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SERVING HOUSTONIANS AND SURROUNDING AREAS SINCE 2002
Successful Investing is Teamwork
I have advised clients since 1990 and I have continued to expand my business based on personal service and individualized, effective advice. My wife, Carolyn, and I live in Houston, and we enjoy everything our Montrose neighborhood has to offer.
When I talk about my business, almost always I will say "we" and not "I'. Here is how that came about... When I began the business, individual investors were primarily serviced by stock brokers selling products to customers. Fee based investment services were in their infancy and they were expensive, 3% annually to manage $100,000. Managing money for a client’s personal goals was rarer still. And, acting as a fiduciary on a client’s behalf was almost non-existent. This presented an opportunity for me to become a fiduciary advisor, serving the overlooked needs of clients. I knew immediately I wanted to service clients' specific needs, not just sell them products. From talking with them I knew they had goals they wanted to reach and they were serious about saving to reach those goals. They wanted someone who would look out exclusively for their interests and would not put them on the back burner. Also, they wanted someone who they could discuss ideas with, before making critical fiancial decisions, not just someone who dictated strategy by telling them what to do. In other words, they wanted a partner, someone sitting on their side of the table, not a sales person pushing the flavor of the month, here today, gone tomorrow.
My way of servicing clients benefits me and the client. I learned this from the examples of others when I first started. I began work as a Financial Consultant for Merrill Lynch in Boston in June 1990 and I was dissatisfied with what I saw in the industry. In August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and the U.S. initiated operation Desert Storm. Markets fell quickly. As a result, I heard more than one stock broker say, “I’ve lost my entire book (translation: all my clients). I’m going to have to start all over again.” The clients were lost because the brokers had been putting them in high commissioned products that fared much worse than the market when perceptions went south, and then seldom recovered. I immediately knew that I didn’t want to be in a business where I was constantly loosing all my clients due to market ups and downs. I wanted clients who I could collaborate with long term in order to help them reach their goals. With the right combination of price and service I knew I could build a business based on mutually beneficial relationships, not sales quotas.
One other note… Most observers perceive markets as being either bull or bear. I see it differently. Recently, I added a symbol to capture the spirit of my perspective- the betta fish. Known for its aggression, nevertheless when three betta fish fight, one of the three will wait to fight the exhausted victor of the other two. That's insight! I like to think that fish is a metaphor for what my clients and I do as a team. We aggressively pursue what’s in their best interest. And when there’s volatility in the market, we’re willing to step back and watch the fray till the dust settles. Then when other investors are exhausted and have maybe drawn the wrong conclusions, we make our move. Since 1990 that approach has worked well. Join my team as a client and let it work for you. To learn more, check out my Company Profile.
An independent, fiduciary advisor and the full service of Charles Schwab... Because success is not a coincidence.