Greetings! 

We are happy to say that Heron Financial Group | Wealth Advisors was not adversely affected by Hurricane Sandy.  We are physically located on Manhattan Island in New York City, but not in low lying areas including all of South Manhattan.  Firm personnel worked from home Monday and Tuesday.  All firm critical systems including trading and client reporting are supported at offsite locations.  In principle, all we need is a laptop and a Starbucks WiFi to continue operating the firm.

Around 9PM Monday night, electricity was turned off south of 42nd street as a precaution against flooding of transformers.

The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ stock markets were closed Monday and Tuesday.  In principle, these exchanges can operate electronically regardless of weather or terrorist conditions.  In practice, the exchanges respected the fact that actual human beings are presently not able to get their offices across much of the Northeastern United States.  Keeping the exchanges open under these circumstances is not a favor to anyone.  We expect markets to resume Wednesday, which is important for month-end pricing.

Damage from the storm could be as much as $5 billion, but human fatalities are thankfully limited.  Around New York, government and utility workers have worked proactively and tirelessly to minimize the loss of life and property.