having a round of orders executed, I settled down to this great secretary desk that Aaron and I picked up when we visited my brother and his family in Kentucky last summer and began reading the Genuine Parts Company annual report …
It is incredible how dramatically the world has changed since the 10-K filing was submitted on February 18, 2020. In a matter of less than a month, the stock collapsed from $99.61 per share to $50.29.
The view from my seat at the secretary desk … we’re moving all the finance-related books to the new Kennon-Green & Co. offices so I’ve loaded up on the non-work related books I want to read sooner rather than later.
Aaron made us lunch today, which was tilapia in a creamy romesco sauce. It came from Blue Apron, the ingredient delivery service – we received a subscription as a gift and it was so convenient with the hours we were working, we remained customers afterwards, signing up for three meals a week as an augment to us having to go grocery shopping ourselves.
So many of you have written me recently, asking for my thoughts on the pandemic we are experiencing, that I am going to try to publish something in the next week. I still have quite a bit of work to get done – at least half-a-dozen fiduciary agreements for new accounts at Kennon-Green & Co. that I need to review and send out, as well as some investments I’ve promised to analyze for certain clients – but it’s important so I’ll make the time.
Stay safe, and stay healthy! I hope you all are doing well!
Update: We liked our older place in the heart of Newport Beach so much better that we renewed the lease on it for another eighteen months and exited the second lease in Newport Coast. It was still a useful few-week period because it gave us insight into which neighborhoods we might consider for a home purchase down the road, let us work even more isolated from people during the lockdowns while we waited on our new office to be finished, and gave us a different perspective on what we might want.