o_19grqq7snim9mn019q11f7ds26a.pdf

y david stein
DANGER
On The Way Down
According to an “NBC World News” report, significantly more mountain
climbers – including the well-trained Sherpa guides who accompany them –
die on the descent from the peak of Mount Everest than do on the ascent to
conquer the most-sought after mountain experience on planet Earth.
It’s a fact that applies to financial
mountain climbing as well, according
to Les Howard, a partner with
Legacy Financial Partners in Brookings,
South Dakota and an owner via the
Ameriprise Financial franchise network.
“In fact, the mountain climbing analogy
is one that Ameriprise representatives
frequently utilize in training advisers
and informing clients of potential pitfalls
when the drawdown period of retirement
planning begins,” Howard explains.
Mountain climbing experts will tell you
that climbers are more aware and exercise
greater caution on the way up in
anticipation of accomplishing their goal.
As they descend the mountain, they are
tired and as they pass through various
climatic zones with varying levels of oxygen
and barometric pressure, their brains
can swell, causing lack of coordination.
“I’ve been the guy who helps people
get to the top of the mountain by investing
wisely,” Howard said, noting that
now many of his clients have reached
their mountain top goals with retirement
from their working years and are ready
to head down to lush valleys filled with
flowing streams. Yet, determining the
pace at which they should descend (or
spend down their funds) is as challenging
as avoiding those deadly crevices
that swallow far too many climbers. It is
part of why he chose to align his longtime
practice with Ameriprise Financial.
“Ameriprise is known as a planning firm.
They are very strong in this area and it
had a lot to do with me joining them so
that I could build my skills in this area to
assist my clients.”
Howard has worked in financial planning
services since 1987, after hanging
up his work gloves as a rancher/farmer in
northeast South Dakota. A downturn in
the economy nearly wiped him out financially,
so he went to college, and at age
31, Howard earned a bachelor’s degree in
economics.
Between that and his current position
representing the services of Ameriprise,
Howard worked for the Investment Centers
of America at a bank in Aberdeen,
South Dakota, and then on to state government,
marketing a supplemental retirement
plan for state workers in the
Mount Rushmore State. That job put
him in front of many of the state’s key
decision-makers, who noticed his capabilities.
He was offered a position in the
governor’s budget office as an analyst
and four years later, he was promoted to
division director.
In 1994, via an association with Prudential,
he returned to banking and financial
services, opening his own firm called
Howard and Associates, in Pierre, the
state’s capital. In October 2005, Howard
returned to Brookings where he went to
college at South Dakota State University.
A series of name changes to the firm
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - JULY 2014