o_19grr4jqg3e11n961d4a13121ulka.pdf
Imagine a mouse with bulky muscles and a bulging physique able to leap a single bound over a labyrinth’s maze. Welcome the new breed of Mighty Mouse with more than twice the normal amount of muscle mass. Thanks to Dr. Se-Jin Lee of John Hopkins University, it’s considered one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine. The mice, described today in the journal Nature, owe their bulging physiques to the lack of a gene that would normally limit muscle growth. The function of the gene was previously unknown, and its discovery, by a team led by Dr. Se-Jin Lee of Johns Hopkins University, is considered an important advance. A new breed of mice with more than double the normal amount of muscle may lead to meatier chickens and cows and, eventually, new treatments for people with muscle diseases, researchers are reporting.
Imagine a mouse with bulky muscles and a bulging physique able to leap a single bound over a labyrinth’s maze. Welcome the new breed of Mighty Mouse with more than twice the normal amount of muscle mass. Thanks to Dr. Se-Jin Lee of John Hopkins University, it’s considered one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine. The mice, described today in the journal Nature, owe their bulging physiques to the lack of a gene that would normally limit muscle growth. The function of the gene was previously unknown, and its discovery, by a team led by Dr. Se-Jin Lee of Johns Hopkins University, is considered an important advance. A new breed of mice with more than double the normal amount of muscle may lead to meatier chickens and cows and, eventually, new treatments for people with muscle diseases, researchers are reporting.
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Issue 62 SEPT 2014<br />
Of Mice and Medicine Men<br />
Medical Breakthrough<br />
Toxic Tobacco Deals<br />
Leaves US Billions in Debt<br />
Entrepreneur Trailblazer<br />
The Profit - Marcus Lemonis<br />
NYSE New Ownership<br />
Preservationist Approach<br />
exclusive interview with<br />
dr. se-jin lee;<br />
award<br />
winning<br />
scientist
Built for the road ahead.<br />
Designed for living. Engineered to last.<br />
Vertrek Crossover<br />
w/ Ford’s Kinetic Design<br />
Eco-Boost Engine<br />
Hybrid Regenerative Braking<br />
w/ Auto-Stop-Start Technology
publishers note<br />
ISSUE 62 | SEPT 2014<br />
Publisher<br />
Erwin E. Kantor<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Michael Gordon<br />
Editor in Chief<br />
Helen Moss<br />
Editorial<br />
Robert Jordan<br />
Lisa Walker<br />
Sean Goldstein<br />
Rachel Feinstein<br />
Staff Writers<br />
L. A. Rivera<br />
Matt Camara<br />
David Gordon<br />
Dan Harvey<br />
A. Marie Velthuizen<br />
Judy Magness<br />
Enid Burns<br />
Felix Badea<br />
Peter Suciu<br />
David Stein<br />
Mary Davis<br />
Amy M. Armstrong<br />
Annabelle Preston<br />
Gerald Levine<br />
Rodric Hurdle-Bradford<br />
Asst. Art Director<br />
Marienne Hilahan<br />
Illustrators<br />
Paul Kales<br />
Steve Delmonte<br />
Steve Smeltzer<br />
Norman Jung<br />
Marketing / Advertising<br />
Monica Link<br />
Sean Rome<br />
For subscription details, contact:<br />
editorialdept@thesuitmagazine.com<br />
For advertising inquiries, contact:<br />
advertising@thesuitmagazine.com<br />
Imagine a mouse with bulky muscles<br />
and a bulging physique able to leap a<br />
single bound over a labyrinth’s maze.<br />
Welcome the new breed of Mighty Mouse<br />
with more than twice the normal amount<br />
of muscle mass. Thanks to Dr. Se-Jin Lee<br />
of John Hopkins University, it’s considered<br />
one of the most important discoveries<br />
in modern medicine.<br />
The mice, described today in the journal<br />
Nature, owe their bulging physiques<br />
to the lack of a gene that would normally<br />
limit muscle growth. The function of the<br />
gene was previously unknown, and its<br />
discovery, by a team led by Dr. Se-Jin Lee<br />
of Johns Hopkins University, is considered<br />
an important advance.<br />
A new breed of mice with more than<br />
double the normal amount of muscle may<br />
lead to meatier chickens and cows and,<br />
eventually, new treatments for people<br />
with muscle diseases, researchers are reporting.<br />
‘’It has opened up completely new ideas<br />
about the control and regulation of muscle<br />
growth,’’ said Dr. Brigid Hogan, a professor<br />
of cell biology at Vanderbilt University.<br />
Another researcher who was not involved<br />
in the study, Dr. Lee Niswander<br />
of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer<br />
Center in Manhattan, said: ‘’Until now, we<br />
didn’t have a clue about what told muscle<br />
cells to stop dividing. This gives us a handle<br />
on understanding it. It’s powerful.’’<br />
Read our special report by Amy Armstrong<br />
in The Suit.<br />
From a business perspective, the world<br />
is equally wondrous and full of extraordinary<br />
potential. New markets, new sourcing<br />
opportunities, new financial resources,<br />
new medical breakthroughs - they’re<br />
all out there, and ready to be tapped.<br />
In this issue you will also discover how<br />
Wall Street tobacco deals left states with<br />
billions in toxic debt on page 8. On page 16<br />
we bring to you the Profit that airs starring<br />
Marcus Lemonis, his third season starting<br />
October 14 at 10pm. Ten new episodes are<br />
slated to air, including an entire episode<br />
devoted to follow-up segments on many<br />
of the businesses featured in the first two<br />
seasons.<br />
And take a close look at the New York<br />
Stock Exchange Preservationist Approach.<br />
On page 18 we examine history in the<br />
making-the NYSE-the Big Board and the<br />
world’s largest market.<br />
Taking risks is part of what successful<br />
entrepreneurs have to do occasionally.<br />
Best,<br />
Erwin Kantor<br />
Erwin Kantor, Publisher
CONTENTS<br />
SEPT 2014<br />
Issue 62 SEPT 2014<br />
12<br />
Of Mice and Medicine Men<br />
Medical Breakthrough<br />
Toxic Tobacco Deals<br />
Leaves US Billions in Debt<br />
Entrepreneur Trailblazer<br />
The Profit - Marcus Lemonis<br />
NYSE New Ownership<br />
Preservationist Approach<br />
exclusive interview with<br />
dr. se-jin lee;<br />
award<br />
winning<br />
scientist<br />
8How Wall Street Tobacco Deals Left<br />
States With Billions in Toxic Debt<br />
Politicians wanted upfront cash from a legal victory over Big Tobacco,<br />
and bankers were happy to oblige. The price? A handful of states<br />
promised to repay $64 billion on just $3 billion advanced.<br />
FEATURES<br />
12 Of Mice and Medicine Men<br />
The work of an unassuming and somewhat humble<br />
Johns Hopkins researcher holds the potential to<br />
revolutionize the treatment of diseases sapping<br />
away muscle strength, as well as to mitigate some<br />
of the muscle-draining effects of aging.<br />
16 Pulling Nighttime Viewers into CNBC<br />
By day, the hosts, the moderators and the guests on the<br />
CNBC cable news network are clad in corporate business<br />
attire as they guide their audience through business<br />
and financial news on shows such as “Fast Money,”<br />
“Squawk Box” and “Mad Money with Jim Cramer.”<br />
18 New Owners of the NYSE<br />
The New York Stock Exchange often times<br />
called “The Pit” - involves shouting and the<br />
use of hand signals to transfer information<br />
about buy and sell orders<br />
Robots Aiding in Eldercare<br />
22 and Beyond<br />
The word “robot” was originally created by Czech<br />
science fiction writer Karel Čapek, who envisioned<br />
artificial people someday working alongside real<br />
people.<br />
BUSINESS / FINANCE<br />
26<br />
Change of Focus Brings Profitable Business<br />
Mercer Advisors<br />
28 Looking Back Helps Advisors Look Ahead<br />
McLaughlin Ryder Investments, Inc.<br />
30 Putting Baby Boomers on Track<br />
Retirement planning provides workshops and direction to set<br />
retirement goals<br />
32 A Less Transparent Market is Risky<br />
Makes a case for being realistic about risk<br />
33 Financial Services Roles Need Defining<br />
“It’s a great idea, however …”<br />
34 Combining Education with a Scientific Approach<br />
Professional Financial Strategies<br />
8<br />
16<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
BUSINESS / FINANCE<br />
37 Giving Clients an Extra Edge<br />
Profiting through Strategic Supply Chain Management<br />
38<br />
Understanding Your Options<br />
NewBridge Retirement Advisors<br />
40 Gagne Wealth Management<br />
Dusting off the History Books to Calm Clients Fears<br />
41 Independent But Connected<br />
An Independent Consultant Who Sees Her NETWORK<br />
as a Key to Success.<br />
42<br />
A Worry-Free Retirement<br />
McNeil, Ahrens, & Lambert Financial Group, LLC<br />
46<br />
Retirement Plan Advisors of Virginia<br />
Tech Savy Consumers Leads to Better informed clients<br />
47 Testing The Risks<br />
David Adams Wealth Group<br />
48 REI Associates LLC<br />
Real estate Opportunities Abound<br />
50 Enjoying the Experience<br />
Soloff Wealth Management<br />
51 Success is a Two-way Street<br />
Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)<br />
52<br />
TransAct Merchant Solutions<br />
Merchant Services and Data Breach Protection<br />
53 Odyssey Advisors, Inc<br />
Banking on an Independent Streak<br />
54<br />
Diversified Financial Consultants<br />
Financial planner uses education, dialogue to forge<br />
long-term relationships with clients<br />
55 Hapanowicz & Associates<br />
Transparency in Client Investment is the Basis of Trust<br />
57 Novus Wealth Advisors<br />
Rocket Scientist Becomes Financial Advisors<br />
58 Manarin Investment Counsel LTD<br />
Accentuating the Fundamentals While Devaluing the Noise<br />
58<br />
The Waverton Company<br />
More Options for Commercial Financing<br />
59 Innovative Wealth Management Services<br />
Retirement Planning Isn’t Just About That Big Number<br />
60 Investment Planning Advisors<br />
Simple is Better When Building Client Relationships<br />
62<br />
63 Issachar Fund (LIONX)<br />
Daily Decision-making PROTECTS ASSETS<br />
64<br />
Helping Clients Streamline and Automate<br />
SCIO Strategies and Analytics, a division of Financial Technologies<br />
Your Financial Coach Inc<br />
The Challenges of Inheritance<br />
66<br />
Lasting a Lifetime<br />
Stuffing Cash Under the Mattress<br />
67<br />
Prescription Plans that Save<br />
Professional Risk Asset Management Insurance Services<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.5
BUSINESS / FINANCE<br />
68<br />
Estate Planning: Take the Time Now<br />
Sabrina Winters, Attorney at Law, PLLC<br />
69 Planning is for Everyone<br />
Empower Wealth Advisors<br />
71<br />
72<br />
Protecting the Principal<br />
Circle of Safety Advisors, LLC<br />
73<br />
Unveiling Micro-Cap Opportunities<br />
Perritt Capital Management<br />
Econologics Financial Advisors<br />
Staying engaged In financial planning<br />
74<br />
CapRock Wealth Advisors<br />
Building Bridges to Financial Independence
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.7
y cezary podku<br />
How Wall Street Tobacco Deals<br />
Left States With Billions in Toxic Debt<br />
Politicians wanted upfront cash from a<br />
legal victory over Big Tobacco, and bankers<br />
were happy to oblige. The price? A handful<br />
of states promised to repay $64 billion on<br />
just $3 billion advanced.<br />
In November 1998, attorneys general from<br />
across the country sealed a historic deal with<br />
the tobacco industry to pay for the health care<br />
costs that resulted from smoking. Going forward,<br />
nearly every cigarette sold would provide<br />
money to the states, territories and other<br />
governments involved – more than $200 billion<br />
in just the first 25 years of a legal settlement<br />
that required payments to be made in<br />
perpetuity.<br />
Then, Wall Street came knocking with an offer<br />
many state and local politicians found irresistible:<br />
Cash up front for those governments<br />
willing to trade investors the right to some or<br />
all of their tobacco payments. State after state<br />
struck deals that critics derided as “payday<br />
loans” but which proponents deemed only<br />
prudent. As designed, private investors – not<br />
the taxpayers – would take the hit if people<br />
smoked less and the tobacco money fell short.<br />
But things haven’t exactly worked out as<br />
planned.<br />
A ProPublica analysis of more than 100 tobacco<br />
deals since the settlement found that<br />
they are creating new fiscal headaches for<br />
states, driving some into bailouts or threatening<br />
to increase the cost of borrowing in the<br />
future.<br />
One source of the pain is a little-known feature<br />
found in many of the deals: high-risk debt<br />
that squeezed out a few extra dollars for the<br />
governments involved, but promised massive<br />
balloon payments – some in the billions<br />
– down the road.<br />
These securities, called capital appreciation<br />
bonds, or CABs, have since turned toxic. They<br />
amount to only a $3 billion sliver<br />
of the approximately $36 billion<br />
in tobacco bonds outstanding, according<br />
to a review of bond documents<br />
and Thomson Reuters data.<br />
But the nine states, three territories,<br />
District of Columbia and several<br />
counties that issued them have<br />
promised a whopping $64 billion to<br />
pay them off.<br />
Under thees deals, the debts must<br />
be repaid with settlement money and<br />
not tax dollars. Still, taxpayers lose<br />
out when tobacco income that could<br />
be spent on other government services<br />
is diverted to pay off CABs. And states<br />
can’t simply walk away from the debt –<br />
bondholders have a right to further tobacco<br />
payments, even after a default.<br />
“It’s going to cost taxpayers, either directly<br />
or indirectly,” said Craig Johnson,<br />
an associate professor of public finance at<br />
Indiana University in Bloomington, who<br />
has studied tobacco bonds and CABs. “I<br />
don’t doubt that at all.”<br />
ProPublica’s analysis is the first to<br />
measure the magnitude of high-risk debt<br />
involved in the tobacco deals and to calculate<br />
how much Wall Street’s dealmakers<br />
earned. It also shows how much of<br />
the tobacco money has been securitized<br />
– that is, turned into payments that go<br />
to investors. As of this year, at least one<br />
out of every three dollars coming in<br />
under the settlement is pledged to investors,<br />
according to bond disclosures<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
and payment data from the National<br />
Association of Attorneys General,<br />
which tracks the flow of funds.<br />
The sure winners so far are investment<br />
bankers from Citigroup,<br />
the now defunct Bear Stearns and<br />
others who, along with consultants<br />
and lawyers, have pocketed more<br />
than $500 million in fees for their<br />
financial engineering, according<br />
to ProPublica estimates. They now<br />
stand to make even more as the<br />
governments look to rework old<br />
deals and try to get even more tobacco<br />
cash up front.<br />
In part, troubles with tobacco<br />
bonds arise from the same kind of<br />
miscalculation that led to the housing<br />
bubble.<br />
Just as mortgage lenders bet that<br />
home prices would keep rising, the<br />
tobacco deals relied on optimistic<br />
predictions of how much Americans<br />
would still smoke. Forecasters<br />
rightly saw that cigarette sales<br />
would continue to decline, but now<br />
the yearly drop – about 3 to 3.5 percent<br />
– is nearly double what was<br />
cooked into the deals.<br />
Because the bonds sold to investors<br />
can stretch 40 years or more,<br />
these outdated estimates mean an<br />
ever-widening gap between what<br />
states expected to collect under the<br />
settlement and the payments they<br />
promised investors.<br />
The CABs promise gigantic payouts<br />
– as high as 76 times what’s<br />
borrowed – because nothing is due<br />
on them for decades. Meantime, interest<br />
compounds on both the principal<br />
and accumulating balance.<br />
Defaults by state and local governments<br />
are rare, but rating agencies<br />
have been warning that tobacco<br />
bonds in general could go under<br />
en masse. Moody’s said in May<br />
that up to 80 percent of the tobacco<br />
issues it tracks are likely to default.<br />
For CABs, defaults appear certain.<br />
“They’re doomed,” said Jim Estes,<br />
a finance professor at the California<br />
State University, San Bernardino,<br />
who helped ProPublica<br />
analyze the bond documents. “It’s<br />
not a question of whether or not,<br />
it’s a question of when.”<br />
Wall Street firms are already<br />
pitching their services to help unwind<br />
the deals they helped create.<br />
The first state to act was financially<br />
strapped New Jersey. In March,<br />
it rescued two CABs that were part<br />
of a larger 2007 deal. The CABs<br />
promised to repay $1.3 billion in<br />
2041. To pay off that giant tab before<br />
it comes due, the state agreed<br />
to hand over $406 million of its remaining<br />
tobacco proceeds beginning<br />
in 2017, money that otherwise<br />
would have gone into state coffers.<br />
Barclays handled the transaction<br />
for New Jersey, earning $4.5<br />
million. The state also got $92 million<br />
in upfront cash out of the deal<br />
to help Gov. Chris Christie and<br />
lawmakers plug a budget deficit.<br />
Still, rating agencies were not impressed:<br />
They downgraded the<br />
state anyway, making it costlier for<br />
New Jersey to borrow.<br />
In late July, Rhode Island announced<br />
a plan to buy out some<br />
holders of $197 million of the CABs<br />
it sold in 2007. The deal would<br />
shave $700 million off a $2.8 billion<br />
tab due on the bonds in 2052<br />
and let the state refinance some of<br />
its older tobacco bonds at more attractive<br />
interest rates. Now, some<br />
bondholders are suing to block the<br />
deal.<br />
Most of the deals involving CABs<br />
sold right before the 2008 financial<br />
crisis, ProPublica found. As the<br />
horizon darkened, the market for<br />
them began falling apart, with one<br />
lone buyer keeping Wall Street’s<br />
CAB machine going. Pitch documents<br />
show that bankers pressed<br />
the states to act fast before the window<br />
shut.<br />
“We are confident that we can<br />
stimulate demand,” Bear Stearns<br />
bankers told Ohio prior to a<br />
$5.5 billion tobacco bond package<br />
championed in 2007 by then State<br />
Treasurer Richard Cordray, who<br />
these days heads the U.S. Consumer<br />
Financial Protection Bureau.<br />
Ohio’s tobacco deal was the largest<br />
ever. It included CABs that<br />
brought in $319 million in return<br />
for an eventual $6.6 billion balloon<br />
payment – a nickel on the dollar.<br />
Bear Stearns, Citigroup and other<br />
Wall Street firms made about $23<br />
million in fees on the transaction,<br />
according to the bond offering document.<br />
Then there is Puerto Rico, a government<br />
with a long history of financial<br />
woes.<br />
In April 2008, as Bear Stearns was<br />
collapsing, it closed a $196 million<br />
tobacco bond sale that saddled the<br />
Puerto Rico Children’s Trust, a fund<br />
set up to benefit island families,<br />
with an eventual $8.6 billion balloon<br />
payout. Bear Stearns and Citigroup<br />
made $1.4 million in fees.<br />
This year, Puerto Rico’s tobacco<br />
settlement receipts fell 13 percent<br />
below what was forecast when the<br />
deal was done. The commonwealth<br />
is also struggling to prevent default<br />
on a mountain of other debt. Officials<br />
there did not respond to written<br />
questions, phone calls or interview<br />
requests.<br />
Critics have repeatedly lambasted<br />
the states and other jurisdictions<br />
for violating the intent of the tobacco<br />
settlement by spending the money<br />
on uses other than anti-smoking<br />
programs and health care.<br />
“The securitization scheme not<br />
only accelerated the expiration of<br />
the usefulness of that money, but<br />
basically guaranteed that it would<br />
never be used for its conceived<br />
purpose,” said Dave Dobbins, an<br />
executive with the American Legacy<br />
Foundation, a nonprofit created<br />
under the settlement to fund smoking-prevention<br />
programs.<br />
“Now the money’s gone, the securitization<br />
scheme is sort of coming<br />
home to roost for some people<br />
… and the tobacco problem is still<br />
there: 480,000 people [are] expected<br />
to die this year due to tobacco-related<br />
disease,” Dobbins said.<br />
“It’s a grim story.”<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.9
COVER STORY<br />
Of Mice<br />
and Medicine MEN<br />
reported by amy armstrong<br />
Dr. Se-Jin Lee, MD., PhD. has increased<br />
muscling on mice in research laboratory<br />
trials showing promising potential<br />
The work of an unassuming and somewhat humble<br />
Johns Hopkins researcher holds the potential to<br />
revolutionize the treatment of diseases sapping<br />
away muscle strength, as well as to mitigate some<br />
of the muscle-draining effects of aging.<br />
Dr. Se-Jin Lee, M.D., Ph.D., who is<br />
the Michael and Ann Hankin and<br />
Partners of Brown Advisory Professor<br />
in Scientific Innovation and Professor<br />
of Molecular Biology and Genetics at<br />
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine<br />
in Baltimore. Lee was interviewed regarding<br />
the current status of his research<br />
into the effects of a protein he discovered<br />
in 1995 and named myostatin. Naturally<br />
occurring in mammals, this protein plays<br />
a crucial role in regulating muscle growth<br />
by preventing muscles from growing too<br />
large for the skeletal frame upon which<br />
they function.<br />
Lee’s research demonstrated that the<br />
myostatin protein signals other dormant<br />
or non-active muscle-building cells to activate<br />
when muscle building or repair becomes<br />
necessary. This discovery led to a<br />
number of questions, the most important<br />
of which revolved around what effects the<br />
removal of myostatin would have on muscular<br />
development. The pharmaceutical<br />
industry responded with interest in how<br />
people suffering from muscle depletion<br />
could be helped, and the sports industry<br />
was also interested, hoping that mastery<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
of myostatin could lead to enhanced<br />
performance, possibly<br />
proving to be an alternative to<br />
controversial steroids.<br />
Interestingly enough, Lee –<br />
an avid sports fan himself, to<br />
say the least – is much more<br />
interested in the potential<br />
that medical regulation of the<br />
myostatin protein presents<br />
for an aging America losing<br />
its muscle strength and for<br />
patients whose illnesses leave<br />
them fighting muscle deterioration,<br />
than he is in myostatin’s<br />
application to sports<br />
figures, including any accompanying<br />
financial windfalls<br />
that might result.<br />
In 2008, he told David Epstein<br />
from Sports Illustrated<br />
that he would do an interview<br />
on the condition that Epstein<br />
make it eminently clear to<br />
readers that Lee’s work was<br />
not now – and would not be<br />
– directed toward enhancing<br />
athletic performance. Epstein<br />
complied, and the sports<br />
world learned first-hand from<br />
Lee about the medical applications<br />
of his research at a<br />
time when national attention<br />
focused on anabolic steroid<br />
abuse as the Roger Clemens<br />
scandal unfolded in professional<br />
baseball.<br />
Fast-forward to 2014, and<br />
Lee’s insistence that his muscle-regulating<br />
protein discovery<br />
be limited to medical uses<br />
appears to be holding firm.<br />
The list of current research<br />
trials he provided to The Suit<br />
Magazine addresses medical<br />
issues such as muscle wasting<br />
after hip fracture surgery,<br />
muscle atrophy post hip replacement,<br />
muscle weakness<br />
after a fall and myostatin’s<br />
role in treating various types<br />
of cancer. Each of these trials<br />
represents common geriatric<br />
health issues that Lee has<br />
regularly insisted his research<br />
needs to address.<br />
After attending Johns Hopkins,<br />
Lee graduated from the<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.13
Medical Scientist Training Program, a<br />
federally-funded MD/PhD program,<br />
spending time as a staff associate at the<br />
Carnegie Institution of Washington’s<br />
Department of Embryology in Baltimore.<br />
Then Lee received an offer from<br />
the Johns Hopkins Molecular Biology<br />
and Genetics Department – one of the<br />
best departments in biological sciences<br />
anywhere in the world. “The department<br />
has had three sitting members<br />
receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine<br />
or Physiology, including our current<br />
chair, Carol Greider, who received the<br />
prize for her work on telomerase,” Lee<br />
said.<br />
Believing that he was in an excellent<br />
position to make a difference scientifically,<br />
little did he know that the discovery<br />
by his team would trigger such<br />
a firestorm of interest in slow-paced,<br />
repetitive scientific research.<br />
Lee spent a number of years focusing<br />
on genetically engineered mice,<br />
either to delete individual genes or<br />
to produce too much of an individual<br />
protein. It was in 1995, while working<br />
with laboratory mice in an attempt to<br />
understand the role signaling molecules<br />
played in regulating embryonic<br />
development and adult tissue homeostasis,<br />
that Lee and his team discovered<br />
the myostatin protein.<br />
Lee and his research staff genetically<br />
altered some of the mice by limiting the<br />
amount of myostatin in their systems.<br />
“We found that deleting the myostatin<br />
gene in mice led to mice with<br />
about twice the normal muscle mass<br />
throughout the body, demonstrating<br />
that myostatin normally acts to limit<br />
muscle mass,” Lee said. This lack of<br />
myostatin produced mice with significantly<br />
larger muscle mass, quickly<br />
earning them the name “knockout<br />
mice” within the scientific community.<br />
The publication of his initial research<br />
results in a standard research<br />
paper outlining their findings opened<br />
a floodgate of questions from within<br />
the medical pharmaceutical industry<br />
regarding practical applications. In<br />
relatively short order, the somewhat<br />
unwanted media spotlight zeroed in<br />
on Lee.<br />
His efforts currently focus on two<br />
general areas. The first is in continuing<br />
to understand how myostatin works at<br />
the molecular and cellular level. There<br />
are still many unanswered key questions<br />
regarding the protein, and Lee<br />
believes that a greater understanding<br />
of the mechanisms by which it<br />
acts will have important implications<br />
for the development of therapeutics<br />
targeting this pathway. The second<br />
area his research impacts is a potential<br />
understanding regarding the role<br />
of myostatin in diseases having muscle-wasting<br />
symptoms, along with the<br />
consequences of manipulating this<br />
pathway in various disease states.<br />
Although Lee’s current work focuses<br />
almost entirely on mice, his research<br />
has shown that naturally occurring<br />
mutations in the myostatin gene also<br />
lead to increased muscle mass in other<br />
species, including cattle, dogs and<br />
sheep. In addition, there are some interesting<br />
studies showing that variants<br />
of myostatin can increase racing performance<br />
in horses, according to Lee.<br />
Currently, Lee and his research team<br />
continue to focus on a group of proteins<br />
referred to as the transforming<br />
growth factor-ß superfamily. “This<br />
group of proteins function as signaling<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
molecules that act to regulate the state<br />
of growth and/or differentiation of<br />
target cells and tissues,” Lee explains.<br />
“Because these normally act from<br />
outside the cell, manipulating the activities<br />
of these molecules, it is more<br />
straightforward than those that act intra-cellularly.”<br />
The body-building industry is wildly<br />
interested in the effects it perceives<br />
the regulation of myostatin could have<br />
on muscle enhancement. The 2008<br />
Sports Illustrated article highlighted<br />
current speculation that myostatin<br />
regulation could lead to gene therapy<br />
aimed at altering DNA. In theory, this<br />
type of muscle enhancement might be<br />
able to circumvent drug testing. The<br />
body-building community, by envisioning<br />
yet another way to manipulate<br />
muscle mass, has been controversial,<br />
to say the least. Lee remains adamant,<br />
however, that the goal of his work is<br />
not to improve the odds of athletes,<br />
but to help aging America trade in<br />
their canes and wheelchairs for more<br />
active golden years. For now, he has<br />
been able to limit myostatin research<br />
to valid medical purposes only. Yet, he<br />
knows that once a myostatin regulator<br />
hits the market, it’s highly likely that<br />
some people will get their hands on<br />
the drug and use it for enhancing athletic<br />
performance in humans and animals,<br />
bodybuilding, bulking up food<br />
sources and other, as yet unidentified<br />
non-medical uses.<br />
Despite lamenting these possibilities,<br />
Lee believes that the medical ramifications<br />
warrant continued research.<br />
“People who suffer from a disease<br />
can develop a severe wasting process,<br />
which is called cachexia,” Lee<br />
explains, “Cachexia is also known as<br />
a wasting syndrome – meaning loss of<br />
weight, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness<br />
and significant loss of appetite in<br />
someone who is not actively trying<br />
to lose weight. The formal definition<br />
of cachexia is the loss of body mass<br />
that cannot be reversed nutritionally.<br />
Even if the affected patient eats more<br />
calories, lean body mass will be lost,<br />
indicating a primary pathology is in<br />
place.”<br />
Ten different clinical trials are in the<br />
second phase of research aimed at developing<br />
myostatin inhibitors to treat<br />
patients with muscle loss. “For now,<br />
we are focused on myostatin – but this<br />
type of research always ends up moving<br />
in directions that may be unexpected,<br />
so it is difficult to predict where we<br />
will be in the future,” said Lee. “My<br />
work on myostatin has certainly been<br />
interesting. It is too early to say how<br />
important this will be one day, but I<br />
am anxiously awaiting the results of<br />
the clinical trials to see whether this is<br />
going to work.”<br />
This last statement came with the<br />
kind of knowing chuckle that only a research<br />
scientist could fully appreciate.<br />
Lee cautions that any medical usage of<br />
myostation regulation is not years, but<br />
most likely decades in the future. Yet,<br />
the possibility that his work has more<br />
than laid the foundation for advancements<br />
in muscular support to aid coming<br />
generations as they age, seems to<br />
be an unusually bankable one. In our<br />
opinion, savvy biomedical investors<br />
might wisely evaluate pharmaceutical<br />
companies currently running clinical<br />
trials based on the potential changes<br />
that mastery of this protein represents<br />
for the medical community.<br />
Learn more about Dr. Lee’s research<br />
online at http://pages.jh.edu/~sejinlee/<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.15
eported by judy magness<br />
Pulling Nighttime Viewers into CNBC<br />
By day, the hosts, the moderators and the guests on<br />
the CNBC cable news network are clad in corporate<br />
business attire as they guide their audience through<br />
business and financial news on shows such as “Fast<br />
Money,” “Squawk Box” and “Mad Money with Jim<br />
Cramer.”<br />
when evening comes, the network<br />
transforms itself into<br />
BUT<br />
CNBC Prime. No neckties with perfect<br />
knots, no patent leather pumps. Just the<br />
rolled-up sleeves of the small business<br />
owner, the salt of the earth. Television<br />
studio sets, tailored clothing, and makeup<br />
chairs are replaced with cluttered back offices,<br />
roomy polo shirts and drugstore lip<br />
gloss. The network’s primetime lineup is<br />
dedicated to the entrepreneurial spirit of<br />
middle-Americans who are trying to make<br />
a buck and live the dream – their dream –<br />
and who don’t want to sit in a cubicle and<br />
answer to a corporate suit.<br />
Although CNBC’s nighttime lineup includes<br />
some fan favorites like, “The Car<br />
Chasers,” the new “Restaurant Startup”<br />
and reruns of “Shark Tank,” it is“The<br />
Profit,” starring Marcus Lemonis, that is<br />
a breakaway hit for the network and it's<br />
back for a third season starting October 14<br />
at 10PM. Ten new episodes are slated to<br />
air, including an entire episode devoted to<br />
follow-up segments on many of the businesses<br />
featured in the first two seasons.<br />
While avid viewers know and love Lemonis,<br />
those new to the show should know<br />
that he is a self-made millionaire and entrepreneurial<br />
trailblazer who invests his<br />
own time and money to help the struggling<br />
businesses agreeing to be featured<br />
on the reality show. In fact, they ask for<br />
his help. “In over 14 episodes, Marcus<br />
Lemonis has invested more than $7 million<br />
in small businesses featured on the<br />
series,” according to a CNBC source.<br />
He also has investments in over 100<br />
other businesses. And, oh yes, he is<br />
also chairman and CEO of Camping<br />
World, the country’s largest RV and<br />
outdoor retailer – and Good Sam, the<br />
largest RV owners’ organization in<br />
the world.<br />
According to Lemonis, CNBC<br />
identified an under-served niche –<br />
people’s fascination with the small<br />
business market. They saw a programming<br />
opportunity to draw in<br />
new viewers who were blasé about<br />
the network’s traditional offerings.<br />
“Candidly, going to CNBC was a<br />
huge gamble because it didn’t have<br />
nighttime programming. The reason<br />
that I made the decision for CNBC is<br />
because I felt like they really wanted<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
me … and they wanted to do<br />
it. They believed in it,” explained<br />
Lemonis.<br />
CNBC President, Mark<br />
Hoffman and Lemonis met<br />
only briefly before the synergy<br />
between them was obvious.<br />
They both came to the<br />
table with a similar concept.<br />
“I didn’t have to sell them<br />
on me or what I was trying<br />
to do. It was a really good fit,<br />
and I think it has worked for<br />
them,” Lemonis said about<br />
the relationship he shares<br />
with the network.<br />
It seems that nighttime is<br />
the right time for those with<br />
a thirst for entrepreneurship<br />
– and the ratings tell the tale.<br />
“One of CNBC’s biggest success<br />
stories of 2014 is ‘The<br />
Profit,’ the most-watched<br />
original series among P18-49<br />
and P25-54 in network history,”<br />
reported The Nielsen<br />
Company, who also said that<br />
the audience grew by 225<br />
percent among adults 18-49<br />
years-old from the first season<br />
to the second.<br />
Lemonis has developed<br />
a cult-like following of entrepreneurs<br />
who watch his<br />
every move on each episode<br />
of “The Profit.” They can<br />
recite the guiding principle<br />
Lemonis created and uses to<br />
evaluate each business on the<br />
show: People. Process. Product.<br />
Both Lemonis and Hoffman<br />
agreed that they wanted<br />
to produce a show that was<br />
authentic and that portrayed<br />
the good, the bad and the<br />
ugly of saving small businesses<br />
on the brink of closure.<br />
“Whatever happens, happens<br />
– and that’s it,” said Lemonis.<br />
“And in the end, if the<br />
reality of what happens isn’t<br />
entertaining, the viewers are<br />
going to tell us and they’re<br />
not going to watch. If it is<br />
entertaining, they’re going to<br />
watch and keep on watching.<br />
They’re going to want more,<br />
the thing is going to go viral<br />
and it’s going to be fantastic.”<br />
While the actual airtime for<br />
“The Profit” is about 44 minutes,<br />
production teams shoot<br />
some 70 hours of footage. According<br />
to Lemonis, the space<br />
between filming and airtime<br />
is wildly tight. “You could<br />
watch a show on Tuesday<br />
night and I could have finished<br />
filming the last part of<br />
it seven to ten days before,”<br />
he said.<br />
“Two things don’t lie – the<br />
camera and your numbers,”<br />
said Lemonis on being asked<br />
by The Suit how he feels<br />
when business owners don’t<br />
know the complete story of<br />
their financial situations.<br />
“I feel bad for them more<br />
than I am angry. I don’t have<br />
any right to be angry; I’m<br />
not their judge. I feel bad<br />
that their businesses ended<br />
up at this place because of a<br />
lack of knowledge about the<br />
numbers. If you don’t know<br />
what the results are, how do<br />
you make decisions to affect<br />
the results? It’s like throwing<br />
darts in the dark.”<br />
www.cnbcprime.com/the-profit<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.17
The New York Stock Exchange often<br />
times called “The Pit” - involves shouting<br />
and the use of hand signals to transfer<br />
information about buy and sell orders<br />
Significant changes – are emerging today including<br />
a nod to the history of the New York Stock Exchange<br />
– are in the works for the Big Board, which<br />
is by far the world’s largest stock exchange and<br />
financial player in terms of market capitalization.<br />
Discussions are ongoing<br />
regarding allowing<br />
tourists and other<br />
members of the general<br />
public back onto the public<br />
viewing gallery to<br />
watch traders in action, according<br />
to a Sept. 2, 2014,<br />
report in the Wall Street<br />
Journal. After the 9/11 attacks<br />
on the World Trade<br />
Center, the public gallery<br />
was closed because of security<br />
concerns.<br />
This is only the first<br />
move being considered<br />
by the NYSE’s new owners.<br />
In December 2012,<br />
the NYSE’s then parent<br />
company, Euronext, was<br />
purchased by InterContinental<br />
Exchange (ICE) for<br />
$8.2 billion. At the time of<br />
the sale, media attention<br />
and watercooler scuttlebutt<br />
focused on what<br />
this particular purchase<br />
represented in terms of a<br />
changing global economy<br />
and increases in stock<br />
purchases on an international<br />
basis. ICE was<br />
then only a 12-year-old<br />
start-up specializing in<br />
commodities, futures and<br />
derivatives trading with<br />
headquarters in Atlanta,<br />
Georgia. Today, it has<br />
dual headquarters, with<br />
its second location in New<br />
York City. While transactional<br />
operations remain<br />
focused on developing<br />
global economic opportunities,<br />
regular discussions<br />
regarding how to restore<br />
some of the NYSE’s lost<br />
history are also on the<br />
conglomerate’s agenda.<br />
Should tourists be allowed<br />
back on the public<br />
viewing gallery, the action<br />
they will see might not be<br />
as bustling and frantic as<br />
in years gone by. Crazed<br />
shouting by brokers trying<br />
to outbid one another,<br />
interspersed with messages<br />
sent across the floor by<br />
speedy runners has largely<br />
been replaced by more<br />
silent brokers focused on<br />
hand-held mobile devices.<br />
Yet, when a hot button<br />
item hits, a crowd still<br />
gathers around that particular<br />
trading post and<br />
the frenzy of fingers flying<br />
across keyboards remains<br />
a sight not seen at many<br />
other tourist destinations.<br />
Perhaps the most ambitious<br />
return to historical<br />
standards being bandied<br />
about by ICE officials<br />
involves a return to the<br />
NYSE's past physical appearance.<br />
Back in the early<br />
1980s, the need to keep<br />
pace with changing technology<br />
and computerization<br />
saw the erection of an<br />
expansive metal support<br />
system designed to hold<br />
up dozens of screens and<br />
other heavy equipment.<br />
In addition to being an<br />
eyesore, the massive metal<br />
framing more than obscured<br />
the<br />
New Owners<br />
NYSE<br />
take a<br />
PRESERVATIONIST<br />
APPROACH<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
view of the beautiful<br />
hand-carved wooden<br />
buttonwood flowers on<br />
the trading floor’s ceiling.<br />
Buttonwood is a significant<br />
symbol of the very<br />
beginnings of the NYSE,<br />
from trading under the<br />
buttonwood tree at the<br />
foot of Wall Street, to the<br />
Buttonwood Agreement<br />
of 1792 formalizing an<br />
association of traders that<br />
became the NYSE. At the<br />
time this framing was installed,<br />
many lamented<br />
the change – yet conceded<br />
it was necessary to forward<br />
electronic progress.<br />
Enter Jeffrey Sprecher,<br />
founder, chairman and<br />
CEO of ICE. As reported<br />
in the New York Times in<br />
mid-January 2013 – just a<br />
few short weeks after his<br />
firm purchased Euronext<br />
– Sprecher was a most unlikely<br />
candidate to purchase<br />
the NYSE due to<br />
his status as a Wall Street<br />
outsider. Yet, with his bid<br />
to purchase Euronext also<br />
came his personal leanings<br />
toward architecture,<br />
engineering and his firm’s<br />
reputation for using lightening-speed,<br />
bleeding<br />
edge computer systems<br />
needing significantly less<br />
structural support than<br />
the technology currently<br />
sitting on the NYSE trading<br />
floor.<br />
According to the Wall<br />
Street Journal, one of<br />
Sprecher’s first priorities<br />
was putting ICE employees<br />
to the challenging<br />
task of analyzing how to<br />
remove the existing information<br />
system and its<br />
obtrusive metal support<br />
system from the trading<br />
floor, while replacing it<br />
with a faster, more technologically-capable<br />
system<br />
requiring far less<br />
in the way of support<br />
structure. Sprecher seeks<br />
a more open, airy feel to<br />
the trading floor – somewhat<br />
reminiscent of its<br />
look preceding the 1980s<br />
installation.<br />
Doing so will require<br />
a mega-financial commitment<br />
on his part. Estimates<br />
currently under<br />
discussion regarding this<br />
transformation – which<br />
will include building a<br />
temporary floor to conceal<br />
wiring and duct<br />
work exposed during<br />
removal of the current<br />
computer support system<br />
– are already tallying up<br />
into the tens of millions.<br />
Sprecher is currently<br />
committed to a more than<br />
$80 million price tag for a<br />
top to bottom renovation,<br />
which includes refurbishing<br />
the trading floor and<br />
revamping all of the offices<br />
housed in its 23 stories.<br />
No matter what, it will<br />
be a tricky job. The building<br />
housing the NYSE at<br />
11 Wall Street, along with<br />
its instantly recognizable<br />
1903 main building at 18<br />
Broad Street, was placed<br />
on the National Register<br />
of Historic Places for the<br />
National Park Service in<br />
1978. Designed by Trowbridge<br />
and Livingston, 11<br />
Wall Street was completed<br />
by Marc Eidlitz and<br />
Sons in 1922, and is located<br />
to the right of the famous<br />
facade of the earlier<br />
building. The NYSE has<br />
been situated on portions<br />
of its present site since<br />
1865.<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.19
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A GREAT POTENTIAL<br />
Robots Aiding<br />
in<br />
Eldercare and Beyond<br />
Norrie J. Daroga, CEO and Co-Founder<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014<br />
The word “robot” was originally created<br />
by Czech science fiction writer<br />
Karel Čapek, who envisioned artificial<br />
people someday working alongside<br />
real people. Today, however, “robot” is<br />
a universal term for both physical machines<br />
and also for software. Although<br />
they have the potential to aid real people,<br />
one sticking point has been human-robot<br />
interaction and human trust.<br />
Geppetto Avatars is a company that is<br />
pioneering efforts in this field.<br />
Norrie J. Daroga, CEO of Geppetto<br />
Avatars, Inc., credited the company’s<br />
technology as a way for people to have<br />
meaningful interactions and conversations<br />
with machines that could improve<br />
their lives. Although this technology,<br />
first developed at Geppetto Labs and later<br />
assisted by Avatar Ventures, Inc., the<br />
combination of which formed Geppetto<br />
Avatars, could have potential applications<br />
in education, financial services<br />
and even in the entertainment industry,<br />
right now the company is focusing on<br />
the world of health care.<br />
“There are a number of situations<br />
where the avatar is able to have a conversation<br />
and observe your behavior, or<br />
listen to your concerns when a doctor<br />
or a nurse is not available,” Daroga told<br />
The Suit Magazine. “The typical application<br />
(could be) patient engagement,<br />
where you want to know information<br />
about a particular drug, or (when) you<br />
are concerned about something you observe<br />
on your body and want to see a<br />
doctor.”<br />
The application is far more interactive<br />
than a mere online form or questionnaire<br />
by providing a graphical representation<br />
of a helper – an avatar – that could go
FOR HELPING HUMANS<br />
How we do it.<br />
Gestures, expressions, tone and context – you<br />
can’t have an effective conversation without them.<br />
We’ve recognized a need to develop systems that<br />
support patient engagement. The characters we<br />
build have hearts, minds, and personalities of their<br />
own, giving people a better way to get important<br />
information when they need it.<br />
through question and answer scenarios<br />
with a potential patient. Based on the information<br />
provided, the avatar could have the<br />
ability to do pre-screening or collect enormous<br />
amounts of information about the patient<br />
for the doctor, thus saving a doctor’s<br />
time. Daroga added that this technology,<br />
when integrated with a camera, will allow<br />
users to take pictures if necessary.<br />
From this interaction, “your doctor can<br />
let you know if you have a serious problem<br />
or something that can wait for a week,”<br />
Daroga suggested.<br />
On the surface, this technology might<br />
have the feel of science fiction from Čapek<br />
or even Star Trek but it is something that<br />
Geppetto Avatars Inc. has been working on<br />
since the company was founded just over<br />
a year ago. Daroga, along with co-founder<br />
http://vimeo.com/88315494<br />
HD<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.23
Mark Stephen Meadows, who previously<br />
worked in the labs where Apple’s<br />
Siri was developed, set out to<br />
make their vision a reality. Although<br />
the company only wrote its first line of<br />
code this past January, its technology<br />
will debut this fall.<br />
“In early September we plan to<br />
have MVP (minimal viable product)<br />
launched with a client who will be using<br />
it for eldercare,” said Daroga. “That<br />
is a pretty dramatic leap and series of<br />
advances in six months.”<br />
While there is a five year plan – and<br />
Geppetto Avatars Inc. continues to raise<br />
seed money – Daroga noted that it was<br />
launched simply with investment from<br />
friends and family. The MVP is thus a<br />
crucial next step for the company.<br />
“We are in conversation with different<br />
venture capital firms,” Daroga noted.<br />
“Getting the product out will help<br />
us a lot so that people will be able to see<br />
where it is working.”<br />
One hurdle in the medical world is<br />
that clinical studies take time, while<br />
this technology continues evolving at<br />
“warp speed.” However, the firm has<br />
developed Sophie, the first interactive<br />
software robot designed to interact<br />
with human patients and she could<br />
have an advantage over other, similar<br />
technologies.<br />
“She is able to conduct 10,000 interviews<br />
in an hour, as opposed to one<br />
interview in four hours,” said Daroga,<br />
sounding much like a proud parent.<br />
Sophie can also be finely tuned to discuss<br />
all sorts of medical conditions and<br />
“her” software is programmed to work<br />
like a doctor thinks, according to a recent<br />
commentary on Fox News introducing<br />
Sophie.<br />
“The avatars will have expertise in<br />
different chronic diseases; there will be<br />
a robot for diabetes, asthma and psoriasis,”<br />
he explained. “So essentially, the<br />
avatar only needs to know about a particular<br />
type of expertise.”<br />
Moreover Sophie isn’t just a pretty<br />
face acting as the front for an input<br />
device. She can actually react to the<br />
emotions of the user. This means that<br />
Sophie won’t necessarily be limited to<br />
only diagnosing conditions, as her bedside<br />
manner could be adjusted to encompass<br />
other applications.<br />
“The more interesting application is<br />
that the avatar has the ability to sense<br />
your emotions and it uses both your<br />
words and your tone. And, in a few<br />
months, it will be able to observe your<br />
facial expressions,” said Daroga. “It<br />
converts this into sentiment and one of<br />
its uses in connection with that is eldercare.<br />
There are over 60 million people<br />
taking care of family members in this<br />
country.”<br />
Because Sophie is software based,<br />
she can also be changed to meet each<br />
client’s needs – and doesn’t even need<br />
to be a she!<br />
“It is software, so you don’t need to<br />
have a physical presence and you can<br />
have many different characteristics<br />
built into it. You can have people of different<br />
color, male or female, and you<br />
could have characteristics you desire<br />
– that you empathize with and trust,”<br />
added Daroga.<br />
The next step may be to take the software<br />
and integrate it with robotic hardware.<br />
One of the investors interested in<br />
Geppetto Avatars is a robotics firm, and<br />
after the September launch, Daroga<br />
said he hopes that the robotic industry<br />
will take notice.<br />
In showing us his vision of the future,<br />
Daroga asks, “Can you imagine<br />
if a physical robot could engage with<br />
you?”<br />
GEPPETTO AVATARS, INC.<br />
1341 W. Mequon Road, Suite 210<br />
Mequon, WI 53092<br />
414.704.0986 (Mobile)<br />
262.643.4740 (Office)<br />
www.geppettoavatars.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y felix badea<br />
Change of Focus Brings<br />
EXPANDED PROFITABLE BUSINESS<br />
That time-worn adage: “Change is inevitable,” is certainly<br />
an overworked, road-weary cliché. But when<br />
applied to economics, those changes might reflect<br />
these lyrics instead, “A change is gonna do me good,” popularized<br />
by songs credited to Etta James and Elton John.<br />
At least, that’s what Dave Barton, President and CEO of<br />
Mercer Advisors in Santa Barbara, CA, will tell you.<br />
The Great Recession forced Barton to revamp what was<br />
once a successful business model – one that had worked<br />
since 1985. Prior to 2010, Mercer Advisors had focused<br />
solely on advising dental practices. But when the economy<br />
developed a gaping financial cavity, the pain was as real as<br />
a flaring root canal.<br />
“It was a tough time for dentists. It was a tough time for<br />
us from a client standpoint and it really challenged our<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
HELPING PEOPLE<br />
LIVE THEIR DREAMS<br />
FOR 29 YEARS.<br />
context of modern portfolio theory and global asset<br />
allocation. Rather than chasing returns through stock<br />
picking or market timing which more often are not<br />
winning strategies, Barton said that Mercer Advisors<br />
opts instead for overweighting or tilting their portfolios<br />
towards scientifically validated areas of higher expected<br />
return, and then systematically filter out stocks<br />
that do not meet the firm’s pre-established holding criteria.<br />
He is not a believer in trusting gut instincts; he<br />
just doesn’t believe advisors are always right in their<br />
human analysis.<br />
“If you look at some of the recent surveys, they indicate<br />
that 65 percent of active managers fail to meet or<br />
exceed their own benchmarks over a one-year period,”<br />
Barton said. “And 75 percent fail to meet or exceed their<br />
benchmark over a five-year period. That is not a great<br />
batting average.” Our scientific approach to investing<br />
consistently beats our benchmarks, produces great returns,<br />
without risking our clients’ nest eggs.<br />
business model,” Barton said.<br />
“As a high percentage of all dental care is discretionary,<br />
its expense was an obvious one to defer during the Great<br />
Recession,” Barton explained. What many high net worth<br />
individuals and families felt they couldn’t afford to take<br />
out of their budgets, however, was comprehensive financial<br />
planning. That’s where Barton and Mercer Advisors<br />
turned in 2010 – and made their mark.<br />
“We increased our staff and began delivering comprehensive,<br />
customized financial plans through certified<br />
financial planners,” Barton said, adding that estate planning,<br />
asset protection, tax planning and succession planning<br />
were new areas of expertise which Mercer Advisors<br />
opted to include. “We wanted to bring a full suite of professional<br />
services, under one roof, to clientele.”<br />
Today, Barton proudly points out that altering the business<br />
focus to a full suite of financial solutions was admittedly<br />
a big risk – but was also one that has paid off. Today<br />
Mercer Advisors has more than $5.7 billion in assets under<br />
management spread across its 15 offices nationwide, serving<br />
4,200 clients. In the past three years, Mercer Advisors<br />
added seven new offices and 1,200 new clients, and has<br />
nearly doubled their assets under management since 2008.<br />
Barton described his firm’s approach to investing as a<br />
scientific one, utilizing the four-factor model within the<br />
1801 East Cabrillo Boulevard<br />
Santa Barbara, California 93108<br />
www.merceradvisors.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.27
y judy magness<br />
Looking Back<br />
Helps Advisors Look Ahead<br />
Shawn P. McLaughlin, AIF®,<br />
President and CEO<br />
Professional • Honest<br />
Knowledgeable<br />
Trustworthy • Ethical<br />
Those are the qualities that you want<br />
to describe the financial advisor who<br />
will help you develop and execute the<br />
strategy to achieve your financial goals.<br />
Those are qualities that are non-negotiable.<br />
Those qualities describe the entire<br />
team at McLaughlin Ryder Investments.<br />
1421 Prince Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314<br />
Phone: 703-684-9222 Website: www.mclaughlinryder.com<br />
In 2011, “The Wall Street Journal”<br />
reported that the Financial<br />
Crisis Inquiry Commission—<br />
appointed by the Federal government<br />
to investigate the financial<br />
crisis of 2008—“blamed failures in<br />
financial regulation, flaws in corporate<br />
governance, and excessive borrowing<br />
as key elements leading to<br />
the meltdown.” The warning signs<br />
were there as experts from finance,<br />
government, and industry now<br />
concur, but as they, say hindsight<br />
is 20/20.<br />
Shawn P. McLaughlin, President<br />
and CEO of McLaughlin Ryder Investments,<br />
Inc., agrees. “It’s easy to<br />
see the warning signs in retrospect,<br />
but what is clear today was very,<br />
very foggy back then,” he said reflecting<br />
back to a time where Americans<br />
suffered through economic<br />
shock treatments.<br />
Probably one of the biggest signs<br />
was how easy it was to buy a home<br />
said McLaughlin. “Almost anyone<br />
could get approved for a mortgage<br />
loan. People were taking out more<br />
money than they needed for the<br />
home purchase so they could invest<br />
the rest and make a great return.<br />
That was a huge red flag,” he said.<br />
McLaughlin Ryder Investments,<br />
based in Alexandria, VA, uses a<br />
conservative approach, is committed<br />
to solid investments, and has<br />
a penchant for patient investors.<br />
As a result, their clients survived<br />
the economic turmoil. “We have<br />
always taken a balanced approach<br />
so we were not 100 percent equity<br />
oriented in our clients’ portfolios,”<br />
said McLaughlin making the comparison<br />
that it was no different in<br />
his approach in the early 2000’s<br />
when the dot.com bubble burst.<br />
While they did have some holdings<br />
in internet technology and growth,<br />
they didn’t sell their long-time favorite<br />
blue-chip holdings in favor<br />
of them.<br />
McLaughlin is an Accredited<br />
Investment Fiduciary (AIF®), a<br />
prestigious designation earned by<br />
completing in-depth training and<br />
examinations. AIF® status brings<br />
added value to the client relationship<br />
and demonstrates an advisor’s<br />
commitment to perform in the client’s<br />
best interests.<br />
The slow and steady increase in<br />
longevity that has occurred in the<br />
U.S. is an area that is top of mind<br />
at McLaughlin Ryder Investments.<br />
“People are living longer - It is a<br />
disservice not to help your clients<br />
properly plan for a retirement cycle<br />
that could be as long as you were in<br />
the wage earning cycle,” said Mc-<br />
Laughlin.<br />
Vice President and Director of<br />
Human Resources, Julie Theobald<br />
added, “We encourage both spouses<br />
to come to meetings and participate<br />
so it is not just one of them that<br />
understands the financial aspects<br />
of their big picture, and that both<br />
spouses understand the assets they<br />
own and their financial plan.”<br />
McLaughlin was named as a Top<br />
Financial Professional by “Northern<br />
Virginia Magazine” in 2014,<br />
2013 and 2012. He observes that<br />
today, people have more questions<br />
compared to what he experienced<br />
early in his 30-year career and he is<br />
happy to listen, as long as it is an<br />
open dialog.<br />
Member FINRA & SIPC<br />
Securities offered by McLaughlin<br />
Ryder Investments, Inc.<br />
Investment Advisory Services offered<br />
through McLaughlin Ryder Advisory<br />
Services, LLC a Registered Investment<br />
Advisor.<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
the fixed side.<br />
Continuously making adjustments in how<br />
it attracts clients, today Eikenberry Retirement<br />
Planning markets mainly to people aged<br />
55 to 65.<br />
“Fifteen years ago we decided to be more<br />
specialized, and focused on people who were<br />
preparing for retirement,” Eikenberry told<br />
The Suit Magazine. “That has been the focus<br />
for us.”<br />
As with many financial planners, Eikenberry<br />
Retirement Planning made the shift from<br />
an alpha to a more conservative approach in<br />
advising its clients. Since the market downturns<br />
of 2008 and 2011, which caused it to<br />
make significant changes as to how it now it<br />
positions client’s individual assets, the firm<br />
has been steadily evolving.<br />
“We are conscious of that,” Eikenberry addby<br />
peter suciu<br />
Putting Baby Boomers on Track<br />
Retirement Planning Provides Workshops and Direction to Set Retirement Goals<br />
John Eikenberry, President<br />
Eikenberry Retirement Planning<br />
With more than four decades of financial<br />
service experience, John Eikenberry,<br />
president of Eikenberry Retirement<br />
Planning, said that he started out in<br />
the world of investing around the time “they<br />
started creating dirt.” After working more<br />
than a decade for Life of Virginia, he decided<br />
to go independent in 1984 and from there,<br />
built a large clientele comprised of individuals,<br />
small business owners and retirees.<br />
Eikenberry made the switch to independent<br />
financial planner in order to do his own due<br />
diligence for what he could provide to clients<br />
– instead of being told what he should provide.<br />
During the past 30 years, the practice he<br />
created has evolved significantly – starting the<br />
firm with no clients, to upwards of 600 clients.<br />
His firm now has more than $40 million under<br />
management, with another $40 million on<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
ed, noting that the firm isn’t always going to outperform indexes<br />
such as the S&P or Dow, but instead “aims to minimize the downsides<br />
of a 2008 or even a 2011, especially the third quarter of 2011.<br />
We’ve seen some much improved results.”<br />
The market corrections experienced during those years have left<br />
many baby boomers suddenly unprepared for retirement – and<br />
without the necessary time to rebuild back to comfortable levels.<br />
“The buy and hold process might be suitable for someone 30<br />
to 40 years of age, but not somebody who is 65 or 70. It doesn’t<br />
hold water in my humble opinion,” Eikenberry stated bluntly.<br />
“We made transitions after ’08 and ’09, looking at platforms<br />
which were very tactical in nature, with a rules base process, so<br />
that when markets start to trend and change, the portfolio would<br />
change along with that change.”<br />
Moreover, he said that when one looks back to ’08 stocks – and<br />
definitely certain bonds that lost money – there were still assets<br />
that made money and offered a reasonable return on the investment.<br />
“Why couldn’t our clients have the ability to be in those<br />
assets that made money?” he pondered. “We’ve now aligned<br />
with platform managers who understand that process and<br />
had good successes in ’08 that were on the plus side and not<br />
the negative side. Doing this has played very well for us, and<br />
we’re very pleased with the results.”<br />
To that end, Eikenberry also agrees that the industry as a<br />
whole needs to do a better job of protecting client money,<br />
notably on the brokerage side of things.<br />
“In my industry, the fee-based planners are doing their job<br />
in the best interest of the client. I’m not saying they’re not doing<br />
it on the brokerage side,” he suggested, stressing, “It is a<br />
higher standard and we have to maintain that standard, but<br />
there are definitely conflicts on the brokerage side.”<br />
To help ensure that clients are still on track, especially<br />
those looking toward retirement in the near future, Eikenberry<br />
Retirement Planning offers regular report cards on assets<br />
that includes a yearly look at the portfolio.<br />
“It gives tremendous knowledge to spouses who aren’t as<br />
savvy about the money issues, so that together, they can really<br />
see what is going on with their money,” he emphasized.<br />
“Or if there is an issue, we can address it at that time – to give<br />
them better assurances.”<br />
The portfolio review is especially important for those clients<br />
who plan to stick around for a while and enjoy retirement<br />
without the fear of outliving their money. Doing this<br />
includes factoring in social security as an asset, in addition to<br />
401k, IRA and other assets – and determining how all assets<br />
will work together.<br />
“We look at when you should take your social security,”<br />
Eikenberry explained. “And how does that affect the assets<br />
you’ve set aside over your 30- to 40-year working career?<br />
We’re able to distinctly break that up into parts where we<br />
look at things as immediate for income, more intermediate<br />
growth and then assets for long term growth. We probably<br />
won’t delve into the latter for income but it can be utilized.”<br />
Eikenberry noted, “Some couples also have a strong desire<br />
to leave a legacy for the family. Others do not have such a desire<br />
and are (of the mindset), ‘If the last check bounces when<br />
I die – I’m OK with that too.’ ”<br />
3729 Shawnee Road<br />
Lima, OH 45806<br />
Phone: (937) 222.1128<br />
www.eikenberryretirement.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.31
y matt camara<br />
A LESS TRANSPARENT MARKET IS RISKY<br />
INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRM<br />
Makes a case for being realistic about risk<br />
Matthew P. Havens, CFP,<br />
Conservative investing can be<br />
a tough sell to clients, but a<br />
less transparent market and the<br />
increased risk it brings makes<br />
wise purchases vital.<br />
“Even if it’s all laid out in a<br />
prospectus, people don’t understand<br />
it, and the risk [today] is<br />
a lot higher,” said Matthew P.<br />
Havens, CFP, a partner in Global<br />
Vision Advisors LLC. “Right<br />
now, our perspective is that every<br />
asset is being pumped up by<br />
central banks around the world<br />
artificially suppressing interest<br />
rates and pumping money into<br />
the market.”<br />
That situation has never ended<br />
well historically, Havens<br />
said. It probably won’t end well<br />
this time around, either. That<br />
means clients need to be realistic<br />
about their goals, prepared to<br />
save wisely and able to rely on<br />
their financial advisor to steer<br />
them toward financial health.<br />
Global Vision Advisors, based<br />
in Norwell, Mass., provides clients<br />
with independent advice<br />
and customized solutions aimed<br />
at improving financial health,<br />
not beating indexes.<br />
“We refer to it as a family<br />
wealth index. People call it their<br />
personal benchmark, in other<br />
words, focusing on what kind<br />
of return a client needs to<br />
achieve as opposed to whether<br />
somebody’s beating an index,”<br />
Havens said.<br />
Havens, who cut his teeth<br />
at Ameriprise and later<br />
worked for eight years at A.G.<br />
Edwards, said he works to establish<br />
a partnership with his<br />
clients — goal-oriented people<br />
who are used to determining<br />
what they want and working<br />
for it, and baby boomers<br />
THE FUTURE OF YOU<br />
It helps to know where you’re going before you start out on<br />
a journey. Together we can help you clarify your vision and<br />
achieve your way to success.<br />
who’ve built businesses and<br />
are thinking “Now what?”<br />
as retirement looms — and<br />
strives for a real conversation<br />
with them to clarify and prioritize<br />
goals. Working toward<br />
those goals can require a conservative<br />
approach, but one<br />
that also injects a dose of outside-the-box<br />
thinking.<br />
“Currently, the environment<br />
is trying to suggest that<br />
all you need to do is put your<br />
money in high risk assets and<br />
wealth is assured,” Havens<br />
said, explaining how the recent<br />
financial debacles of 2008<br />
and 2009 jolted clients into<br />
thinking broadly about their<br />
wealth. “But one of the lessons<br />
we had in ‘08 and ‘09 is<br />
that the process of achieving<br />
goals is more than just putting<br />
money in the stock market.”<br />
Havens encourages his clients<br />
to consider how to generate<br />
income from real estate,<br />
save wisely and look at creative<br />
ways to generate income<br />
so that they can ride out the<br />
new 30-year retirement that<br />
has become common. Just<br />
throwing money into a 401k<br />
isn’t going to cut it anymore.<br />
By building strong relationships<br />
with clients, Global<br />
Vision Advisors seeks to give<br />
them a deeper understanding<br />
of how their money is working<br />
for them.<br />
“[We’ll discuss], why are<br />
things happening the way<br />
they are?” he said. “As opposed<br />
to the general pabulum<br />
that you see in much of the financial<br />
industry.”<br />
www.globalvisionadvisors.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y felix badea<br />
Financial Services Roles Need Defining<br />
“It’s a great idea, however …”<br />
That short and incomplete sentence<br />
sums up how Tracy Ann<br />
Miller CFP®, CEO and chief<br />
portfolio officer of Portfolio Wealth<br />
Advisors, LLC, headquartered in Oklahoma<br />
City, OK, views the current discussion<br />
regarding the establishment<br />
of a nation-wide, uniform fiduciary<br />
standard governing the activities of all<br />
types of financial advisors.<br />
“It is an idea that has a lot of merit,<br />
but also has a lot of difficulties,” Miller<br />
said, noting that much of the difficulty<br />
comes from within the industry itself.<br />
“The industry needs to put aside its<br />
differences and step up and do what is<br />
right for our individual clients.”<br />
Miller believes that clear and distinct<br />
definitions of the various roles<br />
within the financial services industry<br />
are needed. As examples, she cites<br />
that professionals within the industry<br />
will describe their work to clients by<br />
saying, “I am an advisor,” or “I am an<br />
accountant,” or “I am a money manager,”<br />
or “I am an insurance agent” – but<br />
most clients have little understanding<br />
of those roles.<br />
“All of these terms can relate to the<br />
exact same activity in any given instance,<br />
so it is no wonder people are<br />
confused. From that point of view,<br />
establishing a national uniform fiduciary<br />
standard might make sense and<br />
clear things up,” Miller pointed out.<br />
“There simply is too much jargon in<br />
our industry that our clients do not understand.<br />
If we don’t work on cleaning<br />
that up, we are not going to make any<br />
progress.”<br />
She said that what clients do clearly<br />
understand after the financial debacle<br />
of 2007 to 2009, is that they are transparency-minded.<br />
They want to know<br />
exactly how much they are paying in<br />
fees.<br />
“And rightly so,” Miller agreed.<br />
“The Great Recession put a big dent<br />
in the trust level people had in the financial<br />
services industry,” she said,<br />
explaining, “The low-interest environment<br />
after the Great Recession shifted<br />
investing away from banks over to<br />
insurance companies offering various<br />
types of product solutions to create<br />
long-term income streams.” Miller believes<br />
that what was aimed at serving<br />
needs and decreasing confusion has<br />
actually only made things even more<br />
difficult for Joe the Consumer to understand.<br />
“The products and services<br />
available today are as different from<br />
what was offered in the past as the car<br />
phone from 30 years ago is to the<br />
smartphone of today.”<br />
That is why she insists on regular<br />
planning and communication with her<br />
clients, building a platform allowing to<br />
her to forecast their needs and determine<br />
what will help meet those needs.<br />
She counsels all advisors working for<br />
her firm to employ flexible communication<br />
methods – whether they be<br />
FaceTime, Skype, email, Facebook<br />
messaging, text messages, telephone<br />
calls or good old-fashioned face-toface<br />
meetings in the office – because<br />
each client has a different preferred<br />
method of communication.<br />
Miller emphasized, “It’s like what<br />
Dwight Eisenhower is quoted for saying:<br />
‘Plans are useless, but planning is<br />
indispensable.’”<br />
www.portfoliollc.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.33
y peter suciu<br />
Combining Education with a<br />
Scientific Approach<br />
There is an old saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”<br />
But in professional financial planning, education about investing<br />
concepts is essential to ensure that clients don’t make uninformed<br />
decisions when meeting financial challenges.<br />
Certified Financial Planner® Paul<br />
Byron Hill looks for a quality of<br />
“coachability” in potential clients.<br />
While clients need not become<br />
expert, they are expected to be knowledgeable<br />
in the basics of what matters<br />
for success in planning and investing<br />
for their lifetime goals.<br />
“They must be smart enough to learn<br />
the basics,” he said, emphasizing the importance<br />
of education. Hill – president<br />
and founder of Rochester, N.Y.-based<br />
Professional Financial Strategies – relies<br />
on research by leading economists, including<br />
academics on the board of Dimensional<br />
Fund Advisors. “A couple actually<br />
wrote today’s book on investing.<br />
While academic research evolves, Wall<br />
Street keeps doing what it did 30 years<br />
ago, just in another fashion.”<br />
Hill uses an investment strategy<br />
drawn from the pioneering work of<br />
recent Nobel laureate Eugene Fama to<br />
deliver outsized results. Utilizing innovative<br />
“multifactor” asset allocations<br />
developed by Dimensional Fund Advisors<br />
in collaboration with Professor<br />
Fama and others, Hill has redefined<br />
investing at his firm. By doing so, he<br />
has helped his clients not only survive<br />
major market declines over the past 20<br />
years, but even thrive because of them.<br />
Given the disappointing outcomes<br />
for most investors during and after the<br />
Great Recession and the earlier tech<br />
bust – which together have been called<br />
a “Lost Decade” – Hill’s strategies have<br />
resulted in solid client results. Hill explained<br />
how he began to use a scientific<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014<br />
approach after earning an MBA at the<br />
University of Rochester’s prestigious Simon<br />
Business School. “I was introduced<br />
to modern financial economics and advanced<br />
investing concepts I never understood<br />
before, even though I<br />
had earned a CFP,” he said.<br />
“I learned to think in a new<br />
way.”<br />
How it started<br />
Before Hill earned his<br />
MBA, like most financial<br />
advisors still do,<br />
he sold products using<br />
conventional methods,<br />
including speculating<br />
about “opportunities”<br />
or making predictions<br />
about stocks, fund managers,<br />
the economy and<br />
of course, market movements.<br />
Founding Professional<br />
Financial in 1993, Hill committed<br />
to using a scientific<br />
investing approach to planning,<br />
a decision criticized by<br />
many peers, accustomed to<br />
“tried and true” ways. Hill<br />
said that his new direction<br />
in investing was based on<br />
decades of academic empirical<br />
research, including<br />
that of Professor Fama and<br />
his collaborator, Professor<br />
Kenneth French, whose<br />
PhD was also from the Simon<br />
School. Having seen for<br />
himself before his MBA that conventional<br />
Paul wisdom Byron in investing Hill CFP ®
didn’t work very well, Hill broke<br />
with tradition. His early advisory mistakes<br />
taught him that forecasting for<br />
investing a lifetime of wealth for some<br />
people was not smart – and unlikely to<br />
maintain the trust so essential for client<br />
advisory relationships.<br />
Wealth management is not only money<br />
management<br />
For Hill, central to successful wealth<br />
management is teaching clients about<br />
making smart decisions about money.<br />
“Wealth management is an overused<br />
term by financial advisors today,” Hill<br />
added, suggesting, “It’s often confused<br />
with money management, which is a<br />
product delivery method focused on<br />
“winners” and “losers.” Wealth management<br />
is a comprehensive approach<br />
that also includes mitigating taxes, taking<br />
care of heirs and protecting assets<br />
from loss.”<br />
Wealth management is more of “a<br />
long-term process for achieving a client’s<br />
needs, goals, and dreams,” Hill<br />
stressed. “Money management focuses<br />
on performance and the short term.”<br />
In addition to coachability, Hill looks<br />
for integrity in his clients – in the sense<br />
that they possess the character and maturity<br />
necessary to commit to a longterm<br />
investing approach.<br />
“Our clients were well prepared for<br />
the panic and events ending in a Great<br />
Recession,” Hill said. “Because they<br />
were disciplined and committed to their<br />
investment strategies, they not only recovered<br />
their losses, but five years later,<br />
they’re back on track for their long-term<br />
goals.”<br />
Hill decided soon after founding his<br />
firm to use a fee-only approach rather<br />
than popular commission-based method<br />
for providing services. This newer<br />
practice is being adopted today by more<br />
advisors, since it allows clients to better<br />
understand what they’re paying for.<br />
Key concern of the affluent<br />
Planning to preserve money as well<br />
as growing wealth is another key<br />
differentiator in Hill’s investing<br />
approach. Hill told the Suit that<br />
Professional Financial serves as<br />
the chief financial officer for its<br />
clients, which include affluent<br />
professionals, physicians and retirees.<br />
Most clients approaching retirement<br />
age are concerned about<br />
preserving their wealth. That includes<br />
needing reliable outcomes<br />
they can plan for. Performance is<br />
usually secondary, says Hill.<br />
“For many, their concern is not about<br />
getting rich,” he said. “They’re already<br />
wealthy. What they’re really concerned<br />
with—or should be concerned with—is<br />
that they never die poor.”<br />
Hill said that for a successful financial<br />
experience, investors must learn not to<br />
dwell on chasing returns, but to focus<br />
on things they can control, like spending,<br />
saving, taxes and expenses. “A single<br />
big mistake can ruin years of even<br />
the best returns. Rule number one is:<br />
don’t make mistakes.”<br />
Hill offers a complimentary “Second<br />
Opinion Service” for clients’ family and<br />
friends, especially since so many investors<br />
today are feeling unsure about the<br />
advice they get from their advisor.<br />
“The first meeting is a series of questions<br />
to explore whether we’re the right<br />
firm to accelerate their financial success,”<br />
Hill said. “After reviewing their<br />
information, we decide if we can make<br />
a major impact. If not, we point them in<br />
the right direction to others that may be<br />
a better fit. It’s a win-win for everyone.”<br />
PLEASE VISIT:<br />
www.professionalfinancial.com<br />
or www.linkedin.com/in/paulbyronhill<br />
Professional Financial Strategies, Inc.<br />
Powder Mill Office Park<br />
1159 Pittsford-Victor Road<br />
Pittsford, New York 14534<br />
(585) 218-9080<br />
Professional Financial Strategies,<br />
Inc. is an independent investment<br />
advisor registered with the State<br />
of New York.<br />
A current disclosure is available upon<br />
request by email to:<br />
planning@professionalfinancial.com<br />
Kam-Lin “Katherine” Hill CFP ®<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.35
y peter suciu<br />
Profiting through Strategic Supply Chain Management<br />
Giving Clients an Extra Edge<br />
Starting a business during a time of economic downturn<br />
might seem like a risky move, but for Dr. Randall<br />
Mauldin it wasn't as much of a risk as it was a strategic<br />
play, when he set out to found Jack Quinn Solutions, LLC.<br />
The firm was developed to help clients maximize efficiency<br />
through strategic innovation focusing on supply chain<br />
solutions.<br />
“What is supply chain management,” Mauldin, Jack<br />
Quinn Solutions CEO and president, asked rhetorically.<br />
“Buying the things you need to support your company is<br />
part of your supply chain.”<br />
To Mauldin, it is also much more than just the raw materials<br />
and products needed to make “stuff.” Supply chain<br />
management can be measured in a client's return on<br />
investment. “Our solution was for companies to<br />
look at their supply chain, look at how they are<br />
spending money and to do it more deliberately,<br />
more strategically. This includes making strategic<br />
buys – not just buying supplies on the fly<br />
when they absolutely need them.”<br />
While existing tactical or transactional approaches<br />
may represent business as usual<br />
for many companies, Mauldin said that the<br />
strategic approach can be seen in the bottom<br />
line.<br />
“There is software that can help companies<br />
do procurement better and faster,<br />
but what we are finding is that there are<br />
a lot of folks who don't understand supply<br />
chain management as a strategy,”<br />
he told The Suit Magazine. “So even<br />
with all these e-sourcing tools and purchasing<br />
aids in place, they are still purchasing<br />
in a way that is transactional and<br />
tactical – and not strategic and secure for<br />
the supply chain.”<br />
“E-sourcing has really dehumanized the purchasing process,”<br />
Mauldin added. “Companies need to train people to<br />
manage their supply chains.”<br />
Jack Quinn Solutions offers training to help clients better<br />
understand the procurement process, and then become certified<br />
in supply chain management. The firm offers a monthly<br />
boot camp at locations throughout the country, putting<br />
clients through the certification review process.<br />
“It is three days and it is very intense,” Mauldin explained.<br />
“It is eight hours a day for three days, and we just<br />
go through the information in a way that hammers home<br />
the most important supply chain management concepts that<br />
someone needs to know – not only to help that person pass<br />
the test, but to implement successful supply chain management<br />
in their company. It is focused on getting people<br />
certified.”<br />
There are good reasons for staying on course toward<br />
obtaining certification rather than merely<br />
becoming educated in supply chain management.<br />
Certification shows business owners and executives<br />
that a company's purchasing and supply<br />
chain management meet a professional<br />
standard, just like its accountants and<br />
attorneys must. Considering that a single<br />
supply chain manager can be responsible<br />
for spending $24M or more of a company's<br />
money, it makes perfect sense for<br />
the CEO to be confident in knowing that<br />
supply chain managers are fully qualified<br />
through professional certification.<br />
Such a rigorous process not only helps<br />
clients find unanticipated ways to generate<br />
additional profits for their company, but it<br />
is also designed to insure that those going<br />
through the boot camp will become certified<br />
afterward in supply chain management. The<br />
clients will be certified, or the firm will pay the<br />
re-exam fees.<br />
Mauldin emphasized, “We're the only one<br />
guaranteeing these results, and we work with<br />
clients until they get that certification.”<br />
www.jackquinnsolutions.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.37
y mary minor davis<br />
UNDERSTANDING<br />
YOUR OPTIONS<br />
Pete Carmasino,<br />
Retirement Advisor<br />
During his first week at a large brokerage firm, the new intern<br />
thought the firm was just having an unusually busy<br />
day. As it turns out, young Peter Carmasino found himself<br />
smack dab in the middle of the 1987 stock market crash.<br />
“I was hooked into the organized chaos of<br />
it all,” he said, recalling its intensity. The<br />
next day he bought The Wall Street Journal<br />
and began to study the market. Now, more<br />
than 25 years later, Carmasino will tell you<br />
plainly that the organized chaos which so<br />
attracted him in the first place is now the<br />
very thing he tries to avoid.<br />
Carmasino started his own company,<br />
NewBridge Retirement Advisors, focusing<br />
Building from a client’s<br />
existing assets, Carmasino<br />
explained how NewBridge<br />
applies a unique approach to<br />
creating a plan. They offer a<br />
“functional diversification,”<br />
a strategy that goes beyond<br />
the typical asset allocation<br />
model by taking advantage<br />
of trends in the marketplace.<br />
on building relationships with clients by For today’s pre-retiree,<br />
providing balanced strategies to meet their<br />
long-term financial needs. New Bridge<br />
works best with clients in the pre-retirement<br />
stage, with base assets of about<br />
$250,000. “That’s really our sweet spot because<br />
it gives us the capability of running a<br />
multi-faceted, multi-strategy plan.”<br />
Carmasino’s advice is to understand<br />
that longevity is<br />
the number one reducer of<br />
retirement income or assets.<br />
Longevity is increasing, making<br />
long term care as well as<br />
planning for inflation critical<br />
to developing a successful<br />
multi-strategy plan.<br />
“Traditionally, people have<br />
come into retirement from<br />
an accumulation plan – their 401(k), or an<br />
IRA, for example – looking for it to perform<br />
the best it can for as long as it can,” he said,<br />
continuing, “But then we have the kind of<br />
recession we had between 2007 - 2009. I<br />
am meeting prospects today who are just<br />
now starting to see a better than break-even<br />
point from the pre-2007 days. If you retire<br />
into that kind of environment with an accumulation<br />
strategy, it’s almost impossible to<br />
make back the money that you withdrawal<br />
in a declining market.” Income planning<br />
provides a foundation for the portfolio’s<br />
stability, and NewBridge then starts to<br />
strategically take on risk based on trends.<br />
“The team of money managers that we use<br />
have strategies that will move in or out of<br />
the market based on the current trends,”<br />
Carmasino detailed.<br />
His retirement planning method creates<br />
what he refers to as an “income floor” first.<br />
This income is matched to the household<br />
expenses. After that is established the remaining<br />
assets are exposed to the markets.<br />
This method helps gives the investor a predictable<br />
income for 8 - 10 years while allowing<br />
a smaller portion of their assets to grow<br />
in the markets.<br />
By making use of client communications,<br />
reporting, and clearly defined fee structures,<br />
NewBridge places clients in a better<br />
position to understand the advice being<br />
given and the benefit to them. This in turn<br />
creates trust be¬tween the client and advisor,<br />
which is the foundation for a long term<br />
relationship. “We’re on the side of the client<br />
much more than the average advisor,”<br />
Carmasino emphasized. “But I encourage<br />
clients to trust, and then verify where their<br />
assets are being placed.”<br />
10000 Lincoln Drive, East Suite 201<br />
Marlton, NJ 08057<br />
1-844-INCOME-4 - Toll Free<br />
(856) 780-5865 - Local<br />
www.newbridgera.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y amy armstrong<br />
Dusting off the History Books<br />
TO CALM CLIENTS FEARS<br />
Jay Gagne is more<br />
concerned with what<br />
he calls “headline risk”<br />
than he is with the<br />
cyclical ups and downs<br />
of the stock market.<br />
“We wake up in the morning and<br />
the wrong headline is blasting across<br />
the TV. Suddenly the market reacts<br />
violently to the downside – and then<br />
clients are panicking when they really<br />
don’t need to,” he said.<br />
That’s when Gagne, the managing<br />
partner of Gagne Wealth Management,<br />
an independent Raymond James firm<br />
located in Indianapolis, Indiana, takes<br />
an academic approach. He transforms<br />
from financial advisor to history<br />
teacher, going over the checklist of<br />
downturns, as well as national and<br />
world events that the stock market<br />
and the U.S. economy have survived.<br />
His list includes World Wars I and II,<br />
the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the<br />
Democratic Party being in control, the<br />
Republican Party being in control, the<br />
assassination of President Kennedy,<br />
the credit crisis, rising interest rates<br />
and lowering interest rates, just to<br />
name a few.<br />
“This market has been through<br />
everything,” Gagne said. “All we<br />
have to do is pull out the history<br />
book and dust it off to see how the<br />
markets reacted when a similar time<br />
approaches us today. We can look<br />
at how many months it took for the<br />
markets to recover – and what were<br />
the policy decisions that worked and<br />
what did not work.”<br />
He gained this confidence because<br />
of a professional move he made<br />
in 2001, after earning the Certified<br />
Investment Management Analyst<br />
(CIMA) designation from the Wharton<br />
School of Business at the University<br />
of Pennsylvania. He believes earning<br />
this distinction changed his career<br />
by upping his game as a financial<br />
advisor.“My greatest success was that<br />
wake-up call in 2001 when I got the<br />
additional certification from Wharton<br />
and turned into a true professional by<br />
applying the principles I learned there<br />
to my book of business,” Gagne said.<br />
“I learned all of the things I did not<br />
know.”<br />
The changes he made must be paying<br />
off. Gagne doesn’t have to prospect<br />
for clients; they all come via referral<br />
from the 220 households of doctors,<br />
physicians and others in the medical<br />
industry that comprise his current book<br />
of business. He noted that the average<br />
account size under his management is<br />
in the $1 million range.<br />
Not only are Gagne’s clients high<br />
net worth individuals, but they are<br />
very educated and very sophisticated.<br />
Yet, even they experience a myriad of<br />
emotions when the market takes another<br />
spin on the financial rollercoaster.<br />
“One of the things I tell my clients over<br />
and over again is that market turbulence<br />
is an eventuality and there is no way<br />
to avoid it,” Gagne emphasized. “But<br />
this is how we are going to handle it: If<br />
things get cheaper, we are going to stay<br />
put even more resolutely. I don’t know<br />
where the bottom is, I don’t know when<br />
things are oversold and I don’t know<br />
when things are overbought. What I<br />
do know is that downs are always only<br />
temporary and the gains made during<br />
the ups are always permanent.”<br />
Learn more about Gagne Wealth<br />
Management Group online at<br />
6505 East 82nd St., Suite 108 • Indianapolis,<br />
IN 46250 • Direct: 317-577-<br />
6030 • Toll-Free 1-866-461-7673<br />
www.raymondjames.com/gagnewealthmanagement<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y felix badea<br />
INDEPENDENT BUT CONNECTED<br />
An Independent Consultant Who Sees Her NETWORK as a Key to Success.<br />
The Capital Legacy,<br />
LLC is an independent<br />
consultancy<br />
firm that helps individual<br />
investors make better-informed<br />
decisions<br />
about financial products<br />
through unbiased advice. Their<br />
team builds lasting client relationships<br />
based on honest conversation and accountability,<br />
leading custom strategies<br />
which strive to meet specific objectives.<br />
Susan Allen has been a financial advisor<br />
for 34 years and with her mother,<br />
Jane, built their consultancy from<br />
the ground up. Now, Susan and her<br />
daughter Laura are extending that legacy<br />
by adhering to Susan’s business<br />
philosophy: “There is no greater feeling<br />
than to help a client obtain their<br />
dreams.”<br />
Susan’s independent business offers<br />
unbiased advice and guidance grounded<br />
on the principle that investors don’t<br />
need to be sold investment products,<br />
rather they need to be treated like family,<br />
consulted with and understood.<br />
In a time of rapid change and government<br />
regulation, when it is unnecessary<br />
and difficult to try to be an expert<br />
in everything, Susan has discovered a<br />
source of professional support for her<br />
“There is no<br />
greater feeling<br />
than to help a<br />
client obtain<br />
their dreams.”<br />
independent enterprise through her<br />
affiliation with THE Financial Services<br />
NETWORK, made up of over 230 Independent<br />
Financial Advisors who share<br />
a “Common Bond of Excellence”.<br />
THE NETWORK was started over 30<br />
years ago to provide Advisors with a<br />
source of service, support and solutions<br />
to stay at the forefront of the industry.<br />
Advisors affiliated with THE<br />
NETWORK have easy access to reliable<br />
support in the areas of practice<br />
and client-facing technology, investment<br />
management, financial planning<br />
and day-to-day service. THE<br />
NETWORK is independent Advisors<br />
supporting one another, but it’s also<br />
a resource-rich business partner who<br />
supports Advisors’ businesses across<br />
the board, from education and training<br />
to help with complex compliance<br />
issues. Susan’s affiliation with THE<br />
NETWORK maintains her independence<br />
while giving her many advantages<br />
that directly benefit her clients—and<br />
in the end that’s what it’s<br />
all about. To learn more go to www.<br />
FSNWeb.com.<br />
Securities and advisory services offered<br />
through LPL Financial, a registered<br />
investment advisor, Member<br />
FINRA/SIPC.<br />
780 Newtown-Yardley Road,<br />
Suite 310 Newtown Office Park<br />
Newtown, PA 18940<br />
Phone: (215)860-8400<br />
www.capitallegacypa.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.41
y peter suciu<br />
A WORRY-FREE<br />
Retirement<br />
s the saying goes: “there is no ‘I’ in team,” and for<br />
the McNeil, Ahrens, & Lambert Financial Group,<br />
LLC, that motto is exactly how the Mobile, Alabama<br />
firm operates each and every day. The<br />
team approach is what partner John R. Mc-<br />
Neil, Sr. credits as the best method to help<br />
clients maneuver through today’s complex<br />
financial services world, so they can retire<br />
with confidence.<br />
Partner / John R. McNeil, Sr.<br />
For McNeil, the team isn’t just like his<br />
family; it truly is his family. He joined<br />
the firm in 1979, after majoring in finance<br />
at the University of Alabama and<br />
went to work with his father and grandfather<br />
– a tradition that has been carried<br />
on since.<br />
“My grandfather started the firm in<br />
1922, my father joined after the war in<br />
1946,” McNeil told The Suit Magazine.<br />
“I joined in 1979 and my daughter, Virginia,<br />
joined the firm two years ago.<br />
Someone in our family has been with the<br />
firm for four generations.”<br />
This isn’t to say that since 1922, it has<br />
been only business as usual for the Mc-<br />
Neil clan or for the firm. When he joined<br />
in 1979, it was common for firms to represent<br />
one company, making it basically<br />
an insurance company at that time. In<br />
the early 1980s, the firm shifted from a<br />
general agency to a brokerage agency<br />
and rather than representing one company,<br />
it opened to other companies,<br />
“provided those companies had the<br />
ratings and financial stability for us to<br />
entrust our clients’ money with them,”<br />
McNeil clarified.<br />
Today the emphasis is on retirement<br />
income distribution and on helping clients<br />
maximize their income while minimizing<br />
taxes. The goal is positioning<br />
client assets so that, in the words of Mc-<br />
Neil, “(They) can move from a growth<br />
and accumulation phase into the decumulation<br />
phase, while making sure that<br />
they don’t run out of money before they<br />
run out of time.”<br />
A shift from the alpha approach to a<br />
more conservative approach was made,<br />
especially for those new baby boomer<br />
clients who had to live through the<br />
‘lost decade’ following losses in 2000<br />
and again in 2008. McNeil has helped<br />
clients see where they were before, noting,<br />
“They never understood what their<br />
money was doing. People in the past<br />
didn’t understand how they were invested<br />
and how risk and reward were<br />
overlapping. They didn’t realize that<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
4332 Boulevard Park South<br />
Suite E<br />
Mobile, AL 36609<br />
Office: (251) 666-5000<br />
info@malfinancial.com<br />
www.malfinancial.com<br />
their mutual funds were invested in<br />
the same stocks.”<br />
This conservative approach was<br />
ingrained in what McNeil’s father<br />
taught him as he was getting into the<br />
business 35 years ago. “It is the Will<br />
Rogers approach (to be) ‘more concerned<br />
with the return of my money<br />
than the return on my money.’”<br />
There is also the understanding of<br />
the difference between ‘money’ and<br />
‘income’ and McNeil stressed that<br />
these are very different concepts that<br />
need to be well understood. He said<br />
that he often hears clients tell him<br />
that their biggest fear is being scared<br />
of outliving their money. To this end,<br />
McNeil stated boldly, “Money is not<br />
the important thing – it is outliving<br />
the income. It is nice to have money<br />
but you’ve got to have income to survive.”<br />
“The textbooks used to teach us that<br />
the expected withdrawal rate should<br />
be no more than four percent,” he explained,<br />
“But some experts are now<br />
saying that it shouldn’t be more than<br />
three percent so you don’t run out of<br />
money.”<br />
McNeil’s firm credits income riders<br />
on a portion of the invested assets as<br />
a way to help guarantee that there is<br />
income that can’t be outlived. This in<br />
turn can provide an individual with an<br />
asset in the portfolio to overcome one<br />
of the greatest fears for people over 65,<br />
which is outliving their money.<br />
“With these income riders, with<br />
highly rated insurance companies,<br />
we feel are probably the most important<br />
asset people can have as they<br />
approach retirement to protect principal<br />
but also attractive interest rate<br />
growth,” McNeil said.<br />
If clients aren’t meeting the necessary<br />
projections, modifications can be<br />
made to get them on track while still<br />
having liquidity, should it be needed.<br />
“When we set out a plan, it is not set<br />
Whether you are young or old, experienced or inexperienced,<br />
ready to retire or want to start or grow your existing retirement<br />
accounts, MAL Financial is ready to develop a customized<br />
financial plan for you, your family and your business to help accomplish<br />
your goals. The experienced advisors and helpful staff<br />
are here for you when you need us.<br />
in concrete, but it is set firm enough if<br />
they follow the guidelines as we set<br />
them out, they’re going to be fine,” he<br />
stressed. “We know circumstances are<br />
going to come up.”<br />
Keeping their clients informed is<br />
also a crucial part of the business for<br />
McNeil, Ahrens, & Lambert Financial<br />
Group. While the firm dates back to<br />
the days before the Great Depression,<br />
it now utilizes the latest technology,<br />
including social media, to stay connected<br />
with clients. Instead of a static<br />
company website that never changes,<br />
it is now updated throughout the day<br />
with links to articles and blog posts. At<br />
the same time, the firm keeps clients<br />
informed through traditional newsletters<br />
as well as an electronic media<br />
weekly alerting them to changes in social<br />
security, taxes and other financial<br />
information.<br />
For McNeil, an informed client will<br />
have the money – and the income – to<br />
enjoy retirement, worry free.<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.43
TECH SAVY CONSUMERS<br />
LEADS TO BETTER INFORMED CLIENTS<br />
Rudy Garcia, a Chief Retirement Wealth Advisor with<br />
Retirement Plan Advisors of Virginia, understands<br />
his clients are logging on more and has chosen to take<br />
advantage of the social media platform as one means to inform<br />
and educate clients. “I’ve chosen to work in this space<br />
to benefit my clients,” he explained to Suit Magazine. “Due<br />
to compliance requirements, it’s challenging to create original<br />
content but there is a lot of information out there that<br />
is very informative that I use primarily as information and<br />
education tools.”<br />
Education is the foundation of Garcia’s service to clients.<br />
With a focus on the mid-market, he recognizes that challenges<br />
such as the uncertainty of social security and shifts in defined-benefit<br />
plans to defined-contribution plans mean that<br />
today’s consumers must be more in control of their retirement<br />
than ever before. His approach is to work with clients<br />
to identify their long-term goals, align that with their current<br />
assets and identify the gaps where solutions are needed. He<br />
accomplishes this by using the latest client facing technology<br />
such as the “HBW Client First” financial management website<br />
for all clients.<br />
“Building a good client-advisor relationship is about being<br />
transparent about who I am and what I’m trying to do,”<br />
he shared. “I’m dealing with intelligent people—it’s about<br />
clients knowing what their options are and helping them to<br />
understand the choices that are right for them.”<br />
Retirement Plan Advisors of Virginia uses HBW Advisory<br />
Services LLC to handle the management and investment of<br />
By Mary Minor Davis<br />
Technology is perhaps one of the most important trends facing financial advisors today. With<br />
more tech savvy consumers having access to a greater cache of online resources, advisors must<br />
work to stay ahead of the curve.<br />
assets through a unique, tactically managed,<br />
multi-manager approach designed to avoid large losses.<br />
Using this approach allows Garcia to provide a stronger<br />
risk management portfolio that balances the peaks and valleys<br />
of the market. This also provides another layer of transparency<br />
as assets are deposited directly with the custodian,<br />
Trust Company of America.<br />
As part of his own business goals, Garcia said he and his<br />
partner are continuing to focus on building a stronger presence<br />
with small businesses and their 401(k) needs.<br />
“By the end of 2015, we want to be recognized as the group<br />
that is looking out for small business.”<br />
*Investment advisory services offered through HBW Advisory<br />
Services LLC. HBW Entities are located at 3355 Cochran<br />
St, Suite 100, Simi Valley, CA 93063 (800) 473-3856.<br />
Rudy Garcia is an Investment Advisor Representative dba<br />
Retirement Plan Advisors of Virginia. Retirement Plan Advisors<br />
of Virginia , HBW Insurance & Financial Services,<br />
Inc. and HBW Advisory Services LLC are separate entities<br />
which do not offer legal or tax advice.<br />
802 Rivanna Woods Dr.<br />
Fork Union, VA 23055<br />
www.RPAVA.com<br />
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Testing the RISKS<br />
The 2008 financial crisis left lingering,<br />
unpleasant memories in<br />
its wake – and now investors expect<br />
wealth management advisors to handle<br />
risk much more effectively. That’s<br />
what David Adams, President of the<br />
Nashville-based David Adams Wealth<br />
Group, hears now when he speaks with<br />
clients.<br />
“I would agree that clients as a whole<br />
really desire a more customized, tailored,<br />
comprehensive financial planning<br />
approach,” Adams said. “I think<br />
this fundamental shift started gaining<br />
momentum after 2008, when many investors<br />
lost over half of their portfolio<br />
values.”<br />
Adams, who offers securities through<br />
Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.<br />
Member FINRA/SIPC, said that his firm<br />
is fiercely independent, putting clients’<br />
needs first by sitting “on the same side<br />
of the table” as they do. Adams added<br />
that he vowed to never work for a<br />
company pushing specific investment<br />
products.<br />
Part of keeping clients at the center<br />
is making sure they feel confident their<br />
money will last a lifetime and could survive<br />
stress tests. To do that,<br />
Adams’ uses sophisticated<br />
software that can test investments<br />
against predicted<br />
stresses – recessions, a collapse<br />
similar to 2008, longterm<br />
illness – or against investor<br />
fears, such as living<br />
longer than expected. These<br />
tests help Adams and his<br />
team further customize the<br />
advice they provide.<br />
“It’s the ultimate problem-solving<br />
task we have to<br />
address as advisors, that our<br />
clients don’t outlast their<br />
money … By the end of this<br />
simulation, clients know<br />
where they stand,” said Adams, a Certified<br />
Public Accountant and Certified<br />
Financial Planner .<br />
Adams told The Suit that his team –<br />
which handles a diverse clientele comprised<br />
of households, singer/songwriters<br />
and professional athletes – performs<br />
these simulations. “My competition<br />
doesn’t go to this level of detail- it’s<br />
what makes us different,” he said. Adams<br />
and his team also provide “white<br />
by matt camara<br />
glove” treatment for every client, and<br />
enjoy having genuine conversations<br />
with them and continuing to have those<br />
conversations as situations change and<br />
plans evolve.<br />
Adams emphasized, “I feel that financial<br />
plans are meant to be dynamic,<br />
not static.”<br />
www.davidadamswealthgroup.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.47
y felix badea<br />
REAL ESTATE<br />
Opportunities Abound<br />
For potential home buyers seek creative financing vehicles, after the 2008<br />
financial meltdown and the 2007 housing bubble, rent-to-own options are<br />
no longer a method of last resort, but have become a viable and dependable<br />
path to home ownership in a very slowly recovering economy.<br />
For Jeff Shadrick, president of REI<br />
Associates, LLC, based in Birmingham,<br />
Alabama, using rentto-own<br />
financing to help credit-challenged<br />
clients has expanded his firm’s<br />
presence in the real estate market. It<br />
is also a proven method, capable of<br />
taking on the challenges of a downed<br />
economy, to produce opportunities<br />
not dependent on a full-fledged recovery.<br />
“From the beginning, I was focused<br />
on building a client-trusted, sustainable<br />
real estate investment services<br />
company that was diversified enough<br />
to remain profitable no matter what<br />
stage of the real estate cycle our primary<br />
markets were in,” Shadrick explains.<br />
In 2010, he left the banking industry<br />
to found REI Associates, LLC. Shadrick<br />
had spent his 18-year career helping<br />
high net worth clients structure and<br />
manage their investment accounts, but<br />
his spare time was spent investing in<br />
personal real estate and construction<br />
projects.<br />
It was a “hobby” he came by naturally.<br />
Shadrick grew up in a family involved<br />
in the construction and home<br />
remodeling industries, and spent<br />
much of his youth learning the “ins<br />
and outs” of properly remodeling a<br />
home to suit an incoming family.<br />
When the housing bubble burst<br />
in 2007, Shadrick knew exactly how<br />
quickly the massive halting of new<br />
home construction would produce an<br />
overwhelming need for single family<br />
rental properties. Likewise, he knew<br />
that potential homeowners could not<br />
achieve the basic American dream due<br />
to either a recent home foreclosure<br />
or to banks that had simply stopped<br />
lending.<br />
Shadrick’s early experience, coupled<br />
with his banking expertise, told him<br />
that a unique opportunity to purchase<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
deeply discounted foreclosed<br />
properties was right in front of<br />
him. Believing he could renovate<br />
acquired foreclosed properties,<br />
Shadrick felt he could<br />
convert those single family<br />
homes into income producers.<br />
He was right.<br />
Four years later, Shadrick<br />
and his team – with over 50<br />
years of combined real estate,<br />
investment, construction and<br />
property management experience<br />
– have completed more<br />
than 200 projects of either new<br />
construction or renovation of<br />
existing properties. They’ve<br />
made a sizable contribution to<br />
the housing market in Alabama<br />
and provided home ownership<br />
opportunities for people no longer<br />
served by traditional real<br />
estate lending.<br />
Shadrick’s firm provides clients<br />
with different entry points<br />
into the real estate market. The<br />
first is its real estate division,<br />
through which Shadrick partners<br />
with other real estate investors.<br />
Options range from<br />
outright purchase of properties<br />
that REI Associates will manage,<br />
or a more passive approach<br />
to real estate investing, by becoming<br />
a lender, financing REI<br />
projects. Shadrick is adding an<br />
educational component to this<br />
division of his firm, making<br />
consulting and training options<br />
for real estate investors available<br />
by the end of this year.<br />
The second option involves construction<br />
and remodeling, and Shadrick<br />
noted that, by the end of 2014, REI<br />
Associates will offer a third option.<br />
He is adding a full-service real estate<br />
brokerage division employing agents<br />
engaged in listing and showing properties.<br />
These options are all part of Shadrick’s<br />
efforts to enhance his already-expansive<br />
network of real estate agents,<br />
mortgage brokers, other lenders, contractors,<br />
attorneys and title companies<br />
that he and his team have created<br />
across the state of Alabama.<br />
“We present ourselves as a full service,<br />
one-stop shop for the real estate<br />
investor or for the person who needs<br />
home remodeling services,” Shadrick<br />
said. “One of the major benefits of<br />
working with REI Associates, LLC, is<br />
our network of national investors and<br />
the real estate educators affiliated with<br />
our team.”<br />
When Shadrick said “national,” he<br />
meant it. Although his firm and the<br />
bulk of REI’s real estate projects are<br />
based in Alabama, many of the firm’s<br />
investors reside elsewhere.<br />
“We network and mastermind with<br />
some of the top names in real estate<br />
nationwide, and by working with us,<br />
an investor gains access to our extensive<br />
network of real estate experts and<br />
up-to-date real estate investment strategies”<br />
Shadrick emphasized.<br />
That includes the kind of client-convenience<br />
strategies that fly in the face<br />
of traditional real estate methodology.<br />
For instance, REI Associates does not<br />
charge sellers fees or closing costs – a<br />
transaction generally shared by the<br />
seller and buyer in the traditional real<br />
estate world. Rather than requiring<br />
sellers and buyers to meet at a title<br />
company to sign documents, REI Associates<br />
brings the title paperwork to<br />
both, either at home or the workplace.<br />
Buying a home can be exciting, stressful and puzzling,<br />
all at once. After all, you are making what’s likely<br />
to be the largest purchase of your lifetime. And your<br />
home is not only a financial asset; it’s a place for you<br />
to build your life and your family.<br />
As Shadrick points out, “We have<br />
built a fantastic team of individuals<br />
who are all motivated to help clients<br />
learn and profit from the current real<br />
estate market, and we continue to provide<br />
solutions to our clients.”<br />
www.reiassociates.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.49
y mary minor david<br />
Enjoying<br />
the<br />
Experience<br />
Adam Soloff, CFP®, EA remembers the early years of getting<br />
started as a financial planner all too well. “I cut my teeth<br />
cold-calling people out of the phone book,” he told The Suit Magazine.<br />
“We figured it out – and I think I was making about $1.25<br />
an hour for the first three years.”<br />
Today, he runs Soloff Wealth Management, a successful<br />
Pennsylvania firm specializing in personal financial<br />
planning and employee benefits. Soloff himself<br />
has also become a leading voice in the industry, teaching<br />
financial planning within the Pennsylvania State University’s<br />
Professional Development Program, and serving on the<br />
board of directors for the Financial Planning Association’s<br />
Philadelphia and Tri-State chapters. He is also an enrolled<br />
agent with the IRS, the highest credential awarded by the<br />
IRS.<br />
Soloff’s comprehensive approach to clients starts with,<br />
as he puts it, “really defining clients’ financial needs and<br />
wants, and then providing a team to work together on their<br />
financial life.” When looking at the big picture, he adds that<br />
it’s important for all components to be managed together.<br />
“We call it the four legs: investment, taxes, insurance and<br />
estate planning – all working cohesively together,” Soloff<br />
explained.<br />
According to Soloff, his firm works really well with clients<br />
who are either newly retired or approaching retirement<br />
within a 10-year window. Together they establish a<br />
plan providing guidelines for the level of risk that can be<br />
managed within that investment portfolio. As an enrolled<br />
agent with the IRS, Soloff adds that he can also provide<br />
expert advice in distributing income through the “most<br />
tax-efficient manner possible.”<br />
One common mistake he sees repeatedly with new clients<br />
is a portfolio exceeding the risk level needed to meet<br />
their long-term goals. By helping them identify milestones,<br />
he can redirect their investments to match an appropriate<br />
risk strategy that also provides the flexibility of adjusting to<br />
changing market conditions.<br />
“We operate under a very strict fiduciary standard as advisors,”<br />
Soloff emphasized. “We put ourselves on the same<br />
side of the table as the client. When they succeed, we succeed.”<br />
The company’s philosophy is to build long-term relationships<br />
with clients stemming from clear and transparent<br />
communications, and utilizing tools to protect against unforeseen<br />
circumstances. “We don’t get many calls into the<br />
office, because we’re constantly monitoring our clients and<br />
stay in touch with them regularly,” Soloff said. This intense<br />
focus on clients is why the majority of the firm’s business<br />
comes in through referrals.<br />
Soloff notes that one of the major trends he is seeing today,<br />
is people wanting to enjoy their retirement more as opposed<br />
to leaving a financial inheritance.<br />
“We’re finding that our clients feel that leaving a large<br />
legacy is not necessarily the best thing for their heirs,” Soloff<br />
noted. “They’ll leave real estate, like a beach house, preferring<br />
to create experiences during their lifetime and leaving<br />
their children something that they can experience after<br />
they’re gone.”<br />
Looking ahead, he sees the overall fundamentals of the<br />
economy – and his company – remaining strong.<br />
Soloff pointed out, “I’m very lucky, in that I’ve surrounded<br />
myself with people and clients who are similar to me.<br />
We recognize that making money is necessary, but it’s not<br />
the most important thing in life. We have a nice balance.”<br />
To learn more visit: www.SoloffWealth.com<br />
Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA & SIPC.<br />
The opinions expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect<br />
the views of LPL Financial.<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
Success is a Two-Way Street<br />
Richard ichard C. C. McDowell McDowell Jr., Jr., Chartered Chartered Financial Financial Consultant<br />
Consultant<br />
(ChFC), is one of those fortunate people whose career<br />
(ChFC), is one of those fortunate people whose career<br />
hurdles and detours led him toward a path to greater success.<br />
hurdles and detours led him toward path to greater success.<br />
After starting out in 1985 as a conventional advisor, Mc-<br />
After starting out in 1985 as conventional advisor, Mc-<br />
Dowell moved into financial planning in 2003. “The firm I<br />
Dowell moved into financial planning in 2003. “The firm was with went under, so I applied to graduate school and<br />
was with went under, so applied to graduate school and<br />
earned my ChFC designation,” he recalls. “I subsequently<br />
earned my ChFC designation,” he recalls. “I subsequently<br />
joined an independent brokerage firm, LPL Financial. The<br />
joined an independent brokerage firm, LPL Financial. The<br />
move changed how I work.” And it changed his life as well.<br />
move changed how work.” And it changed his life as well.<br />
That career shift benefited him and his client base. As someone<br />
providing guidance and service to individuals and busi-<br />
That career shift benefited him and his client base. As someone<br />
providing guidance and service to individuals and businesses<br />
in the Denver, Colo. area for more than 25 years, Mcnesses<br />
in the Denver, Colo. area for more than 25 years, Mc-<br />
Dowell’s association with an independent brokerage firm<br />
Dowell’s association with an independent brokerage firm<br />
without proprietary products supported independence of<br />
without proprietary products supported independence of<br />
thought and action, giving him complete flexibility to customize<br />
clients’ investment plans.<br />
thought and action, giving him complete flexibility to customize<br />
clients’ investment plans.<br />
Using that freedom, McDowell offers his clients wide-ranging,<br />
non-proprietary investment options – including mutual<br />
Using that freedom, McDowell offers his clients wide-ranging,<br />
non-proprietary investment options including mutual<br />
funds, stocks, bonds, REIT’s, ETF’s, and variable and fixed<br />
funds, stocks, bonds, REIT’s, ETF’s, and variable and fixed<br />
annuities – on a commission or fee basis. An expert in investments,<br />
insurance, tax planning, retirement planning<br />
annuities on commission or fee basis. An expert in investments,<br />
insurance, retirement planning, tax planning,<br />
and estate planning, McDowell focuses on a collaborative<br />
and estate planning. McDowell focuses on collaborative<br />
approach to wealth accumulation.<br />
approach to wealth accumulation.<br />
“Everything done is mutually agreed upon. I make suggestions<br />
and the clients make the decisions,” he emphasized.<br />
“Everything done is mutually agreed upon. make suggestions<br />
and the clients make the decisions,” he emphasized.<br />
And McDowell ensures that each client’s decisions are individually<br />
appropriate – whether that means conservative<br />
And McDowell ensures that each client’s decisions are individually<br />
appropriate whether that means conservative<br />
or aggressive investing. That’s why education forms a major<br />
or aggressive investing. That’s why education forms major<br />
part of his relationship with clients. To this end, he places<br />
part of his relationship with clients. To this end, he places<br />
data in simple, easily understood formats. McDowell does<br />
data in simple, easily understood formats. McDowell does<br />
three reviews each year, making the client part of the larg-<br />
three reviews each year, making the client part of the larg-<br />
er process which, in<br />
er process which, in<br />
turn, strengthens their<br />
turn, strengthens their<br />
client/advisor relationship.<br />
client/advisor relationship.<br />
“I place clients in a<br />
“I place clients in better position to take<br />
better position to take<br />
advantages of world<br />
advantages of world<br />
changes, as I am proactive instead of reactive,” McDowell<br />
changes, as am proactive instead of reactive,” McDowell<br />
explains. “I understand each industry and what companies<br />
explains. “I understand each industry and what companies<br />
focus on. I see what’s going to happen ahead of time.”<br />
focus on. see what’s going to happen ahead of time.”<br />
But he has one educational problem related to retirement<br />
But he has one educational problem related to retirement<br />
planning – and it’s a thorn in the side of many other advisors.<br />
“I can’t convince enough people about the value of<br />
planning and it’s thorn in the side of many other advisors.<br />
“I can’t convince enough people about the value of<br />
long-term health care,” McDowell says. “I can help make<br />
long-term health care,” McDowell says. “I can help make<br />
assets cover retirement expenses, but a personal health crisis<br />
assets cover retirement expenses, but personal health crisis<br />
can cause everything to come tumbling down.”<br />
can cause everything to come tumbling down.”<br />
Still, his work provides him with great satisfaction. “My<br />
Still, his work provides him with great satisfaction. “My<br />
true love is helping others,” he says. That love is requited,<br />
true love is helping others,” he says. That love is requited,<br />
too. “Clients don’t leave me.”<br />
too. “Clients don’t leave me.”<br />
McDowell has but one regret: “I didn’t get my designation<br />
McDowell has but one regret: “I didn’t get my designation<br />
sooner.”<br />
sooner.”<br />
www.richardcmcdowell.com<br />
www.richardcmcdowell.com<br />
Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC<br />
Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC
y rich monetti<br />
Merchant Services<br />
and Data Breach Protection<br />
Target is still not able to calculate<br />
the cost of the monumental<br />
credit card breach that compromised<br />
the data of tens of millions of<br />
customers last year. Even though various<br />
reports put the loss at around $1<br />
billion, a trip to the mall in Anywhere,<br />
USA finds that the big red bulls-eye<br />
still hangs high, appearing largely unaffected.<br />
Conversely, any small business<br />
experiencing only a tiny fraction<br />
of such a massive oversight would not<br />
find itself to be quite so lucky, possibly<br />
being forced out of business completely.<br />
So, while staying that crucial step<br />
ahead of criminal hackers can never<br />
be completely assured, TransAct<br />
Merchant Solutions provides at least a<br />
little peace of mind, especially for the<br />
smaller, more vulnerable businesses<br />
with fewer technology<br />
options.<br />
“We are about<br />
to provide a<br />
cyber-security<br />
insurance package<br />
where<br />
any small<br />
business in<br />
America<br />
can participate<br />
and receive protection for their businesses<br />
processing and EMR records of<br />
at least $1 million dollars on the low<br />
end and $25 million on the high end,”<br />
says CEO Joseph Cherry. No other<br />
company in America can, or does, provide<br />
a similar solution for its clients.<br />
TransAct makes sure clients are<br />
PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant<br />
– and that they fully understand<br />
what that means. TransAct also enters<br />
business arrangements by being<br />
a resource of knowledge for the client,<br />
even about their own industry. “We<br />
do study their industry, so that when<br />
we walk through the door we’re not<br />
just offering a solution for merchant<br />
services. We’re offering a solution that<br />
their industry has said is important to<br />
them for merchant services. So it’s a<br />
whole different conversation,” Cherry<br />
explained.<br />
As a registered ISO/MSP (Independent<br />
Sales Organization / Member<br />
Service Provider) of Chase Paymentech<br />
Solutions, TransAct provides a<br />
complete platform of services for merchants,<br />
including credit and debit card<br />
programs, electronic checks, gift cards<br />
and automatic recurring payments.<br />
Additionally, using PCI-certified<br />
equipment and innovative processing<br />
solutions, along with valuable<br />
customer retention tools like<br />
loyalty cards and free online reporting,<br />
can help ensure business<br />
growth. “One-stop solutions<br />
that improve merchants<br />
operating efficiencies and save<br />
money,” according to Trans-<br />
Act.<br />
The regional, district and national<br />
network of associations with which<br />
TransAct is affiliated increases buying<br />
power for clients, spreading the<br />
savings even further. “It allows us to<br />
provide businesses the ability to get<br />
reduced pricing in a lot of different areas,”<br />
Cherry noted.<br />
Nonetheless, some degree of risk<br />
always accompanies each interchange<br />
between the merchant and the MSP.<br />
TransAct counteracts most of these<br />
negative possibilities by focusing clients<br />
on vision. “I think for any business<br />
to be successful, you really have<br />
to first understand the vision of your<br />
company – and as long as you stay<br />
true to that, you can minimize the<br />
risks,” Cherry emphasized.<br />
Averting high risk transactions then<br />
becomes one of the vital functions of<br />
TransAct’s reinforcement of small<br />
business efforts – and during that process,<br />
the company generally lets the<br />
clients do the talking.<br />
“We train our people to listen,” says<br />
Cherry.<br />
In the end, that leaves clients open to<br />
a full understanding of all the services<br />
at their disposal for improving and<br />
safeguarding their own businesses.<br />
www.transactms.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y gerald h. levin<br />
BANKING ON<br />
an Independent Streak<br />
“The biggest thing we sell is independence,” said Parker E. Elmore, president and<br />
CEO of Odyssey Advisors, Inc., a Connecticut-based retirement planning firm that<br />
he founded in 1998. Odyssey serves small to medium-sized clients in 37 states, including<br />
a new Las Vegas office, along with even a few in Europe.<br />
Parker, with over 25<br />
years of experience<br />
in the industry, relishes<br />
the independence<br />
of his company. “We’re<br />
an independent provider.<br />
We don’t manage money.<br />
We don’t want to manage<br />
money. We work with<br />
people in that business,”<br />
he explained, continuing,<br />
“Clients understand that<br />
the advice we give is independent<br />
because we get<br />
paid only by them.” Odyssey’s<br />
independence with<br />
brokers exists because – as Parker puts<br />
it, “We can work with any of them.”<br />
Odyssey’s business is a 50-50 split<br />
between private companies and municipalities.<br />
He said that six or seven<br />
years ago, it was more like 90-10, private<br />
versus municipalities. Since then,<br />
the number of municipal clients has<br />
exploded.<br />
“The tipping point,” Parker told The<br />
Suit, “was the emergence of GASB 45,<br />
an accounting standard that became<br />
effective in 2008.” GASB stands for<br />
Governmental Accounting Standards<br />
Board.<br />
“Municipalities around the country<br />
have promised medical benefits to<br />
their future retirees. And, what GASB<br />
45 basically says, is that you have to reflect<br />
on your books what the value of<br />
that promise is.”<br />
Parker seized the opportunity that<br />
GASB 45 presented and turned it into<br />
a focal point for his firm. “We’ve been<br />
doing that kind of work since the<br />
founding of the company, and I’ve<br />
been doing it since 1992. So, it was a<br />
natural fit for us to get into that market.”<br />
For private companies, Parker said<br />
that ESOPs (Employee Stock Option<br />
Plans) can be good alternatives to 401K<br />
plans.<br />
Providing employees with ownership<br />
in the company as a retirement<br />
benefit means that participating employees<br />
have “skin in the game.” Parker<br />
acknowledged, “Ultimately,<br />
the value of that stock they’re<br />
receiving in their benefit plan<br />
is going to go up or down, depending<br />
on how the business is<br />
doing.”<br />
ESOPs also allow company<br />
owners to sell portions of their<br />
business to the plan, a chunk at<br />
a time. “Owners get a chance to<br />
take a portion of their net worth<br />
and diversify into something<br />
else,” Parker said. And, though<br />
it may not the most lucrative<br />
way to exit their companies,<br />
owners can ease their way into<br />
retirement. They don’t have to sell the<br />
business and walk away.<br />
Regarding 401K plans, Parker emphasized,<br />
“Most have far too many<br />
funds. Fifteen years ago, eight to 10<br />
funds was the norm. Today, it’s 40<br />
to 50 funds, if not more.” As a result,<br />
the average participant doesn’t know<br />
which funds to invest in.<br />
“It’s the paradox of choice,” he said.<br />
“Too much choice is no choice at all.”<br />
www.odysseyadvisors.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.53
FINANCIAL PLANNER USES EDUCATION, DIALOGUE<br />
TO FORGE LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS<br />
“Some of my wealthiest clients did not create their wealth investing<br />
with our firm,” says Alan Jay Levine, president of Diversified Financial<br />
Consultants in northern New Jersey. “They are clients because of<br />
other services that we provide, which they see as value-added.”<br />
Levine says two main differences exist between Diversified<br />
and other companies. “We are non-proprietary,<br />
we don’t manufacture a product that has to be pushed<br />
on the public. And, our training is more extensive.”<br />
Diversified Financial Consultants originated in 2002. The<br />
firm, which has 12 reps on staff and assets approaching $1<br />
billion, evolved into its present form in 2010, when it affiliated<br />
with LPL Financial, one of the nation’s largest independent<br />
broker-dealers.<br />
“We are fully vested in our clients’ futures,” Levine says.<br />
“It behooves us to provide services that safeguard our clients’<br />
assets regardless of what kind of risks they may take.<br />
Education is critical.”<br />
He sees clients having a more intense interest in retirement<br />
and legacy planning, compared to a few years ago.<br />
“They’re doing things now that they’ve been putting off.<br />
They want to be done and taken care of. We’re there to hold<br />
their hands.”<br />
Levine says Diversified is apt to tap experts – accountants,<br />
lawyers and estate attorneys, for instance – to review<br />
clients’ plans. “We have full knowledge ourselves, but we<br />
like to get second and third opinions.” He says the firm discusses<br />
client portfolios every quarter. “LPL Financial also<br />
pushes us not to leave accounts dormant.”<br />
Public debate of “alpha, beta and gamma” – terms used to<br />
assess the value of financial planning – is an example of the<br />
information overload that hovers over the industry, Levine<br />
says.<br />
“Financial noise is everywhere. Our firm philosophy<br />
doesn’t change with the gyrations on Wall Street. We have<br />
a long-term approach, but keep an eye on opportunities the<br />
world can provide.”<br />
www.diversifiedfinancialconsultantsllc.com
y peter suciu<br />
TRANSPARENCY IN CLIENT INVESTMENT<br />
IS THE BASIS OF TRUST<br />
After beginning his career with Advest, which was later acquired by Merrill Lynch, Robert E. Hapanowicz<br />
founded Hapanowicz & Associates in 1989. He began as its only employee but since that<br />
time the team has grown, and now manages and/or supervises over a quarter billion dollars in assets.<br />
He has continued to address concerns that clients weren’t even aware of previously, including the<br />
crafting of a plan agreeable to the clients and re-balancing to stay within what he calls “risk budget.”<br />
After beginning his career<br />
with Advest, which was<br />
later acquired by Merrill<br />
Lynch, Robert E. Hapanowicz<br />
founded Hapanowicz<br />
& Associates in 1989. He<br />
began as its only employee<br />
but since that time the team<br />
has grown, and now manages<br />
and/or supervises over<br />
a quarter billion dollars in<br />
assets. He has continued to<br />
address concerns that clients<br />
weren’t even aware of previously,<br />
including the crafting<br />
of a plan agreeable to the clients<br />
and rebalancing to stay<br />
within what he calls “risk<br />
budget.”<br />
Hapanowicz sought to go<br />
out on his own, based on<br />
his belief that the traditional<br />
broker-dealer approach<br />
of the 1980s was flawed as it<br />
often promoted products it<br />
had created, which resulted<br />
in what he saw as a potential<br />
for conflict of interest. H&A,<br />
which is an SEC registered<br />
investment advisory firm,<br />
serves clients and institutions<br />
primarily in western<br />
Pennsylvania and it offers<br />
investment management,<br />
fee for service financial planning,<br />
retirement and divorce<br />
planning, tax, estate and<br />
insurance planning. It also<br />
strived to be a cut above the<br />
traditional financial planner.<br />
“Our differentiators are:<br />
one, the quality and depth<br />
of our team, (which) we are<br />
able to focus on our clients’<br />
needs as we work with limited<br />
clientele; and two, we<br />
start with planning first,”<br />
Hapanowicz told The Suit<br />
Magazine. “Planning is the<br />
foundation. Build a strong<br />
foundation and it will guide<br />
us in everything we do.”<br />
This approach to “risk<br />
budget” has included focusing<br />
less on portfolio alpha,<br />
the traditional excess return<br />
over a benchmark, and more<br />
on portfolio construction<br />
that is in line with and in<br />
support of the clients’ risk<br />
budget and financial plan.<br />
“It’s a conservative approach<br />
with many less surprises,”<br />
added Hapanowicz.<br />
“We implement with proven,<br />
well-known, cost effective<br />
managers, each with a specific<br />
role in our clients portfolio.<br />
An exception would<br />
be our Special Situations<br />
Equities Strategy, which is<br />
very focused on generating<br />
alpha.”<br />
Hapanowicz also reiterated<br />
that credit is due to the<br />
quality of the team, which he<br />
has said can’t be overstated;<br />
along with the detail to the<br />
planning process that goes<br />
into it each portfolio.<br />
“It’s impossible to anticipate<br />
everything, but the premature<br />
death of a loved one<br />
can not only be emotionally<br />
traumatic it can have severe<br />
financial repercussions,” he<br />
noted. “If there is an illness,<br />
as an example, we attempt to<br />
address this issue as part of<br />
the planning.”<br />
The key is also being transparent<br />
in how the firm operates.<br />
“It helps me sleep well at<br />
night,” Hapanowicz noted.<br />
“It’s the basis of building<br />
trust. Generally most clients’<br />
risk tolerance has stayed the<br />
same, some have become a<br />
bit more conservative and<br />
that’s fine. We’ll have a discussion<br />
about risk based<br />
investing, their risk budget,<br />
and if the client wants to<br />
make an adjustment, that’s<br />
fine. It’s better<br />
to stay invested,<br />
even in a lower<br />
risk portfolio,<br />
than exit the markets<br />
altogether.”<br />
Hapanowicz & Associates<br />
301 Grant Street, Suite 300<br />
Pittsburgh, PA 15219<br />
Phone: 412-261-5966<br />
www.hapanowicz-associates.com<br />
*Securities offered through<br />
LPL Financial, Member FIN-<br />
RA/SIPC. Investment advice<br />
offered through Hapanowicz<br />
& Associates Financial<br />
Services, Inc., a registered<br />
investment advisor and separate<br />
entity from LPL Financial.<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.55
y amy armstrong<br />
ROCKET<br />
SCIENTIST<br />
Becomes<br />
Financial<br />
Advisor<br />
A financial advisor doesn’t<br />
have to be a rocket scientist.<br />
But for Brett Ramsey, owner<br />
of Novus Wealth Advisors<br />
with three locations in the<br />
greater Indianapolis, IN area,<br />
actually being one turned out<br />
to be a big boost.<br />
“It is a bit of an unusual<br />
background,”Ramsey<br />
concedes with a chuckle.<br />
Yet, the attention to detail<br />
required for successful<br />
aeronautical engineering,<br />
turned out to be a great<br />
launching pad for the careful<br />
scrutiny of client financial<br />
matters.<br />
Ramsey worked<br />
at NASA while<br />
earning his bachelor’s<br />
degree in mechanical<br />
and aerospace<br />
engineering<br />
before working<br />
another decade in<br />
manufacturing for General Electric<br />
Company. While working on his<br />
masters at Duke, a classmate who<br />
worked at GE Capital offered Ramsey<br />
a job in the financial services industry.<br />
He took it, and began sales<br />
and marketing for a large, national<br />
insurance company.<br />
That experience proved to be a productive<br />
laboratory. Ramsey discovered<br />
that he was more interested in<br />
working as an independent financial<br />
practitioner than as a salesman distributing<br />
financial products through<br />
a national network. In 2002, he<br />
earned his license and launched his<br />
own firm, Novus Wealth Advisors,<br />
providing wealth advising, insurance<br />
services and retirement planning.<br />
Ramsey knew there was ample territory<br />
to explore – especially in the<br />
atmosphere of the senior market. He<br />
finds that far too many older Americans<br />
are floating adrift without anything<br />
to get them where they need to<br />
be.<br />
“With my experience in the insurance<br />
side of things, I ran into two<br />
types of people: Those who already<br />
were well established financially and<br />
had the means to maintain their lifestyle<br />
in retirement, and those who<br />
were not. I realized I could help some<br />
of them, even though it is really difficult<br />
for someone in their 70s to make<br />
up that much ground to solve financial<br />
problems. So I made an intentional<br />
decision to start working with people<br />
earlier in the retirement process.”<br />
And this is where his career as a financial<br />
advisor has settled into orbit.<br />
He works with employers, providing<br />
education to their employees regarding<br />
retirement benefits and the retirement<br />
process. Ramsey’s approach<br />
isn’t designed to meet the needs of<br />
high net worth individuals, focusing<br />
instead on the financial needs of folks<br />
from middle class America.<br />
This is the sector where he intends<br />
to remain, by increasing his<br />
firm’s work site education initiative<br />
through employers.<br />
“We are 12 years into this – and<br />
we have really figured out who it is<br />
that we help,” Ramsey said. “We help<br />
people in that space prior to retirement.<br />
Work site education allows us<br />
to come in, meet more people, and<br />
start working with them much earlier<br />
in their retirement planning cycle, assisting<br />
them to make these important<br />
life decisions.”<br />
Novus Wealth Advisors<br />
9465 Counselors Row<br />
Indianapolis, IN 46240<br />
www.novuswa.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.57
Accentuating the Fundamentals While Devaluing the Noise<br />
By Dan Harvey<br />
The biggest misconception about money, as Roland<br />
Manarin points out, relates to one word: safety.<br />
Manarin, founder and president of Manarin Investment<br />
Counsel Ltd., helps clients protect their money. “For instance,<br />
most of my industry peers place about 50 percent<br />
of their client’s money into bonds – which are instruments<br />
that confiscate someone’s buying power,” he notes.<br />
His Omaha, Nebraska-based firm guards clients from the<br />
consequences of inappropriate counsel by helping them<br />
become owners of their own money. Freeing clients from<br />
counterproductive investment approaches becomes all<br />
about money ownership – and financial empowerment.<br />
Manarin explains, “You can spend, lend or own your money.<br />
If you spend it, I can’t help you. If you lend it, you won’t<br />
build wealth; it’s a guaranteed loss of purchasing power. If<br />
you own it, you’ll build or maintain your wealth.”<br />
Offering asset management and investment advice for<br />
small business retirement plans, families and individuals,<br />
Manarin Investment uses a common sense approach to<br />
risk-managed investing. For 35 years, the philosophy of<br />
ownership has formed the core of the firm’s portfolio investment<br />
theory. Simply put, money ownership results in<br />
higher returns. Within that theory is one inarguable guarantee<br />
of the firm’s success: Manarin himself is its own best<br />
customer.<br />
Disenchantment initially motivated him to establish the<br />
firm. “I became a stockbroker in 1977, and I found it to be<br />
sales-oriented, not client-oriented,”<br />
he recalls. “I realized I’d<br />
rather help people.” Starting out<br />
by conducting investment seminars,<br />
he was just teaching – without<br />
selling. In 1979, Manarin created<br />
his independent advisory<br />
firm and built it up by hiring only the best money managers.<br />
Now Manarin Investment Counsel offers multiple<br />
investment models designed to grow income and leverage.<br />
Many of his clients are retirees or those about to retire. For<br />
them, he advises eliminating the negative: the news – or<br />
“noise” – that can fill the head with debilitating doubts and<br />
fears. And as the best forward-thinking investment advisors<br />
will tell you, the news that you read in the papers and<br />
hear on TV is already a day old by the time its printed or<br />
aired.<br />
“We don’t base decisions on the noise du jour,” Manarin<br />
explained “We understand the consequences of fiscal policy,<br />
so we see what the future brings and position portfolios<br />
to best benefit from economic direction. If you follow the<br />
crowd, the best you can hope for is mediocrity.”<br />
www.manarin.com<br />
More Options for Commercial Financing<br />
By Judy Magness<br />
Mark Wetzig, Senior Partner of The Waverton Company, worked in sales and business development in the food<br />
industry for almost 30 years. Repeatedly, he saw his clients, who were mainly restaurant chain owners, hit the<br />
same roadblock. It was difficult for them to obtain financing for equipment, franchise costs and other expenses to<br />
keep their businesses thriving and competitive.<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014<br />
In the summer of 2013, Wetzig started<br />
The Waverton Company, a commercial<br />
lending solution for a full range of<br />
businesses needing financing. In doing<br />
so, he stepped out of the corporate world<br />
into entrepreneurship – something he<br />
had wanted to do for a long time.<br />
According to Wetzig, commercial lenders<br />
consider three criteria when evaluating a business: credit,<br />
collateral and cash flow. “Given the current economic<br />
conditions, those factors aren’t in perfect shape for a lot of<br />
businesses. Many traditional lenders don’t appreciate that,<br />
whereas the lenders I use in the secondary market will take<br />
that into consideration,” Wetzig explained. “Many of these<br />
lenders specialize in different areas of real estate, equipment<br />
leasing, or accounts receivable financing so they have<br />
a very good understanding of what is needed to consider a<br />
customer is a good risk.”<br />
Wetzig has made communication and responsiveness to<br />
clients a priority at The Waverton Company, and clients notice<br />
those efforts. One client recently told Wetzig that his<br />
firm has a distinct advantage over other lending firms because<br />
they actually reply to inquiries<br />
Another advantage of the Colorado-based firm is the<br />
range of the financing options. Instead of offering just a<br />
few different types of loans to clients, often the case in commercial<br />
lending, The Waverton Company has established<br />
relationships with over 50 niche, focused lenders. Wetzig<br />
emphasized, “Our job is to match a lender with a client.<br />
With our business model and the amount of variation we<br />
have in lending options, we eliminate trying to fit a square<br />
peg in a round hole.”<br />
www.thewavertoncompany.com
Retirement Planning Isn’t Just About That Big Number<br />
By Amy Armstrong<br />
Effective retirement planning<br />
shouldn’t focus on one huge, comprehensive<br />
dollar amount that retirees<br />
need to set aside before beginning<br />
that phase of their lives. Instead, Bruce<br />
Doner of Innovative Wealth Management<br />
Services in Berlin Township, New Jersey,<br />
tells his clients that financing retirement<br />
spending will be quite similar to the way<br />
they handled their finances during their working years.<br />
“I get my people to focus on retirement planning by asking<br />
them how they live their lives now,” Doner explains.<br />
“They answer, ‘I get my check from work, I meet my budget<br />
and I go on from there.’”<br />
Doner says it’s a big relief to his clients when he tells them,<br />
“Well, that is what we are going to do now in retirement.”<br />
Instead of talking about a massive number such as $1.6 or<br />
$2.4 million needed to fund an entire retirement, Doner prefers<br />
to work out a monthly budget, just as his clients needed<br />
to do while they were working nine to five and raising children.<br />
“Numbers like that really scare people,” he said. “There is<br />
no need to do that.”<br />
Doner begins with an analysis of a client’s Social Security<br />
benefit – noting that many clients are already well on their<br />
way to achieving those large overall numbers based solely<br />
on that guaranteed life-long income stream they automatically<br />
paid into throughout their working years.<br />
Then he determines the shortfall each client will need to<br />
cover based on the type of lifestyle each wants to maintain.<br />
Doner advises clients on a variety of investments to bridge<br />
the gap, and also advises clients on a variety of investment<br />
strategies that can produce multiple income streams..<br />
“We want a portion invested for growth to keep pace with<br />
inflation, but also a portion dedicated to creating conservative<br />
income streams that will not run dry if a client lives beyond<br />
their life expectancy,” he explains.<br />
His investment philosophy must be working. Please visit<br />
my website for a list of awards received for best in client satisfaction<br />
in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and<br />
Pennsylvania areas. Less than seven percent of all financial<br />
managers registered with the nationwide Financial Industry<br />
Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or the U.S. Securities and Exchange<br />
Commission in the tri-state area qualify.<br />
**Securities offered through Securities America Inc. Member<br />
FINRA/SIPC. Securities America companies and Innovative<br />
Wealth Management Services are not affiliated companies.<br />
www.innovative.wealth.sarep.com
Simple is Better When Building Client Relationships<br />
This southern gentleman proves the straight forward approach works best for his clients.<br />
By Mary Minor Davis<br />
Pat Paxton, Managing Director of Investment<br />
Planning Advisors brings<br />
a simple approach to the world of<br />
financial advising. Speaking in his deep<br />
southern drawl, he shares his philosophy<br />
on how he focuses on helping clients<br />
identify their long-term retirement needs<br />
in a straight-forward approach that eliminates<br />
the jargon.<br />
Founded in 2001, and located in the suburbs of Atlanta, the<br />
firm provides over 45 years of unbiased<br />
and objective advice to clients within<br />
the local Cumming area. “I work with<br />
everyday people,” Paxton explained.<br />
“These are hardworking, honest people<br />
who don’t like the salesmen, flashy approach.<br />
That’s my style—I don’t bring<br />
flash,” he said.<br />
What his clients do expect is to work<br />
with someone with good character,<br />
strong values and integrity, all characteristics<br />
with which Paxton credits both<br />
himself and his company.<br />
In an industry with a lot of jargon, it’s incumbent upon<br />
Paxton and his team to insure clients understand the products<br />
and options available to them and the risks involved in<br />
a language that they can understand. “People get confused,”<br />
he adds. “They don’t want to hear all of the industry terms.<br />
They don’t need a salesman; they need a counselor who can<br />
help guide them through the planning process,” Paxton said.<br />
Following the 2007 and 2008 recessions, “Our business was<br />
better than ever,” Paxton told The Suit, “mainly because we<br />
focus on the goals and communicate with our clients.” He<br />
added, “Where a client is today, where they want to go, and<br />
how they want to get there, is a crucial lifelong journey that<br />
IPA and their team of financial advisors are ready to provide.<br />
The most important things we do, is help to build longterm<br />
relationship. “Being there when a client needs you the<br />
most, assisting clients when spouses<br />
pass, or helping clients adjust to unexpected<br />
financial obstacles,” Paxton explains,<br />
“is critical to having a successful<br />
financial planning practice.”<br />
“We have to manage emotions and<br />
risk tolerance—this is a huge factor of<br />
our business. It’s all about education,”<br />
Paxton said.<br />
www.investplanadvise.com
y rich monetti<br />
Helping Clients Streamline and Automate<br />
SCIO|Financial Technologies<br />
305 Madison Avenue<br />
Suite 4600<br />
New York, NY 10165<br />
www.sciostrategy.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014<br />
The unraveling of the American<br />
economy in 2008 left many U.S.<br />
companies teetering on the brink of<br />
disaster. Many tried stepping back<br />
from the edge by issuing pink slips.<br />
But employee cutbacks don’t always<br />
solve the problem, especially if the<br />
work can’t get done. Strong strategy<br />
and data management firms were<br />
well positioned to help companies<br />
make up the difference with customized<br />
technology – and these firms actually<br />
experienced growth at a time<br />
when others were at a loss.<br />
“In the past four or five years we<br />
have been thriving,” says Young Lee,<br />
CEO of SCIO Strategies and Analytics,<br />
a division of Financial Technologies.<br />
The company’s approach focuses<br />
primarily on an examination of manual-<br />
and labor-intensive tasks that<br />
not only waste time but are difficult<br />
to transition to new hires. In doing<br />
a cost benefit study for clients, Lee<br />
says, “We understand their processes,<br />
and then automate and streamline<br />
those processes.”<br />
But there’s more to business than<br />
simple nuts and bolts. “We don’t just<br />
look at the project. We look at the<br />
personality, the relationship, the political<br />
environment and everything,”<br />
she says.<br />
Operating mostly by word of<br />
mouth, SCIO’s level of success allows<br />
them to narrow clients down to<br />
those companies that have a potential<br />
for improvement and exhibit an<br />
open mind toward Lee’s assistance.<br />
“We give our clients what they need<br />
– even when they are not quite sure<br />
what they want,” she emphasizes.<br />
A department of a top-tier health<br />
insurance provider cited as a SCIO<br />
case study was struggling to maintain<br />
P&L reports for their 1200 client companies.<br />
After a thorough examination<br />
of the stakeholders and the numerous<br />
data feeds involved, “SCIO built<br />
an automated process to extract, validate,<br />
and combine these data (feeds)<br />
to deliver on-demand P&L reports<br />
with current month, YTD and Rolling<br />
12 month views. The client is now<br />
able to quickly re-process an entire<br />
year of results as updated historical<br />
data arrives,” the case study reported.<br />
Confidentiality aside, Lee is not<br />
afraid to drop names. “We just became<br />
the official partner of IBM’s<br />
Watson,” she says modestly.<br />
A budding partnership with an analytics<br />
software as a service company<br />
has SCIO anticipating a bright future.<br />
“We are engaging with a data company<br />
that has a $200 million in assets to<br />
become their IT provider,” she says.<br />
Despite their success, this CEO<br />
grounds her company in a philosophy<br />
that puts excellence over the<br />
pursuit of profit. “We have this fundamental<br />
principle where we truly<br />
believe in doing what we love to do,<br />
doing it well – and the profit will follow,”<br />
Lee concludes.
y felix badea<br />
Daily Decision-making<br />
PROTECTS ASSETS<br />
While much of today’s world of<br />
financial advising relies on the<br />
mantra “invest for the long term,”<br />
some advisors take a daily approach<br />
to monitoring risk exposure and rate of<br />
return in an effort to guard the assets<br />
under their management.<br />
Dexter P. Lyons, portfolio manager<br />
of the Issachar Fund (LIONX), is one<br />
of those advisors. Based in Lafayette,<br />
LA, he is far away from the hustle and<br />
bustle of Wall Street but close enough<br />
via the Internet to make a proactive<br />
daily assessment of how the Issachar<br />
Fund assets under management are<br />
performing in the stock market.<br />
“The way I view the fund is, I manage<br />
my account and watch it like a<br />
hawk each and every day,” Lyons explained,<br />
regarding the management of<br />
the mutual fund he began in March<br />
2014, hanging out his own shingle<br />
after nearly two decades of managing<br />
other people’s money.<br />
Lyons said he learned long ago that<br />
he cannot control the return his investments<br />
receive from market activity.<br />
What he can control – and what he can<br />
keep a tight rein on – is the amount of<br />
risk he is taking with the assets under<br />
his management.<br />
“I simply try to manage the risk in<br />
the fund every day and I let the market<br />
determine the return that I receive.<br />
My goal is to get a decent return on my<br />
investment without taking undue risk<br />
and protecting my assets,” Lyons emphasized.<br />
He knows, from painful personal experience,<br />
about losing assets.<br />
His first chosen career as a diesel<br />
mechanic was cut short by a blast of<br />
high volume air rupturing a disc in<br />
his neck at age 21. His doctor advised<br />
a career change. Worse yet, Lyons had<br />
entrusted half of his savings to a stock<br />
broker, whose poor investment choices<br />
ended up causing a complete loss for<br />
him. Lyons was determined to not let<br />
this happen to himself, or anyone else,<br />
again. As a student at the University<br />
of Louisiana majoring in business administration,<br />
Lyons said that he fell in<br />
love with the activity and trends of the<br />
stock market and the use of computers<br />
in trading. He’s been fascinated with<br />
the daily activity of the market ever<br />
since.<br />
“At the time, the neck injury – what I<br />
thought was a traumatic curse – turned<br />
out to be a blessing in disguise,” Lyons<br />
said.<br />
Today, he uses those two experiences<br />
to guide investments in the Issachar<br />
Fund. The name is taken from the Biblical<br />
reference in I Chronicles 12:32, “the<br />
sons of Issachar were known for their<br />
understanding of the times.” Lyons believes<br />
this applies to investing today as<br />
well, and noted that he uses his understanding<br />
of the market’s volatility and<br />
discernment of current financial conditions<br />
in his stewardship of the assets<br />
under his management.<br />
The Issachar Fund has a $1,000 minimum<br />
for new clients.<br />
The Issachar Fund is a Non-Diversified, Unconstrained, Tactical, No-Load,<br />
No-Transaction Fee and No-Redemption Fee 1940 Act Mutual Fund. By<br />
prospectus, LIONX can be up to 190% Long, up to 150% Short, 100% in<br />
Cash or anywhere in between at the portfolio manager’s discretion depending<br />
on his perception of risk in the market. By prospectus, LIONX can use Mutual<br />
Funds, ETFs, Stocks, Bonds, SWAPS, Futures, Options and Derivatives to position<br />
itself in order to achieve its goal of Long-Term Capital Appreciation. The<br />
Issachar Fund is a 1940 Act Mutual Fund designed with Hedge Fund abilities.<br />
www.LIONX.net<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.63
y peter suciu<br />
The<br />
Challenges<br />
of Inheritance<br />
To say that Jeffrey C. Furest,<br />
president of First Financial<br />
Services of Michigan,<br />
was born to manage money<br />
isn’t far from the truth. The<br />
Co-Principal and Chief Compliance Officer<br />
of Your Financial Coach Inc. has<br />
more than 30 years experience in financial<br />
coaching and consulting, and he<br />
helped launch First Financial Services<br />
(FFS) as one of southeastern Michigan’s<br />
largest financial seminar providers for<br />
public and private organizations. He is<br />
the third generation of his family in the<br />
business, beginning with his father and<br />
great uncle.<br />
“I was born into this industry,” Furest<br />
told The Suit Magazine. “It’s not a<br />
job – it is a calling. There was always<br />
a passion to be in the business, not just<br />
to work with my dad, but to have an<br />
independent career and be my own<br />
boss.”<br />
First Financial Services of Michigan,<br />
located about 20 miles north of Detroit,<br />
was founded in 1977. Its main<br />
focus is business and estate planning<br />
for business owners and executives.<br />
Throughout the 1980s, the firm was<br />
one of southeastern Michigan’s leading<br />
financial education providers, with<br />
more than 3,000 individual investors<br />
passing through its financial coaching<br />
programs since 1985.<br />
In 2010 the company expanded both<br />
its services and organization by forming<br />
Your Financial Coach, Inc. a Registered<br />
Investment Advisor, now with<br />
nine advisors in five states.<br />
“We’ve seen it all – I’ve seen it all.<br />
I’ve seen traditional financial planning<br />
models; I’ve seen traditional brokerage<br />
models; And I’ve seen the transition to<br />
the fee-based arena,” added Furest.<br />
An asset allocation presentation by<br />
a long time friend was a flashpoint<br />
in Furest’s career. The transition to a<br />
fee-based service model was sparked<br />
through its affiliation with the Cincinnati,<br />
Ohio-based firm, Matson Money,<br />
Inc., founded in 1991 by Mark E. Matson,<br />
a registered investment advisor<br />
with the SEC. Currently, Matson manages<br />
in excess of $5.5 billion in assets<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
for more than 20,000 private<br />
and public clients through select<br />
financial advisors nationwide.<br />
Furest said “I got back to<br />
the office that day, gathered<br />
our 13 advisors and said to<br />
“follow on this new model or<br />
get out of the way”. Within<br />
six months, the firm had<br />
shed some advisors, but took<br />
on a strategy that was different<br />
from the rule of the<br />
day. “Stock picking, market<br />
timing – we’ve known that<br />
aspect of management has<br />
not worked for a very, very<br />
long time. There is not one<br />
academic study showing that<br />
alpha, beta, stock picking,<br />
market timing, in-out – that it<br />
works.”<br />
Furest is now one of 700<br />
advisors strictly practicing<br />
Modern Portfolio Theory, or<br />
MPT, involving the application<br />
of Nobel Prize winning<br />
theories in economics and<br />
finance developed from 1952<br />
to 1990. As a philosophy,<br />
MPT does not employ active<br />
management techniques, but<br />
rather, relies on the coordination<br />
of dedicated asset class<br />
investments (market-based<br />
investments containing all<br />
global stocks and bonds) with<br />
dissimilar levels of risk to<br />
provide lower portfolio risk<br />
as a whole while attempting<br />
to maintain market rates of<br />
returns. It also utilizes the<br />
application of “standard deviation” to<br />
monitor the individual asset classes in<br />
a portfolio and monitor and maintain<br />
a specified risk level in a portfolio to<br />
achieve stated return objectives. “We<br />
wanted to differentiate ourselves from<br />
the traditional broker or even financial<br />
planners and fee based advisors,” he<br />
noted. “Investors need to be protected<br />
against themselves – from making<br />
irrational decisions. We developed<br />
a way to work with the client and<br />
their behavior with their money with<br />
the highest investment standard out<br />
there.”<br />
The firm also differentiates itself by<br />
how it attracts new business. Instead<br />
of advertising, FFS now relies on natural<br />
referrals to attract new clients.<br />
After more than 35 years in business,<br />
the firm now finds itself working with<br />
many third generation clients, including<br />
the children – and even the grandchildren<br />
– of the original investors.<br />
“The goal,” said Furest, “is to work<br />
with an existing client base to preserve<br />
the wealth that has already been built<br />
up through solid financial planning.”<br />
However, following the Great Recession,<br />
changing opinions by younger<br />
investors remains one of the greatest<br />
hurdles for FFS to overcome.<br />
“The biggest challenge is to transition<br />
wealth from our first and second<br />
generation clients to the millennials,”<br />
explained Furest. “It is probably the<br />
biggest challenge our industry is facing.<br />
A study reported by Reuters earlier<br />
this year stated that by 2016, the first<br />
level of transition of wealth to millennials<br />
is $6 to 9 trillion dollars. By 2024,<br />
at the apex, it represents $36 trillion<br />
going to millennials. The 23-year-old<br />
right now does not trust the financial<br />
industry, does not trust brokers<br />
and is more conservative than great<br />
grandparents were during the Great<br />
Depression. The average millennial<br />
keeps more than 50 percent of their<br />
money in cash. At the same time, they<br />
are self-empowered and want instant<br />
gratification. It is a difficult generation<br />
to wrap arms around.”<br />
And the younger crowd are not the<br />
only ones who have come to distrust<br />
the financial industry after the 2008<br />
market corrections as well as scandals<br />
like the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme.<br />
Furest admitted that while the average<br />
portfolio had depreciated by 27 percent<br />
in 2008, the best strategy was still<br />
to stay the course, and the recovery exceeds<br />
135%**.<br />
“The commonality was fear,” Furest<br />
admitted. “The positive for most clients<br />
who listened was to keep investing.<br />
Over time you will have a lower<br />
purchase price and a higher market<br />
value.” To that end, he pushed clients<br />
not to sell anything at the bottom, and<br />
to buy while prices were down. “This<br />
is where your value will come back<br />
when the markets do recover. Clients<br />
understood that staying invested is the<br />
right thing to do.”<br />
Furest said confidently, “We’ve got<br />
clients that we’ve brought on since the<br />
Great Recession who have the greatest<br />
peace of mind that they’ve ever, ever<br />
had about their financial future.”<br />
**Footnote: Return information as reported<br />
by Matson Money, Inc, Global Investment<br />
Performance Standards Composite<br />
2013 Annual Report, dated May 6, 2014, by<br />
Ashland Partners & Company, LLP. 525<br />
Bigham Knoll, Suite 200, Jacksonville, OR<br />
97530. www.MatsonMoney.com<br />
www.yourfinancialcoach.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.65
y judy magness<br />
lasting a Lifetime<br />
The Center for Applied Research – part of the State Street Corporation,<br />
an international financial services holding company – released a report<br />
in May entitled, “Stuffing Cash Under the Mattress.” In it, they shed<br />
light on the behavior and preferences of individual investors.<br />
“<br />
Despite the market hitting record<br />
highs, retail investors, with investable<br />
assets ranging from less than<br />
$250,000 to more than $1MM, have<br />
dramatically increased their allocation<br />
to cash. Cash allocations have jumped<br />
in the past two years with the global<br />
average rising from 31% in 2012 to<br />
40% in 2014. In the US, allocations rose<br />
from 26% in 2012 to 36% in 2014,” stated<br />
the report.<br />
These statistics come as no surprise<br />
to Gary Montgomery, president and<br />
CEO of Wealth Security LLC, a feebased<br />
financial advisory firm in Austin,<br />
Texas.<br />
“The 2008 recession has refocused<br />
a lot of attention on capital preservation<br />
– and the event put fear into investors,<br />
keeping them from taking the<br />
appropriate amount of risk, particularly<br />
baby boomers approaching retirement,”<br />
said Montgomery.<br />
Wealth Security LLC has helped people<br />
reenter the market who, because<br />
of the recession, had largely pulled<br />
out and were sitting on significant<br />
amounts of cash. “We’ve encouraged<br />
them and helped them make better<br />
decisions,” he explained. Referencing<br />
one such client who was helped to understand<br />
the right mix of risk and capital<br />
preservation, Montgomery noted,<br />
“We’ve done extremely well with her<br />
portfolio. In fact, she’s so much more<br />
comfortable with the amount of assets<br />
that she has, that she is encouraging us<br />
to take larger risks.”<br />
Montgomery is currently involved<br />
in a pro bono project for the military<br />
to help soldiers returning to civilian<br />
life. He is a graduate of the United<br />
States Military Academy at West<br />
Point, where he studied engineering as<br />
an undergrad. Later on, he earned an<br />
MBA, and with experience in mergers<br />
and acquisitions, also became a Certified<br />
Financial Planner.<br />
“Because I come from an analytical<br />
background, I look for left-brained clientele<br />
– the left brain being logical, analytical,<br />
and objective,” Montgomery<br />
emphasized. “I can apply my analytical<br />
skills to help make better decisions<br />
for them. I recognize that emotions<br />
are part of any decision, so we match<br />
logical and analytical thinking with<br />
the emotional aspects and help clients<br />
make good financial decisions to preserve<br />
or increase their wealth.“<br />
Foreseeing a time when people could<br />
be retired for more years than they actually<br />
work, Montgomery related, “In<br />
the future, the expected lifespan is going<br />
to be age 100 or higher. It’s likely<br />
that people are going to be retired for<br />
35 to 40 years, and their retirement<br />
money has to last.” In answer to that,<br />
Wealth Security LLC has developed a<br />
paycheck system for retirees. Similar<br />
to they way money was handled when<br />
they were working, retirees receive periodic<br />
paychecks, annual bonuses and<br />
pay raises.<br />
Montgomery said, “We link the performance<br />
of the pay raises and the bonus<br />
as it relates to the portfolio performance,<br />
which ensures that it will last<br />
their lifetime.”<br />
Wealth Security LLC<br />
100 Congress Ave. Suite 2000<br />
Austin, Texas 78701<br />
Office: 1-877-256-1681<br />
Fax: 1-877-276-5696<br />
info@wealthsecurityllc.com<br />
www. wealthsecurityllc.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y enid burns<br />
PRESCRIPTION PLANS THAT SAVE<br />
The changing face of healthcare in<br />
the United States signals a change<br />
for many businesses involved in<br />
that industry. David Wilson, Chairman<br />
and founder of Professional Risk Asset<br />
Management Insurance Services – also<br />
known as PRAM – sees opportunities<br />
for underwriters and auditors, as well<br />
as a shift toward savings on prescriptions.<br />
Since founding PRAM in Orange<br />
County, California in 1989, Wilson<br />
adapted technology to make the business<br />
of underwriting prescription plans<br />
much more efficient. Initially formed as<br />
a benefits consultancy, Wilson looked<br />
for a way to quickly differentiate PRAM<br />
from other businesses.<br />
“I felt that the prescription drug area<br />
was wide open, since there seem to<br />
be few consultants who had any idea<br />
about how to control costs in this area,”<br />
Wilson told The Suit Magazine. He paid<br />
particular attention to understanding<br />
how pharmacy benefits management<br />
companies or PBM develop and control<br />
costs. “In most cases the clients didn't<br />
have any idea as to what [these PBMs]<br />
were doing.”<br />
Services performed by PRAM typically<br />
start with an audit. “The process usually<br />
begins for us an off cycle audit of<br />
the client's prescription drug card program.<br />
It is through this information that<br />
the client learns for the first time how<br />
their PBM – their pharmacy benefits<br />
management company – is managing<br />
prescription drug costs. They become<br />
fluent in understanding what possible<br />
problems could be associated with a<br />
contract that they signed.”<br />
Two prescription programs created<br />
by PRAM help the member, or custom-<br />
er – as well as the plan provider – save<br />
money.<br />
“Frankly, we have very exciting programs.<br />
We offer a number of underwriting<br />
opportunities that can curb the<br />
impact of prescription drug costs on<br />
families who have children with special<br />
needs,” Wilson explained. “The key<br />
program we offer under PRAM's mail<br />
services allows a 90-day supply with<br />
zero copay for the member, and at a far<br />
less cost for the plan sponsor than savings<br />
available under traditional pharmacy<br />
programs.”<br />
Elderly members receive a similar<br />
benefit under the plans that PRAM underwrites.<br />
“Every effort is made to include<br />
them when underwriting seniors<br />
for state, local and national employer<br />
groups,” said Wilson. “For seniors, getting<br />
a zero copay for a 90-day supply<br />
of maintenance drugs is pretty exciting<br />
– and frankly, we think it is a one-of-akind<br />
program that controls costs dramatically<br />
for [seniors] throughout the<br />
country.”<br />
According to Wilson, PRAM's underwriting<br />
services are available in all but<br />
two states, however, PRAM's consulting<br />
services and self-funded programs are<br />
available in every state.<br />
We are experts in helping<br />
our clients deal effectively<br />
with Pharmacy Benefits<br />
Managers (PBMs), insurers<br />
and other third parties.<br />
711 East Imperial Highway, #100<br />
Brea, California 92821<br />
(714) 671-3951<br />
www.pram.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.67
y judy magness<br />
Estate Planning:<br />
Take the Time Now<br />
LexisNexis, a leading legal research<br />
corporation, reports that<br />
more than 55 percent of American<br />
adults do not have an estate plan<br />
or even a simple will. An estate plan<br />
is the umbrella containing all relevant<br />
documents that fall within the scope of<br />
the plan – a will or a trust, along with<br />
all advanced care directives. There<br />
are differences among the documents<br />
that could be prepared. One difference<br />
between a will and a living revocable<br />
trust, for instance, is that a will must<br />
go through probate, while a living revocable<br />
trust does not. Choosing the<br />
most beneficial course depends on estate<br />
planning, a process that is more<br />
comprehensive than a simple list of<br />
who receives assets and other belongings.<br />
It can also include legal documents<br />
for advanced directives and tax<br />
planning – not only upon death – but<br />
also if the individual becomes incapacitated.<br />
“Part of estate planning isn’t just<br />
what happens when you die; it needs<br />
to protect the client during every potential<br />
stage in life. If you don’t have<br />
these advanced directives, like a<br />
healthcare power of attorney or a living<br />
will, your wishes may not be followed,”<br />
explained attorney, Sabrina<br />
Winters, who recommends that these<br />
documents should be created at a time<br />
when there is not an urgent need to do<br />
so. Further, Winters points out how<br />
much additional stress family members<br />
suffer when trying to sort through<br />
difficult issues and make decisions<br />
without knowing a loved one’s wishes<br />
and preferences. “Often times, people<br />
don’t make the best decisions when<br />
it’s an emergency situation,” she said.<br />
Based in Charlotte, NC, the firm of<br />
Sabrina Winters, Attorney at Law,<br />
PLLC, opened in 2005. Today, the majority<br />
of their clients are high net worth<br />
C-Suite executives and physicians, as<br />
well as people retiring or just starting<br />
their families.<br />
“We really hold our clients’ hands<br />
from the moment they call our office<br />
for the first time, to the day when they<br />
pick up their final documents. It’s all<br />
about understanding the client, and<br />
it’s making sure they know that we<br />
care about them as individuals,”<br />
said Winters.<br />
She added that<br />
everyone at her firm<br />
ensures clients are informed<br />
at every step<br />
of the estate planning<br />
process. “It’s not just<br />
about the documents;<br />
it’s about getting the<br />
client’s wishes on paper<br />
and really understanding<br />
what they<br />
want – and then drafting<br />
the document so<br />
that their plan will<br />
ultimately work,” she<br />
said.<br />
Another critical aspect of estate<br />
planning is naming legal guardians of<br />
young children in the event of parental<br />
death. Her firm has also gained significant<br />
experience pertaining to special<br />
needs children. “Kids need a voice,”<br />
said Winters. “If something happens<br />
to one or both of the parents, that child<br />
needs to be taken by the hand immediately.<br />
If a parent with a special needs<br />
child doesn’t have a written plan in<br />
place, it could really set that child<br />
back. Estate planning is not something<br />
you do for yourself; it is one of the<br />
most loving things you can do for your<br />
family and loved ones.”<br />
In addition to general estate planning<br />
services, Winters also assists clients<br />
with Medicaid planning, veterans<br />
pension assistance, probate and tax<br />
issues in implementing dynasty trusts,<br />
irrevocable life insurance trusts and<br />
IRA trusts.<br />
www.ncestateplanninginfo.com
y judy magness<br />
Planning is for Everyone<br />
In its “7th Fidelity® Advisor<br />
Insights” study released in 2013,<br />
Fidelity Investments reported<br />
that many financial advisors are<br />
not taking the necessary steps<br />
today to sustain their businesses<br />
in the future. One contributing<br />
factor outlined in the study is<br />
that 43 percent of advisors “did<br />
not feel it is important to evolve<br />
their practice to meet the needs of<br />
younger investors.”<br />
Empower Wealth Advisors,<br />
in conjunction<br />
with their broker/dealer<br />
Commonwealth Financial<br />
Network, uses social media<br />
platforms – including Twitter,<br />
LinkedIn and Facebook<br />
– to connect with a new and<br />
younger audience.<br />
Chris Powers, managing<br />
partner of the financial advisory<br />
firm, cited recent research<br />
reporting that only 4<br />
percent of children use the<br />
same financial advisor as<br />
their parents. While Powers<br />
sees that as a disturbing<br />
statistic, he also identifies it<br />
as an exciting opportunity<br />
to continue the growth of<br />
his own practice by being of<br />
service to an up and coming<br />
generation.<br />
“A top goal for us is reaching<br />
out to our clients with<br />
children who are starting<br />
their financial life, preparing<br />
them for potential inheritance<br />
and getting them set<br />
up with a firm financial<br />
foundation,”<br />
explained<br />
Powers, as he<br />
outlined growth<br />
strategies for his<br />
firm. “In a lot<br />
of high schools<br />
– and even colleges -- kids<br />
come out so ill-prepared, or<br />
under-prepared, for managing<br />
their personal finances.”<br />
In 2000, Powers started<br />
the firm with a focus on insurance<br />
and in the ensuing<br />
years he continued his professional<br />
development to<br />
become a Certified Financial<br />
Planner (CFP), an Accredited<br />
Estate Planner® (AEP),<br />
and an Accredited Investment<br />
Fiduciary® (AIF).<br />
Empower Wealth Advisors<br />
provides a holistic approach<br />
to wealth management, including<br />
retirement planning,<br />
business planning,<br />
estate planning and risk<br />
management.<br />
Investable assets and account<br />
minimums typically<br />
define a financial advisory<br />
firm's clients. Empower<br />
Wealth Advisors, based in<br />
San Antonio, Texas, uses<br />
broader criteria, engaging<br />
with clients who want<br />
comprehensive planning<br />
and unbiased advice. For<br />
instance, they design estate<br />
planning strategies for farm<br />
and ranch owners and the<br />
firm is very involved with<br />
owners of oil and gas interests<br />
in Eagle Ford Shale<br />
– a major economic initiative<br />
that is “redefining<br />
South Texas as an oil<br />
industry hotbed.”<br />
As a boutique financial<br />
firm dedicated to<br />
professional and personalized<br />
service, Empower<br />
Wealth Advisors makes it<br />
their goal to help people<br />
reduce the stress associated<br />
with managing their finances.<br />
“After several years<br />
of recovery following the<br />
2008 market decline, people<br />
approaching retirement are<br />
more apprehensive about<br />
market risk. They want<br />
solutions that minimize<br />
their risk versus focusing<br />
on excess returns created<br />
by managers,” said Powers,<br />
commenting on the current<br />
mood of investors. “Clients<br />
are willing to give up liquidity<br />
with a portion of their<br />
portfolio to invest in more<br />
alternative investments and<br />
seek more customized solutions<br />
for their retirement income<br />
needs.”<br />
www.empower-wa.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.69
y amy m. armstrong<br />
UNVEILING MICRO-CAP<br />
OPPORTUNITIES<br />
Those companies represented in the<br />
micro-cap investing arena – especially<br />
those companies not analyzed stringently<br />
by traditional Wall Street traders – are<br />
exactly the opportunities Michael Corbett<br />
of Perritt Capital Management seeks<br />
for his firm’s various mutual funds.<br />
“That lack of attention is a true opportunity<br />
within this inefficient asset class.<br />
The inefficiency stems from the perspective<br />
that micro-caps are neither efficiently<br />
analyzed nor traded properly across<br />
the markets, because research to identify<br />
the opportunities is just not done in<br />
great detail by the major traders,” Corbett<br />
said. “This is exactly what we talk<br />
about with our clients. The micro-cap<br />
stocks are what we call a truly inefficient<br />
asset class. We at Perritt pride ourselves<br />
on this because we are the ones doing<br />
the necessary research in great detail.”<br />
Micro-cap investing is a niche that<br />
Corbett has developed for his firm over<br />
the past two decades. Always drawn<br />
to the entrepreneurial spirit because<br />
of working for local businesses in his<br />
hometown, after his college days, Corbett<br />
knew he wanted to work with people<br />
who were equally passionate about<br />
the merits of entrepreneurship and an<br />
appreciation of the free spirit of capitalism<br />
associated with small business.<br />
Corbett joined the Chicago-based<br />
firm right out of college, starting in the<br />
research department for Investment<br />
Information Services, which produced<br />
the financial newsletters started by Dr.<br />
Gerald Perritt, founder of Perritt Investments,<br />
the forerunner of today’s Perritt<br />
Capital Management Services. Corbett<br />
worked his way over to the money management<br />
side of the firm, becoming Lead<br />
Portfolio Manager in 1999 and owner in<br />
2007, when he purchased the firm.<br />
Today he holds a variety of titles –<br />
CEO, CIO, Portfolio Manager and majority<br />
owner of the firm – and he strives<br />
to educate potential clients on the value<br />
of investing in micro-cap and small business.<br />
“The spirit of small business is what<br />
this country was founded on. Much of<br />
the excitement in our economy is focused<br />
now on small business,” Corbett<br />
emphasized. “Smaller companies hire<br />
people and create jobs. The real passion<br />
and the true value that enhances our<br />
economy and our communities comes<br />
from smaller companies.”<br />
Corbett explained how keeping that<br />
excitement about small business at its<br />
peak is one reason Perritt Capital employs<br />
an in-house compliance team. In<br />
this highly-regulated industry, Corbett<br />
believes that using outside compliance<br />
is too cumbersome. It delays getting<br />
marketing materials out to potential<br />
clients and slows down the flow of information.<br />
“Having compliance in-house helps<br />
us put material together in a timely<br />
manner, signed off for legal purposes<br />
and properly documented so we are<br />
able to have a strong compliance process<br />
that also allows us to get information<br />
to our clients in a pretty fast and<br />
efficient manner,” Corbett said. “The<br />
only drawback to this industry is that<br />
is highly-regulated and I don’t see that<br />
going down, but only increasing.”<br />
PERRITT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC.<br />
(312) 669-1650 300 S. Wacker,<br />
Suite 2880 Chicago IL 60606<br />
www.perrittcap.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.71
y judy magness<br />
PROTECTING THE PRINCIPAL<br />
Generally, financial<br />
planning firms<br />
charge an annual<br />
fee for their services.<br />
How they establish this<br />
fee is likely based on criteria<br />
such as the advisor’s<br />
credentials and years of experience in the<br />
financial planning industry, along with<br />
the range of services required based on a<br />
client’s individual financial situation. Research<br />
reported in 2012 by Cerulli Associates<br />
and Phoenix Marketing International<br />
stated, amazingly, that: “60 percent of investors<br />
either did not know how their advisors<br />
got paid or thought that the service<br />
they offered was free.”<br />
Circle of Safety Advisors, LLC, based in<br />
Reno, Nevada, was started by John Holman<br />
and his wife, Karis. Their goal was<br />
to be “a different type of financial planning<br />
firm.” And, they are very different.<br />
Here’s why.<br />
First, Circle Safety clients are not<br />
charged an annual fee. Second, the firm<br />
does not sell any products through which<br />
a client can lose principal. “In fact, in almost<br />
all of the products that we offer, the<br />
clients know upfront exactly what kind<br />
of rate of return they are getting over a<br />
period of time,” explained John Holman.<br />
“I’ve watched thousands of people<br />
do better,” said Holman. A former civil<br />
trial attorney turned Certified Financial<br />
Planner®, he also received his certificate<br />
as a Certified Investment Management<br />
Analyst® (CIMA) from the Wharton<br />
School of Business. “We offer federally<br />
insured CD’s that are tied to both the<br />
stock market and to commodities markets<br />
where you can never lose principal.<br />
The only question is how much you<br />
make every year.”<br />
Karis Holman is in charge of Circle<br />
of Safety’s first circle, which according<br />
to John Holman is something that clients<br />
don’t often ask about – and very<br />
few advisors ever talk about. “Property<br />
and casualty insurance is where you<br />
need to start if you are going to protect<br />
somebody. Most people don’t have an<br />
umbrella policy to protect them against<br />
liability in today’s litigious society,” he<br />
said. While every state recommends that<br />
people review their property and casualty<br />
insurance yearly, Holman suggests<br />
that very few people actually do that.<br />
For the next step in the Circle of Safety<br />
process, Holman works with clients until<br />
they have complete protection of principal<br />
to cap their downside risk, and start<br />
to earn the benefits of long-term investing.<br />
“Our principle is to protect capital,<br />
produce income – and to allow people<br />
to sleep better at night,” Holman emphasized.<br />
As a financial planning and investment advisory firm, William<br />
Howard helps clients meet their stated financial goals through a<br />
proven, logical, and customized financial planning process.<br />
over the years lose way too much of their<br />
principal. I realized that if you never lose<br />
principal and you just have positive rates<br />
of return – even if they are not as high as<br />
they might be if you live with the cycles<br />
of the market – over time you’re going to<br />
Circle of Safety Advisors, LLC<br />
16520 Wedge Parkway, Suite 200<br />
Reno, NV 89511<br />
775-971-8300<br />
www.circleofsafetyadvisors.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014
y judy magness<br />
STAYING ENGAGED<br />
IN FINANCIAL PLANNING<br />
In a June 2014 report entitled, “Does Past Performance<br />
Matter? The Persistence Scorecard,”<br />
S&P Dow Jones Indices reported the following:<br />
“Very few funds can consistently stay at the<br />
top. Out of the 687 funds that were in the top<br />
quartile as of March 2012, only 3.78% managed<br />
to stay there by the end of March 2014.” The<br />
world’s largest provider of financial market indices<br />
also stated that, “1.90% of the large-cap<br />
funds, 3.16% of the mid-cap funds and 4.11%<br />
of the small-cap funds remain in the top quartile.”<br />
These findings come<br />
as no surprise to P.<br />
Christopher Music,<br />
founder and president of<br />
Econologics® Financial<br />
Advisors based in Clearwater,<br />
FL, who said he<br />
has never seen a study<br />
confirming that a fund<br />
manager can consistently<br />
predict over time which<br />
stocks will perform well,<br />
and who can accurately<br />
predict when to buy and<br />
sell.<br />
Econologics® is a results-based<br />
financial<br />
planning® system Music<br />
developed in direct<br />
response to the market<br />
crash of 2008. “Econologics®<br />
is actually a subject<br />
on personal finance that<br />
really evolves current financial<br />
planning technology<br />
to a new level, based<br />
on predictable results, as<br />
opposed to being more<br />
sales-oriented for financial<br />
products and services,”<br />
Music explained.<br />
In addition to Econologics®<br />
Financial Advisors,<br />
which is a financial planning<br />
firm working with<br />
professionals in private<br />
practice, Music also operates<br />
Econologics® Institute,<br />
a financial education<br />
organization.<br />
While there is no minimum<br />
investment required<br />
to begin working<br />
with Econologics® Financial<br />
Advisors, there<br />
are some quite unique<br />
client requirements. Music<br />
developed a three-day<br />
workshop called “Private<br />
Practice Millionaire®<br />
Academy” that all clients<br />
are required to attend<br />
along with their spouses.<br />
Clients learn about the<br />
Econologics® system and<br />
about what Music calls,<br />
“results-based transition<br />
planning.” That is, how<br />
to build maximum transition<br />
value into a profes-<br />
P. Christopher Music,<br />
Founder & President<br />
sional practice – something that<br />
Music said is not addressed in<br />
the financial planning world<br />
when dealing specifically with<br />
small business owners.<br />
“My belief is, if a person is<br />
willing to increase the income<br />
of their practice, is willing to<br />
take a part of those profits<br />
every year and reinvest them<br />
into personal wealth – and is<br />
willing to stay engaged in our<br />
financial planning process –<br />
then we don’t really care what<br />
they start with as far as assets,”<br />
said Music. “As long as they<br />
are willing to commit to the<br />
process and do it, then everybody<br />
wins.”<br />
Music’s view on the fiduciary<br />
responsibility of a personal<br />
financial advisor is an all-encompassing<br />
one, and far from<br />
textbook. “We help our clients<br />
achieve an optimum financial<br />
condition in their households<br />
as best we can, regarding their<br />
whole entire financial experience<br />
– not just their investment<br />
experience. But see, that<br />
is a unique definition different<br />
from what any other financial<br />
advisor would define as fiduciary<br />
responsibility,” Music<br />
insisted.<br />
Appearing on national television<br />
as a financial expert,<br />
Music has been featured in<br />
Forbes and Newsweek, and is<br />
also a best-selling author.<br />
www.econologicsfinancialadvisors.com<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.73
y rodric j. bradford<br />
Building Bridges to<br />
Financial Independence<br />
At age 12, most boys are in love<br />
with baseball cards, video<br />
games or a girl in their sixthgrade<br />
class, but for CapRock Wealth<br />
Advisors president Christian Bridges,<br />
this age marked the beginning of a<br />
lifelong career in the financial services<br />
industry.<br />
“I fell in love with the stock market<br />
at age 12 and knew that this was what<br />
I wanted to do,” Bridges recounted.<br />
“I have a real passion for wanting to<br />
help people, and that passion flows<br />
throughout CapRock.”<br />
That passion led Bridges to use the<br />
“LIVE” strategy – Longevity, Inflation,<br />
Volatility and Expectation – as a means<br />
to discuss all scenarios and options<br />
with clients to keep the lines of communication<br />
open and work together toward<br />
building financial independence.<br />
“Since 2008 we have made even more<br />
improvements to continue to be open<br />
and transparent with clients,” says<br />
Bridges. “We always talk with them in<br />
terms of LIVE and risk tolerance, transparency<br />
and capital preservation.”<br />
CapRock Wealth Advisors helps<br />
a wide range of clients – from young<br />
adult to those of pre-retirement age, to<br />
longtime retirees.<br />
“No matter where our clients are in<br />
their careers, we let them know it is not<br />
about how much they build, but how<br />
much they get to keep,” says Bridges.<br />
“We want them to grow and preserve<br />
the assets that are there.”<br />
To pursue that goal, CapRock Wealth<br />
Advisors sets clear expectations for<br />
each client, taking into account the full<br />
realm of family and life events, from<br />
marriages and divorces to childbirth,<br />
to funerals.<br />
“In this new financial environment,<br />
we make sure to educate our clients on<br />
what investments are being used and<br />
why, and how investments interact<br />
with each other,” Bridges explained.<br />
“If the market changes, we want to react<br />
early and appropriately. We need<br />
our clients to know what to expect as<br />
the markets change.”<br />
Regardless of the status of the markets,<br />
one variable that has to be constantly<br />
addressed is the issue of longer<br />
retirements. A generation ago, a decade<br />
was the norm, but now a retirement<br />
spanning a quarter-century or<br />
more is quite common. One of the pillars<br />
of CapRock’s success has been being<br />
able to successfully guide retirees<br />
through this transition, to make their<br />
money last.<br />
“In the past, advisors assumed the<br />
home was paid off and there was not<br />
a lot of debt, but now we assume they<br />
need 100 percent of their income to<br />
maintain their lifestyles unless we are<br />
told otherwise,” Bridges said.<br />
By making assumptions that minimize<br />
risk while enhancing client communications,<br />
every day Bridges is still<br />
living out the dream that he fell in love<br />
with as a child.<br />
“My greatest success is being able<br />
to sit down with clients to see where<br />
they are and how to get them to where<br />
they want to be,” Bridges emphasized.<br />
“That has been my passion since I<br />
started investing myself at age 12 – and<br />
Our staff consists of experienced professionals with a “hands on” approach<br />
to financial guidance. Not only will you find our team members<br />
knowledgeable, but you will also discover that our staff truly cares about<br />
making your dreams a reality. As your Financial Professionals, we will<br />
do everything in our power to keep you focused on where you want to go,<br />
advise you on how to get there, and continually remind you of the importance<br />
of maintaining a disciplined approach to realizing your dreams.<br />
it still is today.”<br />
For a list of states in which I am<br />
registered to do business, please visit<br />
www.caprockwa.com<br />
Securities offered through LPL Financial,<br />
Member FINRA/SIPC<br />
www.finra.org and www.sipc.org<br />
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - SEPT 2014