Joe Bastianich

Issue 65 MAR 2015
exclusive interview with
joe bastianich
CO-HOST OF
RESTAURANT STARTUP
NYS Bans Fracking
Risks Outweigh Rewards
Effects of Willow Curve
BIG Pharma Faces a little Pain Itself
Suiting Up For Success
REVELOTIONIZE Men’s Clothing
Rise of ROBO Advisors
Pros and Cons of a ROBO

Built for the road ahead.
Designed for living. Engineered to last.
Vertrek Crossover
w/ Ford’s Kinetic Design
Eco-Boost Engine
Hybrid Regenerative Braking
w/ Auto-Stop-Start Technology

publishers note
ISSUE 65 | MAR 2015
Publisher
Erwin E. Kantor
Managing Editor
Michael Gordon
Editor in Chief
Helen Moss
Editorial
Robert Jordan
Sean Goldstein
Rachel Feinstein
Staff Writers
L. A. Rivera
Robert Jordan
David Gordon
A. Marie Velthuizen
Judy Scinta Magness
Enid Burns
Felix Badea
Peter Suciu
David Stein
Amy M. Armstrong
Annabelle Preston
Illustrators
Paul Kales
Steve Delmonte
Steve Smeltzer
Norman Jung
Marketing / Advertising
Monica Link
Sean Rome
For subscription details, contact:
editorialdept@thesuitmagazine.com
For advertising inquiries, contact:
advertising@thesuitmagazine.com
No part of The Suit Magazine may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form
of by any means, without prior written
consent of the editor.
Due to the nature of the printing process,
images can be subject to a variation of up
to 15 per cent, therefore The Suit Magazine
cannot be held responsible for such
variation.
A Restaurant Startup:
And Rising Technology affects Fiduciary Industry
Obviously, journalism, advertising
and the Fourth Estate are changing.
So is the audience. Everyone
is free to create content via digital publishing,
then distribute it through social
media. We have built a robust platform
to accommodate knowledgeable voices
of journalists, experts and marketers.
In our current issue, read our reporter
Judy Magness’ cover story about Joseph
“Joe” Bastianich, an American Restaurateur,
who has his own reality show
which is dubbed “Restaurant Start-up.”
On page six, read our business story
about how New York State has banned
hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the controversial
deep drilling process to extract
natural gas from shale rock.
Also read Robert Jordan’s article about
how the Willow Curve, a ground-breaking
digital anti-inflammatory technology
has emerged in the marketplace, raising
many concerns inside “Big Pharma”---a
multi-billion dollar industry that might
feel the monetary pinch in the future.
Then, there’s a new technology that’s
exerting a lot of clout in the fiscal industry.
It’s the rise of Robo-Advisors that
has changed the way financial advisors
are conducting business today.
And finally, read our story about
suiting-up for success in the corporate
world. The story gives an inside view of
haberdashery for the busy entrepreneur.
Best,
Erwin Kantor
Erwin Kantor, Publisher

CONTENTS
MAR 2015
12
6
NYS Bans Fracking
After years of delays and debate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo decides
risks outweigh rewards. Then natural gas companies first
pressed into New York in 2008, state environmental regulators
barely understood the process of “hydraulic fracturing.”
FEATURES
7 Buried Secrets:
In July, a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling
pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette
County, Wyo., and pulled up a load of brown oily
water with a foul smell.
8 Effects Of the Willow Curve
“Big Pharma” Faces a little Pain Itself. An innovative
and progressive digital anti-inflammatory technology
called the “Willow Curve” has emerged in the
market, and it’s making a lot of noise in the medical
profession, raising concerns inside Big Pharma
10 Suiting up for Success
Brothers David and Jeremy Miller Revolutionize
Men’s Custom Clothing with LABEL
12 Restaurant Startup
If you can’t take the heat, you’re out! Sounds of
pounding drums and rich, dominant violins create
a dramatic musical score befitting an epic futuristic
film where the good guys are in pursuit of their
ultimate mission to save the world.
BUSINESS / FINANCE
20 Helping Them Navigate
According to recent research put out by Wealth Management.com,
the affluent, high net worth investor is still figuring out whom to
trust after the fallout from the Great Recession. Results show a
significant disconnect.
21
Savings Consultants Profit from
Expense Reductions
Business magazines, websites and blogs continuously publish
content to provide business owners with ways to reduce the expenses
associated with running their companies.
22 Foregoing The One-size Fits All Mentality
Giving Clients What They Want - Personalized Service. At a time
when it is all too commonplace for target date portfolios to be
lined up and presented as the sole options from which investors
can select
6
15 Rise of Robo Advisors
Should You Use One? As of late, the financial media seems head
over heels editorially in love with the robo-advisor movement.
8
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

BUSINESS / FINANCE
24 Building Success in a Distressed Economy
Creating Jobs and Redeveloping Commercial Properties
26 Rolling out the Barrels:
Atlanta Beer Festivals Expand
28 Being Independent Keeps Clients First
As an increasing amount of data is becoming centrally
located in Cloud storage vaults
30
Considering the Future without
Forgetting the Past
11 percent of those whose livelihood comes from
helping others are actually following their own advice
regarding the importance of identifying and grooming
their own successor.
31 GIPS Compliance on the rise
Global Investment Performance Standards, more commonly
referred to as “GIPS” in the investment industry,
have been adopted by 37 countries around the world.
33 Green investments
Green isn’t just a color of money
34 Educated Clients make Prudent Decisions
Don’t neglect to educate the client
36 Cleaning up in Laundromats
Turn a neat and tidy profit as an investor in a laundromat?
Or perhaps become a serial investor by taking
a scrubbed and spotless approach to alternative
investment? In urban areas where
37
Better Security, More Expertise
and Full Control
Twenty years ago, financial advisors experienced a
problem with database processing software, today
tech leaders say industry trends have changed
40 Demystifying Multi-State Tax Compliance
Helping Clients Navigate State Tax Codes
42 Emotions Should not Dictate Investments
Ditch whatever emotional attachments one might have
as an investor regarding certain stocks, bonds, companies
or even countries.
44 The art of storytelling Media Relations
Business owners using the services of public relations experts
should know there is a difference between a media consultant who
has worked in the industry as a journalist and a PR professional
who has not: The journalist knows what editors and reporters want.
45 An Experienced Guide
Experience is the best educator – and an even better motivator.
46 Diversity - Alternative Investments
Keep Portfolio Profitable
47 Put the Nest Eggs in different baskets
No one knows for certain when the next significant market
correction will occur.
48 Put Some Risk on the Table
Taking on risk is more palatable for investors, now that a half
decade has passed since the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2007
to 2009.
A Family-First Approach
50
Making the commitments that involve expertise in building a
strong portfolio.
51 A New Breed of Infrastructure & Sovereign
Infrastructure requires investment – and even the best ideas
can get waylaid by a lack of funding.
53 Social Media is a MUST
But for financial firms, so is compliance
54 Longevity / Social Security Impacts Planning
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security
Act in 1935, it was to usher in “a system of Federal old-age benefits”
56 Independent, But Not Alone
Financial Advisors Working with Upstream Investment Partners, LLC
57 Finding the Right Fit
As the real estate industry continues to rebound, it needs to
rebuild its top-level talent, but many businesses are finding a
shortage of candidates qualified to fill these positions.
58 Solve our Crossword Puzzle
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.5

y abraham lustgarten
New York State Bans Fracking
After years of delays and debate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo decides risks outweigh rewards.
When natural gas companies
first pressed into New York
in 2008, state environmental
regulators barely understood the process
of "hydraulic fracturing." Today,
six and a half years after ProPublica
first raised concerns that the drilling
could threaten both the state's water
supply and its residents' health, Gov.
Andrew Cuomo banned the process
across the state.
The ban makes New York, which
holds large natural gas reserves in the
Marcellus Shale, the largest and most
significant region to bow out of the nation's
energy boom because of concerns
that its benefits may be outweighed by
the risk.
The decision comes after a
long-awaited report from the state's
Health Department this week concluded
that the fracking would pose health
risks to New Yorkers. It also follows an
exhaustive state environmental review
effort that began the day after Pro-
Publica's first story in July 2008.
Since then, New York has walked
an indecisive line on drilling, while an
energy boom provoked by advances in
fracking technology took much of the
rest of the country by storm. Today's
lower oil prices are due, in part, to an
oil bonanza in North Dakota's Bakken
Shale that had barely begun when
New York first put a temporary halt to
new drilling in the state. Likewise, the
gas drilling waves that have rippled
through states from Pennsylvania and
West Virginia to Michigan, North Carolina,
Maryland, Texas and Wyoming
had yet to run their course.
But by delaying a decision on drilling
for so many years, Cuomo also allowed
a clearer picture of the impacts and
changes that drilling activity would
bring to emerge. That clearer picture
ultimately dampened the enthusiasm
for drilling in New York and validated
many of the environmental and health
concerns that anti-drilling groups have
raised across the country.
Just across the state line from New
York's Southern Tier, where the richest
Marcellus gas deposits lie, Pennsylvania
landowners dealt with one incident
of water contamination after another.
They complained of illnesses caused
by both the water and new air pollution
brought by the drilling. State regulators
in Pennsylvania – once enthusiastic
boosters of the process – wound
up cracking down on drilling companies'
messy practices and strengthening
their own environmental laws as a
result.
Across the country, similar stories
emerged, many of them reported as
part of a four-year-long investigation
by ProPublica. From Texas and Louisiana
to California, drilling waste was
being spilled or leaking into drinking
water aquifers and high pressures
caused by fracking activities were
causing wells to leak. Methane gushed
from wells and pipelines. And residents'
allegations that the drilling was
causing symptoms from nerve disorders
to skin lesions and birth defects
began to be substantiated through
peer-reviewed scientific research.
The potential payoff for such risks
– which the drilling industry long
maintained were minimal – was that
drilling would bring huge economic
benefits to rural regions long desperate
for new jobs and an injection of economic
vigor. That economic promise
has been born out across many parts
of the country, but in some instances,
those who needed the financial benefits
most have been denied them.
An investigation by ProPublica earlier
this year found that landowners in
Pennsylvania who supported drilling
and signed leases with drilling companies
in order to earn a share of the
profits were instead being cheated out
their payments, called royalties. In fact,
the stories showed, energy companies
had withheld royalty payments worth
billions of dollars from both landowners
and the federal government across
states from Texas and Wyoming to
Louisiana and Colorado, substantially
blunting the prosperity that could
come from allowing drilling to proceed.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

All of this, it now seems, must have made Cuomo's decision
this week a lot easier. But the ban also reflects the
conclusion of a lengthy learning curve for New York State.
When ProPublica reporters, in a joint project with WNYC,
first went to Albany to talk with the state's environment regulators,
those officials couldn't answer basic questions about
the process they were poised to permit: What chemicals
would be pumped underground near drinking water supplies?
Where would the waste be disposed of and did New
York have facilities capable of handling it? State officials
told ProPublica then that fracking had never once caused
pollution to water supplies, and
said they were unaware of the
hundreds of cases brought to
their attention by ProPublica
where such damage had indeed
taken place.
On the morning of July 23, 2008, then Gov. David Paterson
called for those state environment officials to go back to the
drawing board in their assessment of the risks of fracking
before the state issued any new permits, effectively placing
a moratorium on drilling that lasted until now.
Buried Secrets: Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering U.S. Water Supplies?
In July, a hydrologist dropped a plastic
sampling pipe 300 feet down a
water well in rural Sublette County,
Wyo., and pulled up a load of brown oily
water with a foul smell. Tests showed it
contained benzene, a chemical believed
to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia,
in a concentration 1,500 times the level
safe for people.
The results sent shockwaves through
the energy industry and state and federal
regulatory agencies.
Sublette County is the home of one of
the nation's largest natural gas fields,
and many of its 6,000 wells have undergone
a process pioneered by Halliburton
called hydraulic fracturing, which
shoots vast amounts of water, sand and
chemicals several miles underground
to break apart rock and release the gas.
The process has been considered safe
since a 2004 study (PDF) by the Environmental
Protection Agency found that it
posed no risk to drinking water. After
that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic
fracturing from the Safe Drinking
Water Act. Today fracturing is used
in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the
United States.
Over the last few years, however, a
series of contamination incidents have
raised questions about that EPA study
and ignited a debate over whether the
chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing
may threaten the nation's increasingly
precious drinking water supply.
'Big Wyoming'
News that water in Sublette County
was contaminated was especially
shocking because the area is so rural
that until a few years ago cattle were
still run down Main Street in Pinedale,
the nearest town to the gas field. The
county is roughly the size of the state of
Connecticut but has fewer people than
many New York City blocks. With so
little industry, there was little besides
drilling that people could blame for the
contamination.
"When you just look at the data…the
aerial extent of the benzene contamination,
you just say...This is huge,” says
Oberley, who is charged with water
study in the area. “You’ve got benzene
in a usable aquifer and nobody is able
to verbalize well, using factual information,
how the benzene got there.”
A Compromised Study
The 2004 EPA study (PDF) is routinely
used to dismiss complaints that hydraulic
fracturing fluids might be responsible
for the water problems in places like
Pinedale. The study concluded that hydraulic
fracturing posed "no threat" to
underground drinking water because
fracturing fluids aren't necessarily hazardous,
can’t travel far underground,
and that there is "no unequivocal evidence"
of a health risk.
But documents obtained by ProPublica
show that the EPA negotiated directly
with the gas industry before finalizing
those conclusions, and then ignored evidence
that fracking might cause exactly
the kinds of water problems now being
recorded in drilling states.
Buried deep within the 424-page report
are statements explaining that fluids
migrated unpredictably -- through
different rock layers, and to greater
distances than previously thought --
in as many as half the cases studied in
the United States. The EPA identified
some of the chemicals as biocides and
lubricants that “can cause kidney, liver,
heart, blood, and brain damage through
prolonged or repeated exposure." It
found that as much as a third of injected
fluids, benzene in particular, remains in
the ground after drilling and is “likely to
be transported by groundwater."
The EPA began preparing its report
on hydraulic fracturing in 2000, after
an Alabama court forced the agency to
investigate fracturing-related water contamination
there under the Safe Drinking
Water Act. Political pressures were
also mounting for the agency to clarify
its position on fracturing. The 2001 Energy
Policy, drafted in part by the office
of Vice President Dick Cheney, a former
Halliburton CEO, noted that “the gas
flow rate may be increased as much as
20-fold by hydraulic fracturing.” While
the EPA was still working on its report,
legislation was being crafted to exempt
hydraulic fracturing from the Safe
Drinking Water Act.
Before that happened, however, the
EPA sought an agreement with the three
largest hydraulic fracturing companies,
including Halliburton, to stop using
diesel fuel in fracturing fluids. Diesel
fuel contains benzene, and such a move
would help justify the report’s conclusion
that no further studies were needed.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.7

y robert jordan
Medicinal Effects Of the Willow Curve
“Big Pharma” Faces a little Pain Itself
An innovative and progressive digital anti-inflammatory
technology called the “Willow
Curve” has emerged in the market, and it’s
making a lot of noise in the medical profession, raising
concerns inside Big Pharma – a multi-billion dollar
industry that might feel “clobbered by this disruptive
technology.”
“Now, with this device, we have an alternative therapy,”
said David B. Sutton, CEO of Physicians Technology,
LLC, the Michigan-based start-up company
that launched the device.
Dr. Ronald Shapiro, co-founder of the company,
buttresses that argument. “I’ve encountered numerous
patients who could not take pain medication due
to the delicate condition of their kidneys, and others
who spend an average of $375 per year for various
over-the-counter remedies – with limited success,” explained
Shapiro. “That is what inspired us to design
the Willow Curve, to serve as an alternative for pain
medication and surgery.”
The Willow Curve is a portable, low level smart laser
device designed to reduce pain, inflammation and
swelling, and to promote healing without the use of
potentially harmful medications or invasive surgeries.
The Willow Curve was introduced in 2011 and has finally
been approved by FDA.
In fact, Sutton notes that Americans are at the top
of the heap in terms of pain killer use. Statistics show
that one third of all Americans take two or more prescriptions.
Moreover, the most frequently prescribed
drugs are narcotics. “Look at the deaths by overdoses
from pain medicine,” he said. “And the addiction to
pain medicine. Pain killers are killing people.”
Sutton explained how the advanced biosensor technology
gathers data from the skin exterior and below,
to evaluate the condition, devising treatment in real
time. Then the Curve transmits a digital prescription
of energies through the skin and tissue. “The Curve
collects and provides a (digitized) customized prescription.
The bio-sensory technology helps manage
pain,” Sutton said. “It puts the object in the hands of
the patient. And this technology can reduce the use of
thousands of pain pills.”
Benefits include reduced pain and swelling, increased
blood and lymphatic flow, reduced stiffness,
no side effects, the potential to live without relying
on pain medications and portability for easy, in-home
Diagnostic sensors gather information from the surface of your skin.
Your body’s responses help determine the appropriate algorithm of
treatment that the Willow Curve is about to deliver.
Photonic and thermal kinetic energies stimulate 15 bio-physiological
processes for repairing the joint and surrounding tissues.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

use. In fact, Sutton said that the Willow Curve has been effectively
used in countless hospitals and clinics nationwide,
as well as in professional sports training facilities and with
Navy SEALs.
As one example, Charlie Sanders, the legendary tight end
for the Detroit Lions, experienced directly the healing powers
of the Willow Curve. “He was suffering from a painful
(knee) condition,” Sutton said. “We assessed his condition.
He placed it below his tibia where he had the pain. When
he walked, his gait changed substantially. He was amazed.”
According to industry insiders, the device is growing
exponentially, with a 300-400 percent growth rate in sales.
However, Sutton said that
the statistics themselves are
mind-boggling. “In 2014, a
total of 51.4 million surgical
procedures were performed
in the United States. Of that
figure, knee replacement surgeries
constituted 719,000, and
that number is predicted to
increase up to 1 million this
year,” Sutton related.
Aside from the health benefits
associated with digital
anti-inflammatory technology
– which include alleviated
joint pain, a safer alternative to
standard medical procedures
and a faster post-op recovery
time – this start-up company is using digital technology to
eliminate the need for a pain pills entirely.
Sutton believes the Willow Curve will make great strides
in the future among the medical profession. “We are seeing
a lot of baby boomers who are still very active. These are the
people between 55-65 who still want to remain active and
relevant in their later years,” Sutton said.
David B. Sutton, CEO
Ronald S. Shapiro M.D., Ph.D.,
F.A.C.P., Medical Director
Vasodilation, or the widening of blood vessels, and
stimulated processes within the cells increase circulation
to the treated area. This helps with pain relief
and detoxification.
Increased lymphatic flow and immune system response
aids detoxification and reduces swelling. The
production of new inflammatory cells is also reduced
with treatment.
Nerve response time is slowed, reducing the perception
of pain.
Endorphins are released, also reducing the perception
of pain.
Toxic debris in the joint, a cause of inflammation and
pain, is cleared to promote and accelerate healing.
Specific pain receptors are blocked, which promotes
pain relief.
Physician's Technology, LLC
23 East Front Street
Monroe, MI 48161
Phone: 734-241-5060
www.willowmd.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.9

SUITING UP
FOR SUCCESS
Brothers David and Jeremy Miller
REVOLUTIONIZE
Men’s Custom Clothing with LABEL
by lauren sachs
Though in the back of their minds
since young-adulthood, the Miller
brothers did not expect in 2015 to
be at the helm of a multi-million dollar
company, and yet, this is so. Though
always close, it did not seem likely that
David, who had pursued finance and
Jeremy, who had pursued medicine
would go into business together, and
yet, here they are. And though always
interested in presenting themselves
nicely, it was not expected that the two
would be singlehandedly responsible
for reinvigorating the luxury menswear
industry, and yet, truer words have never
been spoken.
LABEL was born out of necessity.
David’s long hours as an investment
banker and little free time coupled with
spending his days surrounded by suits
of all kinds planted the seed, and together
the brothers began to build LA-
BEL’s rock-solid foundation. “I was introduced
to the idea of custom clothing
while working in finance. I visited a few
local clothiers but found the available
options to be inconsistent with my style
preferences. I also quickly realized that
the custom clothing industry represented
a fragmented market, which lacked
any dominant company. Jeremy adds:
“Our mission with LABEL is to breathe
new life into a relatively staid industry,
to build upon the convenience of traditional
custom tailoring with a modernized
approach, stylistically speaking.”
These concierge services include
round-the-clock visits to any destination,
whether it is a client’s home, office
or hotel. 3D body scanning technology is
used to ensure unparalleled accuracy in
measurements and, although LABEL is
based out of its New York City Madison
Avenue showroom and Flatiron tailoring
studio, its style experts travel regularly
to major cities around the country
to meet with clients.
The one-on-one interaction not only elevates
LABEL, but it also quashes some
of the cost associated with purchasing
from a retailer. LABEL sources the same
high quality fabrics as the major design
houses, including Zegna, Dormeuil and
Loro Piana. But rather than applying the
fabrics to standardized templates, LA-
BEL employs true customization, which
is far superior even to the much-talked-about
made-to-measure practices.
Whereas made-to-measure companies
do in fact contour suits and shirts based
on customers’ measurements, it is really
a practice of tweaking already existing
standardized forms, not too far off from
tailoring an off-the-rack suit to one’s
body. LABEL, on the other hand, creates
its customers’ garments completely
from scratch and with each and every
client’s measurements and requirements
in mind from the start. Needless to say,
LABEL has become the go-to Company,
not just for those big on style, but Fortune
100 and 500 C-level executives, professional
athletes and celebrities.
It is this kind of interaction that fuels
the co-founders. “We’ve always had a
strong entrepreneurial spirit and wanted
to build a company that addresses
a very real issue,” Jeremy says. “When
I can satisfy a Fortune 100 CEO whose
vote of confidence includes a $15,000
sale, those are the moments for which
we live.”
Jeremy Miller, CEO
David Miller, CFO
STOP BY LABEL HQ:
41 Madison Avenue, 31 Fl
New York, NY 10010
www.label.co
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

usiness by judy briefs scinta
RESTAURANT _
“STARTUP”
IF YOU CAN’T TAKE THE HEAT, YOU’RE OUT!
Sounds of pounding drums and rich, dominant
violins create a dramatic musical
score befitting an epic futuristic film where
the good guys are in pursuit of their ultimate
mission to save the world.
Instead of fighting alien domination, the
overture sets the backdrop for weekly episodes
of “Restaurant Startup,” a reality show where
viewers enjoy a fast-paced journey in search
of the next culinary visionary. In the midst of
competition, pressure, and intense scrutiny,
two teams vie for the attention, approval, and
money of two outspoken and prolific restaurateurs.
Only one team will have the opportunity
to show what they are made of in their pursuit
of the ultimate triumph—a business deal with
one or both of the epicurean pros.
In a nod to everyday people who are brave
enough to step into their entrepreneurial
dreams, “Restaurant Startup,” is proving to
be another successful reality show for CNBC
Prime—the network’s evening programming.
Launched in 2013, CNBC Prime was a bold
move to disrupt an elite, white-collar daytime
persona, yet stay true to the network’s core
ideology to bring business news into people’s
homes.
Joe Bastianich, who owns 30 restaurants, is
an executive producer of “Restaurant Startup”
and is also one of the show’s hosts alongside
Chef Tim Love who built his culinary empire on
Texan turf with his self-created urban western
cuisine.
Just what is a food visionary according to
Bastianich? “On this show, we’re looking for
people who have the unique combined talent
of being able to execute culinary concepts that
are appreciated and valued by the market, but
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

Antonia Lofaso, Tim Love , Joe Bastianich
“They say too many
chefs spoil the brodo...
So I had to find
something else to do.”
- Joe Bastianich
also culinary concepts that have
the potential of making a profit,”
he explained.
Eager competitors appearing on
the show who believe that they
have created “the next best thing”
know that Bastianich knows his
stuff. Growing up in the restaurant
business he worked at his parents’
Italian restaurant in Queens,
and through the years the family
business grew. His mother is Lidia
Bastianich who today is known
as a television host, a best-selling
cookbook author, and a respected
restaurateur. An invitation to tape
an episode of “Julia Child: Cooking
With Master Chefs,” in 1993 was a
major step in lifting Lidia into the
national spotlight. That same year,
Bastianich convinced his mother
to join him in a new restaurant
venture and together, they opened
Becco located on Restaurant Row
in the heart of the New York City
theater district. Bastianich later
teamed with Mario Batali to open
the award winning Babbo Ristorante
Enoteca in Greenwich Village.
In addition to his restaurant
portfolio, Bastianich is co-owner
of an upscale Italian market aptly
named, Eataly.
In its Tuesday evening 10:00 pm
timeslot, “Restaurant Startup” is
in its second season. Each episode
begins with two teams presenting
their culinary concepts to Bastianich
and Love who taste-test the
creations and grill each team on the
nuances of their recipes, the status
of their businesses, and their backgrounds
as chefs and as restauranteurs.
Love—owner of four
restaurants along with the White
Elephant Saloon which made
“Esquire” magazine’s list of 100
Best Bars in America list— is a bit
gentler than Bastianich in his approach,
but make no mistake, both
are serious businessmen carefully
weighing if they will invest their
own money in one of the teams.
“Initially, people really don’t
know their numbers and don’t
understand the business behind
their food idea. What we are basically
trying to decipher is who
is just faking it, or who really understands
what it is to make it in
this business,” explained Bastianich,
adding that he has invested in
three or four teams over two seasons
of the show.
One culinary team featured this
season stood out to Bastianich and
Love. Lloyd Taco Truck from Buffalo,
New York, came to the show
with a booming business offering
great food and creative marketing.
The owners, childhood friends Peter
Cimino and Chris Dorsaneo, explained
how they fought City Hall
and succeeded in having legislation
passed to be the first food truck in
Buffalo. The business grew to operate
three trucks with one more in
production. The Lloyd Taco team
continued to prove their worth
throughout the episode which culminated
in a joint offer from both
Bastianich and Love. Tense negotiation
ensued, which included
Love advising the Lloyd team that
“greed gets nothing,” and Bastianich
flatly stating, “If you don’t realize
the offer being had here, then
you are stupider than I thought because
this is big time.” A final deal
was struck when Lloyd owners
agreed to a $250,000 investment for
25 percent of their business.
“Those guys are great examples
of this show because are both savvy
culinary young guys, but also have
a real head for business to come up
with ideas that have scalability to
them,” explained Bastianich. “We
have signed a lease and we are two
months away from opening a brick
and mortar restaurant in Buffalo.”
This emerging Buffalo business
and many others appearing on
“Restaurant Startup” exemplify a
current trend in the industry. Fast
casual restaurants, a hybrid of a
fast food and casual dining, are
popping up across the country.
Typically, they do not offer full table
service, but deliver higher quality
freshly made food, unlike fastfood
fare. “It is the most scalable
market segment, if you’re looking
for big food ideas you can take
nationwide you do fast casual—at
least in the world we live in now it
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.13

HEALTHY PASTA: THE SEXY
SKINNY AND SMART WAT TO
EAT YOUR FAVORITE FOOD.
A #1 National Bestseller!
Here, the brother and sister have paired
up to give us that answer in 100 recipes,
each under 500 calories per serving, that
are as good for you as they are delectable.
This wonderfully informative, easy-to-use
cookbook provides simple ways to make
pasta an integral part of a healthy and
..Read More
is the segment of the restaurant world
that has the most growth potential,”
Bastianich said.
While an up-and-coming restauranteur
or culinary creative with a
Harvard MBA would certainly attract
his attention, Bastianich, who
studied finance in college, believes
that a degree is not necessary for success.
“The fact of the matter is that
most people who come to the food
service industry are people who do
not pursue an education, it is usually
people who are more street smart or
who have worked their way into this
positon,” he said. “The great thing
about our businesses is that they are
multi-faceted. In the restaurant business
you’ve got to be a little bit of everything.
You’ve got to be a manufacturer,
a marketer … you use multiple
skill levels.”
Season two of “Restaurant Startup”
airs its season finale on March 17, and
Bastianich shared his opinion on the
program’s popularity. “The show
resonates with people because it is all
very real. In a lot of reality television,
it’s staged, or there are no real stakes.
Here the deals have been made. Real
money transactions and real partnerships
are made—so it’s like the real
world is coming to the screen. Everything
they see is real, and everything
that they don’t see is also real. You
can imagine that before you write
someone a check for $100,000 or a
half-a-million dollars, there is a lot of
due diligence that happens. The way
that plays out is fascinating. You walk
away from your hour of Restaurant
Startup being entertained and educated—I
think that’s the value added
that people are looking for these
days.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

ROBO
Advisor
REPORTED BY AMY M ARMSTRONG
SHOULD YOU USE ONE?
As of late, the financial media
seems head over heels editorially
in love with the robo-advisor
movement. Forbes, Entrepreneur
and the Journals of Financial
Planning magazines each recently
featured extensive assessments of
this technology. Google the topic
and one will find hundreds of
websites promoting the rise of this
fully-automated portfolio allocation
and financial management
system.
Yet according to the 2014 technology
survey for Financial Planning
magazine, only 18 percent of
advisers thought robo-advisors
would be an opportunity for their
firm. That gives a question mark
versus an exclamation lead in the
appropriate assessment catego-
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015
ry. Determing the effectiveness
of a robo-advisor may be an easier
task once the hype dies down
and the sparkle of the “latest and
greatest” dims.
Or not.
If you ask leading robo-advising
experts, they will say a discerning
look at who is and who is not using
the technology is more relevant
to the conversation. They say
robo-advisors are being used by
firms not just on the leading edge
of the industry – but on the bleeding
edge of the industry where
disruptive technology such as
these automated systems not only
first cut their teeth, but also make
those early, highly profitable advances
into an industry with flowing
coat tails that the next wave of
entrants attempt to ride.
“The new technologies and
the new providers are not the
ones that control 99 percent of
the wealth in the United States,”
Joel Bruckenstein said. He is the
publisher of Virtual Office News,
co-founder of Technology Tools
for Today and president of Global
Financial Advisors, his fee-only financial
advisory firm based in Miramar,
Fla. “It is worth noting that
we are in the very early innings of
what is somewhat of a technology
revolution in the industry.”
So, just what is a robo-advisor?
Is it more than a computer-based
system? After all, computers have
long dominated every industry –

financial management included.
What would be so different about
a computer-driven program that
makes financial recommendations?
In a nutshell, a robo-advisor
is a way for the “have nots” of
the financial world to invest as
if they were a “have.” This new
technology is like an expansive
“one-size-fits-all” portfolio modeling
in which the same advice the
ultra-wealthy receive from their
well-paid “real person” financial
advisor is given to the masses
through an automated system
receiving a significantly smaller
commission.
“Historically the problem with
trying to get a FIA (financial investment
advisor) was many have
minimum asset requirements of
$500,000 or larger. This requirement
obviously put many FIAs
out of reach for younger or lower
net worth individuals,” Larry
Ludwig wrote on his blog, Investor
Junkie. “So these individuals
had to then fend for themselves, or
take the generalized advice from a
financial guru like Suze Orman.”
Ludwig told his readers about
three online robo-advising options
he uses. These three – Betterment,
Motif Investing and Personal Capital
are using protocols to govern
the automated investing that in
reality are available to anyone to
use: Modern Portfolio Theory and
Efficient Market Hypothesis.
The issue is: Are you, an individual
investor, savvy enough
to put these to use without assistance?
Most of us would have to answer
a humble no.
Yet, as Ludwig points out, most
of us are smart enough to do our
own checkout at the grocery or
the big box hardware store. Perhaps
the robo-advisor is a similar
tool. A user makes their selections
based on their risk tolerance, accumulation
horizon and desired
drawdown, plugs the numbers in
to the online program much like
putting goods in the cart at the
store and then head for the checkout
line.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that this type of
experience is more likely in the long term to be
attractive to the millennials, but I think what
doesn’t get enough attention is that it’s not just
the millennials who want this experience,”
It plays well to the millennial
generation, which oddly enough
is doing more investing at their
age than their baby boomer counterparts
did even though they often
are saddled with student loan
debt.
FutureAdvisor caters to clients
in that demographic. Founded
by 31-year-ol Bo Lu, the online
investing platform is an answer
to the frustration many millennials
face when seeking a financial
advisor that will work with their
meager savings. Lu was tired of
being over looked. His creation
meets the needs of young professionals
still establishing their careers
while raising young families
but desiring to begin an investment
plan.
Lu does not feel FutureAdvisor
threatens any of the long-established
financial advising firms.
“We’re increasing the pie, not
just talking someone else’s slice,”
- Joel Bruckenstein
Lu said. “We’re not trying to eat
Morgan Stanley’s lunch – we
don’t really want their multi-million
clients.”
In fact, it is quite possible that
the bulk of FutureAdvisor clients
or clients using any type of online
robo-advising system would
know what a Morgan Stanley is.
“Eighty percent of our clients
have never had an advisor of any
sort, so we feel there’s still a very
large untapped market of younger
investors we can serve,” he said.
“Our growth is coming from two
places: both clients new to FutureAdvisor
and existing ones
who are upgrading their portfolios.”
Lu is on to a winner. His online
investing platform is slated to hit
$1 billion in assets under management
within the next year based
on current growth patterns.
His firm is not alone.
A late 2014 study by MyPri-
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.17

vateBanking.com indicates AUM via
online robo-advising systems to top
$250 billion within five years. Ernst&
Young, a long-time leader in the traditional
form of financial advising, also
released predictions that more millennials
will select robo-advising over the
face-to-face, hand-shaking format simply
because only five percent of “live”
advisors working in today’s market
are less than age 30.
Yet, it isn’t just millennials opting
for the online experience. Many baby
boomers still stunned and burned by
The Great Recession gravitate towards
it as well.
“ I don’t think there’s any doubt that
this type of experience is more likely
in the long term to be attractive to the
millennials, but I think what doesn’t
get enough attention is that it’s not just
the millennials who want this experience,”
Bruckenstein said. “ I mean, I
used to have to go to the bank every
day. I hardly ever go to the bank anymore,
and I’m not a millennial. I think
there are a lot of people in my age
group who also want a better experience.
So to the extent that technology
provides a better experience, people
are going to want it.”

usiness
by michael
briefs
gordon
Helping Them
NAVIGATE
According
to recent
research
put out by Wealth-
Management.com,
the affluent, high
net worth investor
is still figuring out
whom to trust after the fallout from
the Great Recession. Results show a
significant disconnect. While 74 percent
of advisors describe their relationship
with their high net worth
clients as “friendships” and “socially
active,” only 28 percent of the clients
responded in kind.
For Michael Luftman, the research
documenting this trend proves the
importance of a goal he strives toward
daily. As a Financial Services
Representative and Senior Financial
Planner with Hudson Wealth Advisors,
an office of MetLife and a part
of the MetLife Premier Client Group,
based in Manhattan, he actively
seeks client relationships characterized
by trust.
“We look for clients who are looking
for real advice and guidance regarding
all of their financial needs
– and not just seeking investment
returns,” Luftman said.
“That doesn’t negate the need for
return on investment,” he explained.
It does promote goal setting and
painting a future picture of the client’s
financial situation that Luftman
argues is more important than simply
making rates of return.
Luftman wants his clients to see all
of the “what if” scenarios – the type
of things that happened between
2007 and 2009. It isn’t just a painful
rehash; it is his method for keeping
clients not only aware of the market’s
risk, but also of its rebounds
that have marked the past two to three
years of activity. He wants educated
clients who can trust his recommendations,
because they understand the
principles behind what he suggests.
“Most clients are still very concerned
with the shock they felt in 2008,” Luftman
said. “We want our clients to understand
the different risks and not just
the potential for positive returns, but
also the reality that negative returns
can occur. They need to be reminded
of how 2008 felt, and despite the fact
that we are currently in a low volatility
environment, this is not going to stay
forever.”
Another part of the trust factor Luftman
works to build involves transparent
actions on his part.
“It is really important that we, as advisors,
are constantly showing clients
what the fees are that they will incur
as we work within their portfolios, and
that we are making sure that clients
understand the investment strategy
and the dynamics of their portfolio,”
Luftman said.
He emphasized how regular meetings
with clients are a critical part
of client education, and Luftman is
talking about actual, physical face-toface
meetings, not just online chats or
emails. “In this business, the face-toface,
eye-to-eye, pen on the paper type
of meeting is still much better for understanding
a client’s situation,” Luftman
said. “As we as advisors know,
things do not always go according to
plan. It is our job to help them navigate
through all of that. We can hear what
our clients feel and work through the
issues together.”
Learn more about Hudson Wealth Advisors
online at www.hudsonwealthadvisors.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

y judy scinta
SAVINGS
Consultants
Profit from
Expense Reductions
Business magazines, websites and blogs continuously publish content to provide business
owners with ways to reduce the expenses associated with running their companies. Such
tips include using energy efficient products, hiring college interns, going paperless, buying
refurbished equipment – and some even offer pointers on the fine art of bartering.
While these measures certainly
can help, companies may
be missing other opportunities
to save money on a larger scale
because most business owners don’t
know where or how to look for them,
nor do they have the time to learn and
then follow through with each possibility.
As savings consultants, Expense
Reduction Advisors, LLC, focuses on
cost recovery and expense reduction
for small to mid-sized businesses. It is
important to note that they do it without
changing a company’s systems,
processes or suppliers, and they need
just a minimal amount of time from the
business owner. The Georgia-based
firm presents prospective clients with
a risk-free proposition: either Expense
Reduction Advisors find ways to save
a company money – or there is no fee.
“There two paths to increased profitability:
one is to sell more, the other
is to spend less. We help companies
spend less,” said Leroy Tanker, owner
and lead savings advisor at Expense
Reduction Advisors. “We look at over
100 local, state and federal cost-saving
programs, finding the ones that our
clients qualify for.”
Located near Atlanta, Tanker’s firm
has saved numerous companies across
diverse markets over $300 million to
date. Among the areas they analyze
are Worker’s Compensation, wireless
technologies, freight, waste, tax credits,
health insurance premium reductions,
property taxes and many others.
Prospective clients start with a free
30-minute assessment consultation
to determine their savings outlook. If
the results of the assessment indicate
potential monies can be recouped, the
next step is for the Expense Reduction
Advisors team – who include engineers,
IP attorneys, senior tax consultants
and service specialists – to begin
their research into the appropriate
programs and pursue the proper benefits.
All supporting documentation
accompanies the findings and is pro-
EXPENSE REDUCTION ADVISORS, LLC
235 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30303
4317 Lavista Road, Tucker, GA 30084
Phone: 770-817-8988 * Fax: 770-817-0874
vided to the client.
Toll Free: 866-463-4438
www.ExpenseReductionGPS.com
In addition to Tanker’s expertise as a
savings advisor, he is also credentialed
as a CPA-Personal Financial Specialist,
a designation signifying that he
is a Certified Public Accountant with
additional expertise in estates, tax, retirement,
risk management and investment
planning.
EXPENSE REDUCTION ADVISORS, LLC
235 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30303
4317 Lavista Road, Tucker, GA 30084
Phone: 770-817-8988 * Fax: 770-817-0874
Toll Free: 866-463-4438
www.ExpenseReductionGPS.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.21

y michael gordon
Foregoing The One-size
Fits All Mentality
Giving Clients What They Want - Personalized Service
At a time when it is all too commonplace for
target date portfolios to be lined up and
presented as the sole options from which
investors can select, not all advisors are skipping
the more personalized, client-specific form of
advising. Rather than giving clients a parade
of standardized choices, the notion of starting
from scratch and foregoing the one-size-fits-all
mentality is still being employed.
For Edward D. Foy, this specialization is his
standard mode of operation.
As president and chief investment officer of Foy
Financial Services, Inc., headquartered in Lincoln,
NE., Foy wants each client to receive unique
financial advice tailored to their specific situations.
“Lumping clients into a standardized model that
basically turns their investment into a commodity
does not work for me,” Foy said. “Clients have
very specific income requirements and specific
concerns with respect to volatility that others may
not share. Income does not come to them at the
same time as everyone else. They do not all retire
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015
on the same day. They don’t take their income on
the same day and in the same way as everyone
else. That is why I run a firm that uses a very
individualized approach to what we do in terms
of making advice for investments, and we are
very individualized in our work of helping people
realize their objectives.”
Being a fiduciary isn’t a question that Foy needs
to weigh. A resounding, “Yes, I am a fiduciary,”
is already his answer – and it comes from having
worked on both sides of the financial advising
world. Foy entered the financial services business
in 1980, beginning as a stock broker with a
regional firm in Minneapolis, MN. He has worked
for both regional and national firms, including E.
F. Hutton, where he was introduced to the concept
of managing a client’s entire financial needs,
rather than merely buying stocks and bonds for
investment purposes.
In the late 1980s, Foy joined forces with First
Financial Planners in St. Louis, MO, using the firm
as his broker-dealer for the next 19 years while

he developed his practice of giving independent
advice. He was dual-registered as a registered agent
with the Securities and Exchange Commission and
as a registered representative governed by FINRA.
Seeing both sides of the picture, Foy became
increasingly convinced that clients needed plans
characterized by detailed and personalized
attention rather than being stuffed into buy and
hold models. This is when he developed his
own system for meeting these needs. The thenpresident
of First Financial Planners gave Foy
a green light with his personal accounts in 1992.
That year went so well, that Foy’s approach was
introduced firm-wide. Over the next seven years
Foy’s program, SELECTOR® Money Management,
grew from dollar zero to over $500 million under
management. He knew his approach was working.
He still sticks with it today and he is certain in
regards to what investing clients want from him.
“Clients want to be able to see absolute returns,”
Foy said.
He is referencing absolute returns over long
periods of time – not spans lasting only a couple
of months or years. Getting clients to the point of
accepting short term loss, knowing that long-term
gain is ahead of them, is also part of his work,
he believes. Beyond giving advice and arranging
transactions, Foy knows he functions as part
counselor and part teacher.
Educated clients – clients who have paid
attention to the long-term investing lessons Foy
uses to illustrate the philosophy and approach his
firm takes – don’t panic during a Great Recession,
such as the one from 2007 to 2009, Foy told The
Suit.
Foy said, “It is important that we all accept we
can only do as good as the winds, the currents
and tides take us. We cannot make good progress
in a hurricane, under a gale force wind or when
typhoon strikes. But we can hunker down and
ride out the storm. They understand that when
a typhoon hits, it is just a typhoon. It isn’t what
they are invested in. It is just the weather – and the
weather will change.” Foy also has a life preserver
ready to toss when life gets turbulent. His goal is to
develop such a close relationship with clients that
he is on their front line of defense when trouble
comes along.
“
We are right there with their
pastor or priest, with the CPA or
attorney,” Foy said. “We develop
our relationships so that our clients
contact us immediately and we
develop our response abilities so
that we can function on that first
line of defense.”
This need for client stability is one of the reasons
Foy has already built his own succession plan. His
daughter, Cindy L. Foy, is the firm’s director of
operations. His son-in-law, Andrew J. Kramer, is
the firm’s chief compliance officer.
“The fact that I have been able to build this firm
is my greatest success,” Foy emphasized. “This is
a family firm. I am not the whole show. I did not
just build this for myself. This fuels and feeds my
children and my grandchildren. There is another
generation behind me that gives our clients the
knowledge that they will be taken care of – and
that there is a strong sense of continuity.”
Edward D. Foy, Andrew J. Kramer, Cindy L. Foy
12501 Holdrege Street
Lincoln, Nebraska 68527
(800) 456-4380
www.foyfinancial.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.23

y andrea lehner
BUILDING SUCCESS IN THE MIDST OF A
DISTRESSED ECONOMY
Creating Jobs and Redeveloping Commercial Properties in Tampa Bay
The secret to success is in knowing
how to recognize opportunities
– even in the midst of turmoil.
For Rufus Williams and Gregory
Williams, partners in Cardinal Point
Management, LLC, opportunity surfaced
in the wake of an economic crisis
that had most real estate investors
scrambling just to stay afloat.
The brothers and partners, who
worked in big financial, banking and
commercial real estate institutions at
the time, found themselves like everyone
else – at a crossroads between
career and a plummeting economy.
Instead of trying to brace themselves
for a long, uncertain recovery, they
took a different approach and seized
the chance to start their own business.
“When we looked across the country,
there were areas of deep distress,
Florida being one of the most
distressed markets at the time. We
thought that would present a good
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015
opportunity to start a real estate business
and bring fresh capital into that
marketplace,” Rufus said of their
“glass half full” approach to dealing
with the recession.
Gregory added that, even though
there was tremendous distress in the
region, they recognized several key
criteria making Tampa Bay the ideal
place to begin their venture. These
included long-term growth drivers,
a favorable cost of living and cost of
doing business, and a good tax environment.
Envisioning a broader perspective,
such as increasing numbers
of baby boomers entering retirement
age throughout the United States,
they felt that many would find Florida
a desirable retirement location.
With all the foundational elements
in place, the Williams brothers founded
Cardinal Point Management in
September 2009. Their mission was
to identify investment opportunities,
bring in new capital and execute deals
on the ground level in order to attract
larger, institutional investors from
gateway metropolitan areas. Typically,
large investors would not have
invested in Florida’s commercial real
estate market without a local partner.
“The thing I’m most proud about
with the organization is that even
though we started out with friends
and family capital for our initial real
estate investments,” Rufus said, “we
were able to build a strong property
acquisition and operations track
record that soon allowed us to start
looking at much larger transactions.
We could then attract institutional
capital partners that could take us to
the next level of the commercial real
estate investment business.”
For Cardinal Point Management,
that “next level” has been a significant
accomplishment, and includes
structuring deals with top nationally

and globally recognized corporations
like Allstate Insurance, L’Oreal,
Cox Media, Humana, SunTrust,
Chipotle and Jimmy Johns.
In the commercial real estate
business, success means more than
striking an equitable deal for the involved
parties. Success also means
vital economic growth and new
jobs for the region. One example
is a functionally obsolete, vacant
90,000 sq. ft. building that Cardinal
Point bought in 2011. After recapitalizing
and updating the property
to make it more appealing to today’s
corporate users, the building
now houses the headquarters of
SalonCentric, the wholesale subsidiary
of L’Oreal.
“This resulted in an excess of
100 new jobs for the region – and
a long-term commitment from one
of the largest global cosmetic companies
in the world,” Gregory said.
“That was a great turnaround of a
property we bought that was very
distressed and needed some capital
investments to redevelop it.”
Not every prospect can be as promising,
however. “At first glance everything
looks like it has potential,” Rufus
explained, adding that patience is
crucial, especially during the startup
phase. “We looked at over 100 deals
before we bought our first commercial
asset.”
Gregory added that finding the
right opportunity is the most complicated
part of the process. “We want
to deploy capital where we feel we’re
getting appropriate risk-adjusted returns,”
he said.
Taking their time with finding initial
investments had some added
benefits that have proven even more
important than acquiring property assets
– the Williams brothers were able
to build relational capital and took the
time to acquire valuable knowledge
about the nuances of the area.
As selective as they are about obtaining
new assets, they know that potential
investors are equally selective
about choosing whom to trust with
their capital, especially in the aftermath
of the Great Recession. “Given
the fact that we were a startup,” Gregory
explained, “we typically co-invested
a significant amount of capital
alongside our investors to provide an
alignment of interests.”
While this created unique challenges,
the Williams brothers have also
been able to build a level of trust by
performing well for their investors
and acting as fiduciaries of that capital.
Rufus attributes having a Wall
Street background with being able to
harness advanced skillsets and processes
learned there to create the kind
of strong foundation that has helped
position Cardinal Point to attract institutional
investors within the first
five years of founding the business.
“It’s an absolute perseverance and a
meticulous attention to detail that wins
in the end,” Rufus continued. “We always
go that extra mile to get things as
perfect as you can make them. In our
business, we’re owner-managers. Our
reputation is on the line every day that
someone walks in the door of one of our
properties.”
“We strive to make those properties
the very best that they can be, and we
try to provide our tenants and clients
with an exceptional value proposition.”
That philosophical approach, along with
the critical core values of honest, fair
and transparent deals, is proving to be
a winning strategy. Poised for continued
growth in the upward movement
of Tampa Bay’s economy, the Williams
brothers are looking to expand further
into Florida’s Central and Southwest regions.
“We’ve built systems and teams
in order to manage that geographic expansion
in a proper manner without outgrowing
our capabilities,” Rufus said.
11300 4th Street North - Suite 250 - St. Petersburg, FL 33716 - (813) 223-6540
www.cardinalpointmanagement.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.25

y amy m. armstrong
Rolling out the Barrels:
Atlanta Beer Festivals Expand
Explosive growth in the local
craft beer industry is fueling
one man’s dream of introducing
great brews to the people
of Atlanta, Georgia. Using festivals
to showcase the flavor diversity of
the local scene – from pale ales to
stouts, to seasonal brews, to fruit
beers made from peaches, blackberries,
pears and more – to original
brews with impressionable
names such as Dragon’s Milk,
Misdemeanor Ale, Old Speckled
Hen and Truck Stop Honey. Suddenly
the craft beer scene down
South offers up a tasty variety of
brews, rivaling even official beer
competitions elsewhere.
A really fun way to sample this
array of locally produced beverages
is at one of the many festival
events sponsored by Atlanta
Beer Festivals, the brainchild of
Michael DiLonardo, owner and
director of operations. A quick
visual cruise through the vendor
list at the firm’s website provides
proof of the wide variety of unique
thirst-quenching opportunities.
DiLonardo actually didn’t intend to start
a beer festival in 2007 when still employed
in the financial services industry. He put
together a charity event intended for networking,
and quickly discovered that he
had a significant talent for event hosting.
“Those skills weren’t honed,” DiLonardo
notes, but he took the next few years
to host parties for fun, earning a few extra
bucks on the side. Leaving finance behind,
he worked with the restaurant industry in
coordinating larger events, and in 2010,
DiLonardo hosted the first full-scale Atlanta
Beer Festival with 2,200 attendees.
As the event wrapped up, DiLonardo
said to himself, “Hey, this could be a fulltime
business someday.”
That someday came much
sooner than he anticipated. Within
a year, his business was a fulltime
endeavor and today, his firm
is one of Atlanta’s largest event
promoters. DiLonardo has an extensive
network connecting his
firm to the 30-plus craft breweries
currently operating in the Atlanta
area as well as the inside track to
another five to ten additions in the
works for 2015. Most importantly,
his firm has a loyal following
– anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000
festival goers willing to shell out
$25 to $50 per event – and several
of the 2014 events reached capacity,
according to the local fire
marshal.
Perhaps nearly as essential,
DiLonardo’s firm also has a full
list of volunteer pourers. In fact,
the sign-up list on the website is
now closed.
“Our volunteer pouring staff is
extremely important,” DiLonardo
said. “Most programs need 120
to 150 volunteers. It does save money on
staffing, sure, but it also adds an amazing
fun element to the event because the volunteers
are excited about what they are
doing.”
All volunteers go through alcohol awareness
training before each event for safety’s
sake. Beginning in January 2015, educational
programs at participating breweries
are being offered to volunteers. DiLonardo
has noticed that some of the more savvy
festival goers have started asking about ingredients
or the brewing process, and he
will be sure to have knowledgeable volunteers
on tap to answer all their questions.
www.atlantabeerfestivals.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

y michael gordon
Being Independent Keeps Clients First
As an increasing amount of
data is becoming centrally located
in Cloud storage vaults,
some financial advisors are
beginning to keep a more
comprehensive set of client
data stored in electronic format.
The usual gathering of a
client’s portfolio choices, risk
tolerance, investment strategies,
account statements and
income tax returns tops the
list of items being included.
Copies of documents such as
wills, power of attorney and
medical directives are also
commonly included.
As of late, however, the contents
of this Cloud storage strategy
is becoming more diversified
based on the client’s personal life.
Items such as names, physical
addresses, email addresses and phone
numbers as contact information for
the client’s family members, close
friends, accountants, attorneys,
doctors, lawyers, therapists or any
other desired contact information
is also not just finding its way in to,
but purposely being included in,
electronic data storage.
It’s an emerging trend Brett Davis,
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015
CEO and Co-Founder of TRUE Private
Wealth Advisors, based in Salem, OR.,
has already taken on as a standard
operating practice.
“We serve as a vault of our client’s
most important financial and personal
documents,” he said. “We have a
secure storage system in the Cloud
for each of our clients where we keep
track of these documents. If an event
should occur that could impact their
family financial situation, such as the
death of a spouse, we can truely run
point during that time of crises. We
are there every step of the way to help
protect the financial interest of the
client.”
It is a unique service, Davis said,
but one he believes is in line with
his fiduciary duties as a Registered
Investment Advisor.
It also isn’t the only unique service
method Davis believes he and his team
at TRUE are utilizing. He believes
being an RIA gives him the latitude to
help clients control the ups and downs
of their market interaction in a way he
never could when he worked for big
wire house firms.
It is why he and partner, Steve
Altman, both left the Merrill Lynch
Private
Client Group
in Salem,
Ore.,
along
with The Gescher Herber Group and
independently hung up their own
shingle forming TRUE in the fall of
2012.
He wanted the ability to lay all
options out on the table for a client
to review, for the client to hear his
fiduciary advice without the pressure
of having to push a particular
proprietary product because of
company mandates. Davis believes
this provides the freedom for his client
to ultimately make decisions based
soley on their best interest.
“The ability to truly serve clients
in a completely unbiased and very
transparent manner, in which the
clients know they are paying only
for advice, and not for commissioned
products, is really rewarding. It is
rewarding to see that our clients
understand the better mousetrap that
we now have,” Davis said. “People get
what we are doing. They get the value
proposition of the independent space
and they trust it.”
He’s a firm believer that the volatility
in the stock market does not have to
rock his client’s boat.
“We believe very strongly that
volatility can be managed. It is the
enemy of the investor for a lot of
emotional and psychological reasons,”
Davis said. “When a client is put in
a position where they have more
volatility than they can stand, they
end up making bad,
emotional decisions at
key stress points where

Steve Altman and Brett Davis, Co-founders of True
“
they really need to just stay put in the
chair. We have been very successful
in positioning clients in portfolios
that not only achieve their long term
financial goals but also allow them to
sleep at night.”
He understands what is at risk for
his clients. It isn’t just dollar amounts;
it is the lifestyle and emotional safety
those dollar amounts represent.
His firm is handling sizable
accounts. The firm’s current average
account has assets under management
valued between $1 and $2 million.
The firm has many accounts of
significantly greater value and more
importantly to his management,
these accounts are quite complex with
many different variables and moving
parts, he said.
The firm minimum of $500,000 to
Risk is still a four-letter word to many of our clients.”
start is fairly firm, he said. However,
in very specialized circumstances, he
will consider working with a new
client with fewer assets.
What he won’t consider is putting
any client at undo risk or minimizing
their perception of how risk affects
them.
“Risk is still a four-letter word to
many of our clients,” he said. “I think
this is a generational thing that will
not go away anytime soon.” Noting
that two major financial collapses –
the tech crunch or dot.com bubble
that burst in 2000 and the housing and
banking crash from 2007 to 2009 now
better known as The Great Recession
– have occurred within the lifetime of
today’s investing generation, Davis
said, “the impression and effects of
those two major events will most
likely never leave the perception
of risk this generation now has.
They simply are inherently more
conservative now than they ever were
leading up to those events.”
www.truepwa.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.29

y andrea lehner
While the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission
(SEC) continues to
debate the ins and outs
of implementing uniform
fiduciary standards,
Charles Gibson, AAMS®,
AWMA®, CFP®, CHFC®,
CMT®, CRPS®, MBA
president and founder of
Financial Perspectives in
Pleasanton CA, is adamant
that fiduciary integrity
simply needs to be a
given within the industry.
Considering the Future
WITHOUT FORGETTING THE PAST
“I think this is one of the most
important industry topics on
the radar right now, and needs
resolution sooner rather than later,”
Gibson insisted, bemused at why the
topic is even in question. “It is my belief
that, if you are not willing to put your
clients’ interests ahead of your own and
sign a fiduciary oath, you shouldn’t be
an advisor. Period.”
Gibson, who made a career jump from
Silicon Valley to the financial sector in
2000, has built his business on treating
all of his clients with integrity and
establishing trust-based relationships.
“Trust,” he said, “is something clients
need to make sure advisors earn by
following through on the commitments
they make.”
Working from a philosophy that
successes are to be expected rather than
celebrated, Gibson said that although
his clients weathered the recession
reasonably well in comparison to many,
he was still devastated by the impact it
had on them. “From that point forward
I made it my life’s mission, my job, to
ensure that when it happens again –
and there’s no question in my mind
that it will happen again – we will be
prepared.”
Preparation to weather the inevitable
tumultuous market includes using
integrated management models and
strategies that maximize market ups,
while minimizing the downs. “Buy and
hold is not a valid or rational approach
to investing,” Gibson emphasized,
speaking of the traditional standard.
“Markets go up as an escalator and
come down as an elevator,” he said,
explaining that it took investors an
average of three years to recover what
was lost in one.
Despite the lengthy recovery time,
Gibson noted with dismay that
many investors seem to have become
complacent again. “I’m not sure if it’s
their belief that the cause of the great
recession has been fixed, or the fact that
they think rules and regulations are in
place that will protect them,” he said.
“People are
just focused
on the here
and now, but
at some point in our lifetime, we are
going to have to endure another similar
type of event.”
Gibson is as passionate about
helping clients prepare for retirement
as he is about upholding his standard
of integrity. “There’s no question that
there’s a retirement crisis here in the
U.S.” He illustrated how a current
retirement account of $100,000 will
only yield an income of $4,000 per year.
“There’s a lot of catching up that we
need to do, and saving, unfortunately,
is only half the battle.”
Financial Perspectives
7011 Koll Center Parkway
Pleasanton, CA 94566,
(510) 651-7054
www.financialperspectives.biz
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

GIPS COMPLIANCE ON THE RISE
Global Investment Performance Standards, more commonly referred
to as “GIPS” in the investment industry, have been adopted
by 37 countries around the world. In 1999, the CFA Institute, a
global association leading the ethics, education, and professional
standards within the investment profession, formally published
GIPS protocol. Since then, the prevalence of firms claiming GIPS
compliance has gradually grown and is now considered to be part
of the investment management industry’s best practices.
Michael Hultzapple is the Managing Director
of Alpha Performance Verification Services, a
Richmond, Virginia-based company specializing
in providing GIPS compliance and verification
services to investment firms. Before starting his own
firm, he worked in the investment management industry
for over 20 years, operating a Fortune 500 pension plan and
served as Director of Operations for an institutional money
manager. Hultzapple, who is a CPA, also holds a Certificate
in Investment Performance Measurement from the CFA Institute.
“GIPS standards are based on fair representation and full
disclosure of your performance information. Consumers can
do an apples-to-apples comparison of any two investment
management firms,” said Hultzapple, in explaining the impact
of GIPS. He cites comparing the performance numbers
of a firm in New York City to a firm in London, and comparing
the numbers of a large firm to that of a small firm as
two examples. According to GIPS compliance requirements,
a firm must present a minimum of five years of performance
information.
Among the services provided by Alpha Performance Verification
Services are pre-verification and compliance consulting,
firm-wide GIPS verification, performance examination
and investment performance verification.
“We’re a small boutique investment verification firm – and
we tend to offer a high level of personal service,” said Hultzapple.
www.alphaverification.com

y michael gordon
GREEN INVESTETMENTS
ANSWER SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL GOALS
Green isn’t just the color of money.
It is also the description
of a hot investing
sector featuring
diverse choices. These
choices range from green
bonds aimed at funding
environmentally friendly
community development projects as
well as green mutual funds primarily
composed of companies focused on environmental
and sustainable business. Increasingly
though, it involves investing in
mutual funds that act as shareholder activists
in order to influence companies to
implement better environmental, social,
or corporate governance policies.
It is how Len Cohen, principal and
Certified Financial Planner TM Practioner
with CF Services Group based in Gaithersburg,
Md., invests his money. It is the
type of investment he often advises his
clients to select.
“Many of my clients share my interest
in socially responsible impact investing,”
Cohen said. “That is the specialty I am developing
within my practice with clients
that share my interest in environmental
action. I am very interested in environmental
sustainability and other desirable
social outcomes. I think it’s worthwhile to
line up my investments with those types
of goals. My clients and I feel good about
choosing investments in firms that are
trying to influence climate change. That
is a priority value for many of my clients.”
Cohen doesn’t just talk environmental
awareness. He participates in it.
In late January, Cohen, his firm associate,
and a few clients jumped into the frigid
Potomac River for the Chesapeake Climate
Action Network Polar Bear Plunge.
The theme of the fundraising event was,
“Keep Winter Cold.”
“I think we raised enough money for
a good psychiatric evaluation,” Cohen
joked.
More than that, Cohen and his fellow
jumpers put their social activity where
their portfolios are.
Many of Cohen’s
clients have ten to 15
years or less until their
retirement or are already
retired, he said.
Most do not consider themselves to be high
net worth; they have assets of less than $5
million. They are smart, well educated people
who have earned their paychecks based
on “what they know and applying what
they know,” Cohen said. They are knowledgeable
enough to recognize their need
for sound investment advice for their retirement
years.
He knows his clients need long-term investments
capable of producing sustainable
returns that will support their lifestyles in
retirement. He believes green investments
will do such. By their very nature as the
technologies develop, green investments
are long-term endeavors. The returns, Cohen
believes, will continue to match or exceed
values-neutral investing as the market
share for green energy increases and the
cost of producing it decreases.
“As a financial planner, my first objective
is to make sure my clients meet their financial
goals. We develop a strategy to accomplish
those financial goals,” Cohen said.
“For us, it is not about beating the markets.
It is about achieving goals with confidence.
If I meet my clients’ social and sustainable
goals, but haven’t met their financial goals,
I’ve still failed. It’s about doing well and
doing good.”
*Registered Representative, Securities offered
through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a
Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment
Advisor Representative, Cambridge Investment
Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment
Advisor. Cambridge and CF Services Group, Inc.
are not affiliated.
9083 Shady Grove Court
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
301.963.8820
www.cfservicesgroup.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.33

y amy m. armstrong
Educated Clients make Prudent Decisions
Don’t neglect to educate the client.
Clients already possessing
or currently
seeking high
rates of financial literacy
are an advisor’s dream,
according to Steve Sexton.
They comprehend
the basics of recommendations Sexton
makes for growing their wealth. And
they understand the value of professional
guidance.
“At the end of the day, when somebody
realizes the process they are currently
utilizing is not working because
they simply do not know what they do
not know, they are certainly going to
be looking to get educated. But as they
get educated, they are also going to be
looking for a relationship with an advisor,”
Sexton said.
As president of Sexton Advisory
Group in Riverside, San Diego and Temecula,
Calif., he looks for clients who
are passionate about living the lives
their wealth accumulation can provide.
“Of course,” he said, “a new client
should come with enough assets for a
profitable working relationship.” Yet
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015
Sexton insisted that “the numbers” aren’t
the most important factor for him.
Looking toward the emotional side
of the advisor relationship first, Sexton
asks himself questions such as, “Does
this client have specific action items
in life that he or she looks forward to
doing?” and “Do I, as the advisor, look
forward to meeting with this client?”
In some respects, he lives vicariously
through his client’s adventures. He
loves the fact that one of his clients has
become a rose expert, now judging floral
competitions in retirement, and that
other clients are traveling the nation’s
back roads and byways in their recreational
vehicles provided by prudent
planning.
Sexton’s deep concern for client welfare
began when he himself was in
need of care.
In late 2006 and early 2007, Sexton
found himself battling colon cancer.
He had just left an eight-year stint with
the Automobile Club of Southern California
and knew he wanted to go into
business for himself. His recovery time
in the hospital gave him plenty of time
for thought. And his mind was questioning
whether his own financial and
personal documents were in order.
“I realized that things such as my
trust, my taxes and my general finances
were all out of sorts, because none
of my advisors for those things were
actually talking to each other,” Sexton
recalls.
As he recovered, Sexton began walking
the hospital hallways for exercise.
Others joined him. Fellow patients began
sharing similar concerns and Sexton
said he quickly realized that, simply
because of this lack of coordination
between advisors, money managers,
accountants and attorneys, as he put
it, “Money was just falling through the
cracks in people’s financial lives.”
Sexton established Sexton Advisory
Group in early 2003 with the intent
of creating an ensemble firm chock
full of experts who had the training,
knowledge and experience to meet an
array of financial concerns. He built
the firm’s clientele by offering access
to expert investment advisors, including
those with significant experience

in alternative investments, tax planners,
estate attorneys and most recently, 1031
exchange advisors and realtors.
His clients, of course, are aging and
approaching retirement.
Sexton brought in the 1031 experts
specifically for what he calls, “the silver
hair tsunami” of baby boomers turning
65 with family homes they want to sell
as they downsize their independent domiciles
or move to senior living centers.
“It is one of my major initiatives for
2015,” Sexton explained. “The baby
boomers as a whole are a major section
of the economy, and one that will influence
the economy in terms of real estate
sales and health care. Their homes are
a gigantic asset that they have to deal
with. They have to figure out how to sell
while eliminating as much tax as possible
so they can utilize the proceeds from
the sale to finance the rest of their lives.”
Sexton also beefed up the firm’s
tax planning division. With all of the
changes implemented for 2015 as the
2014 tax year is processed, he believes
additional expertise is the best way to
guarantee that his clients’ best interest
is maintained.
With all the expertise at his firm’s disposal,
it might seem a bit easier to tone
down the financial education of clients.
But that isn’t going to happen under
Sexton’s watch.
He recalls working with a partner
who had no interest in educating clients.
This individual’s sole desire in advising
was to get clients hooked up with
products and to earn his commissions.
That approach just didn’t work for Sexton
and that partnership soon ended.
Sexton knows that far too many people
have no clue regarding the management
of their financial lives. He knows
that many just work at their jobs from
9 to 5 Monday through Friday and are
too busy to even deal with the topic.
Sexton said that these folks get to retirement
age and feel like they always have
a “financial monkey” on their backs because
they are not prepared. This is the
scenario he works hard to avoid with
his clients. His goal, he related – and
his greatest success – is in being able to
educate a client the old-fashioned way.
The client gets all the facts and all the information
that is needed, enabling that
client to make a prudent and informed
decision.
“I have learned that helping people by
educating people is the best way to conduct
this business,” Sexton emphasized.
“If you can focus on educating the people,
the money for your paycheck will
come. But you will have helped people
and that is extremely satisfying.”
27247 Madison Ave. Suite #500
Temecula, CA 92590
(800) 560-2611
www.sextonadvisorygroup.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.35

y amy m. armstrong
Cleaning up in Laundromats
Turn a neat and tidy profit as an
investor in a laundromat? Or
perhaps become a serial investor
by taking a scrubbed and spotless
approach to alternative investment?
In urban areas where laundromats
are around nearly every corner, what
once was considered merely a squaredaway
business of washing and drying
is being transformed into a neat and
clean investment platform.
The greater Los Angeles area is a
classic example. That is where Golden
Alliance Management Group, LLC,
is based. Golden Alliance specializes
in turnkey management for hands-off
owners of laundromats. Golden Alliance’s
owner, Carlton Morgan, has an
extensive background providing investment
management for insurance,
real estate, Forex and stocks and bonds.
For the past 15 years, he has been expanding
that investment strategy to
laundromats and is enjoying a spotless
record by helping clients increase their
bottom lines and retirement savings.
“One of the things I noticed is that
with the typical investment, people
do not make as much money as they
think. They just hold your money. I noticed
that people would rather make a
small return or even lose money than
to do something unheard of or something
they are not familiar with,” Morgan
notes, also adding that fear of the
unknown keeps people from capitalizing
on new, but different opportunities.
“That is when I started doing
laundromat sales. I started offering
laundromats because it was unknown.
I started thinking of how to change it
from owning a business to the running
of a laundromat turning into an investment.”
That’s why, when he hit pay dirt,
he knew he could turn it into a clean
profit.
Morgan parleyed his knowledge of
the laundromat industry, his connections
with banking and finance professionals
as well as those with equipment
manufacturers and distributors
into a full laundromat services firm
performing the day-to-day work of
a laundromat for hands-off investor
owners.
He also brokers purchases and sales
of laundromats.
With a home base of Los Angeles
County, Morgan's firm serves a
75-mile radius of counties and cities
around the greater Los Angeles metropolitan
area.
He works with those aggressive-minded
investors who are willing
to let Morgan and his team members
handle the sorting, washing, drying
and folding of a laundromat’s business
plan. Morgan said that Golden Alliance's
expertise facilitates the earning
of an 18 to 30 percent annual return on
investment.
Laundromat ownership is what
Morgan calls a “recession resistant”
industry.
“It has a consistent profit-making
margin because it is one of the basic
needs for society,” he said. “Regardless
of whether the bank that failed
you is still in business or not, you still
go to the laundromat to wash your
clothes.”
While modernized laundromats use
pre-paid swipe cards to access machines,
many are still coin-operated.
“The cash basis of the industry has
more than caught the eye of the Internal
Revenue Service,” Morgan noted.
It’s another aspect his firm can keep
unsullied.
“We have an auditable revenue
statement for our owners,” Morgan
said. “We keep count of the revenues
they are generating, just in case one of
them is forced to explain their finances.”
www.goldamg.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

y judy scinta
Better Security,
More Expertise
and Full Control
Twenty years ago, a financial advisor experienced a problem with his
firm’s database processing software, so he turned for help to an industry
colleague, Michael Kelly. At that time, Kelly was working in the securities
industry licensed as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and a Registered
Principal – and he was also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).
Kelly was able to solve the
problem, which led the advisor
to ask Kelly if he would
maintain the system on an
ongoing basis. Kelly agreed. Over time,
he realized how valuable these services
could be, and knew that other advisors
could benefit from them, too.
So in 1996, Kelly launched Back
Office Support Services (BOSS),
specializing in supporting smallto-
medium independent financial
advisors with their portfolio
management software.
“One of the primary things
that we bring to the table is the
degree of expertise that we have
in the software,” said Kelly, adding
that larger firms are able to
employee full-time IT staff more
cost-effectively than his clients
could. Kelly’s experience as an
investment advisor during the
first half of his career also provided
him with unique insights into
his clients’ operations, needs and concerns.
“Outsourcing is becoming increasingly
accepted by advisors, because
they realize they are giving up very
little control,” explained Kelly, president
and CEO of the firm. “What they
are really doing is essentially hiring a
remote employee. They don’t get to sit
next to that employee and look over his
or her shoulder, but they do get to call
all of the shots,” he said. “They still decide
what and when. The data is still
their data – they don’t transfer ownership
and have the right to look at it.
They own it.”
The primary concern for most BOSS
clients is obtaining reliable data for
the performance reports that advisors
prepare for their own clientele. “Our
expertise is in getting the data from
Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity
and others, and making sure that it
is good, clean, reliable data for the calculation
of performance numbers for
advisors to use,” Kelly said.
BOSS also hosts the software from a
national data center. This helps advisors
save the cost of license fees while
providing them with high-level security.
It is much more secure than anything
an advisor could implement internally.
Other IT concerns, including
integration of system upgrades
and updates, speed of implementation
and eliminating the
need for internal staff training,
also saves advisors time and expense.
Confidentiality is a top priority.
“All of the data itself is in secure
environments – everything
sits behind password-protected
firewalls,” explained Kelly.
New employees at BOSS undergo
background checks and undertake
three months of training.
This is followed by weekly
training meetings for all account
managers, where topics such as
new software features and recent client
questions are covered.
The Vista, California-based firm
prides itself on developing creative
solutions that can solve problems for
clients that – especially those that other
services have said could not be done.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.37

y andrea lehner
Demystifying Multi-State
Tax Compliance
Helping Clients Navigate State Tax Codes
Building a
sustainable
business of
any size requires
more than passion,
great products or
services, business
acumen and good
timing. It requires a steadfast commitment
to many unpleasant and often
confusing tasks like maintaining balanced
budgets, regulatory compliance
and paying federal and state taxes.
The latter becomes even more complex
when a business expands beyond the
boundaries of one state and has to comply
with, collect and pay taxes in accordance
with multiple state tax codes.
For many business owners, understanding
one tax code is burdensome
enough. Maintaining accurate processes,
submitting monthly or quarterly filings
and being subjected to often-times
complex audits from multiple states
can become so overwhelming that it
detracts from the daily operations of
the business.
This is where State Tax Advisors, LP
comes to the rescue, by offering a full
service suite of multi-state tax compliance
expertise. State Tax Advisors provides
businesses with much-needed
relief from having to handle these time
consuming, recurring administrative
functions internally.
And because they offer audit support
and representation, clients using
their services can focus on other key
business development areas without
worrying about staying abreast of the
complicated, ever-changing tax laws.
Handling approximately 700 client
projects per year, including the submission
of nearly 20,000 sales and use
tax returns, State Tax Advisors is one
of the largest boutique consulting firms
of its type in the country, according to
Senior Partner and founder Riley Epps.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

“We have clients with business in every
state,” Epps said, adding that the
25person Texas based firm is also likely
to be handling a client audit in multiple
states at any given time.
When asked how a business should
defend itself against an audit, Epps
half jokingly replied to hire State Tax
Advisors. “In all seriousness,” he said,
“when people get an audit notice, it’s
not a fun day. Most people kind of
panic. They want somebody to hold
their hands and walk them through
the process.”
“That’s what we do. We make it
easy, gather the information and take
control of the audit to get them
through it as painlessly as we can.
- There are a lot of things we can
do at the state level.”
Epps further explained that
most states want to ensure businesses
are brought into compliance,
and will work to find
solutions when problems arise.
Referring to their home state,
Epps noted,
“The State of Texas doesn’t
want to see taxpayers go out of
business over an audit, so they are
more willing to work with us than
against us.”
One trouble spot for many businesses
is in determining whether
or not they have nexus – the establishment
of presence in any given
state that will subject the business to
the tax laws and obligations of that
jurisdiction.
“We are seeing a lot of movement
in the definition of “presence”. All
the way from states taking unique
initiatives themselves, to really starting
to enforce what’s been out there
forever,” Epps said. “Since the economy
has slowed down in the past ten
years, states have gotten really aggressive
on the nexus issue.”
Nexus is tied hand-in-hand with
interstate commerce. Once clearly
defined, since the 1990s and eCommerce
boom, these waters have become
muddied. Add in the proposed
Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 at
the federal level, along with ongoing
revisions to state nexus standards,
and many businesses find it difficult
to remain in compliance without the
guidance of a dedicated multistate
sales and use tax expert.
Epps suggested that nexus compliance
is one of the biggest challenges
companies face today, especially as
states continue to ramp up enforcement
of these laws. “We spend a great
deal of our time defending our clients
regarding nexus,” he said. “If it’s determined
that they do have nexus and
should have filed or been registered
in a state, then we go through either
an amnesty or voluntary disclosure
agreements on behalf of our clients to
get them into compliance.”
Epps says that State Tax Advisors
We can be your
liason and
your defense,
representing
you and
protecting
your interests.
will continue to follow and monitor
the laws affecting their clients’ tax
and compliance standings. With over
3.5 million tax dollars submitted with
client returns every month, the obligation
to uphold fiduciary responsibility
and client trust is something he
doesn’t take lightly. This standard of
excellence is reflected in his thirteen
year old company’s remarkable success,
boasting an average growth rate
of 15 to 20 percent each year.
“We have a very low attrition rate
with our clients,” Epps said. “Once
they outsource their compliance to
us, it’s out of sight, out of mind. We
handle all of their audits. A thorn in
their side has been removed and they
don’t have to worry about it.”
www.statetaxadvisors.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.41

y amy m. armstrong
Emotions Should not
Dictate Investment Choices
Ditch whatever emotional attachments one might have as an investor regarding
certain stocks, bonds, companies or even countries. After the Great Recession,
financial behavioral analysts renewed their previous encouragement to remove
feelings and emotions from investment choices. Not doing so is a losing strategy,
as many in the financial media have reported.
John Lindsey, CEO and Founder
John Lindsey couldn’t agree more.
As CEO and founder of Lindsey &
Lindsey Wealth Management in Westlake
Village, Calif., he believes today’s
investor simply cannot afford to remain emotionally
tied to the process of selecting which
investments to pursue.
“All too often, an investor is emotionally
tied to a stock or another type of investment
either due to previous performance or simply
to the history of always having held that
investment,” Lindsey said. “And, all too often,
that particular investment represents too
large a percentage of their total investment
position. I try to remind investors that that the
stock doesn’t know you own it and the stock
has no emotional ties to you as its investor.”
He is a big fan of diversification.
For Lindsey, investing in real estate is an
obvious choice, and he’s particularly keen
on commercial buildings chock full of office
and retail space. After having weathered the
Great Recession and its losses, Lindsey took a
transactional interest in real estate investing.
He began to think there had to be alternatives
that would provide the kind of diversification
the stock market simply couldn’t. In studying
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

The interests of our
clients comes first. Our
focus on full disclosure
and the highest
standards of fiduciary
care ensures our interests
our aligned with yours.
We are not swayed by
financial incentives for
recommending. We do
only what’s right for
you.
ers who have fewer years to accumulate
wealth prior to reaching retirement age.
One of the biggest challenges he sees
facing the boomer generation is a big
question mark when it comes to whether
they will need long-term care.
At anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000
a month on the low end, paying for
skilled long-term nursing care or assisted
living expenses out of a retirement
nest egg whose yolk is close to being
drained from prior active retirement
living is an enormous end-of-life obstacle.
Unfortunately, many of the long-term
fears. In fact, it is exactly what he looks
for in the clients he takes on. He wants
to work with folks who are in the investing
and wealth accumulation mode
for the long haul and not simply for the
sake of elusive quick gains. He wants
clients who want to go home and think
over a proposed change in their portfolios
before making a decision.
“If they cannot go home and think
about it first, then the answer most certainly
should be no, they should not do
it,” Lindsey said. Of the idea that one
should strike while the iron is hot, he
firmly contends, “the deal of a lifetime
this, he was seeking ways to protect
his clients as well as himself, especially
if another market correction of that
magnitude should occur. (Real Estate
Investment trusts, REIT’s Clarify)
He found the idea of investing right
at the heart of the economy: the very
space where business is conducted.
“No matter what is happening in the
economy, the rents collected in commercial
buildings – in office space, in
retail space – will continue to have a
major and steady impact. Because no
matter what is going on, those rents
still have to be paid. The market being
up or down has no bearing on whether
those rents are going to be paid.”
Lindsey likes his clients’ portfolios
to be as diversified as possible. In
his view, one never knows when an
“Exxon Valdez”-like emergency will
hit a particular company. In his mind,
emergencies are simply waiting to
happen, and Lindsey doesn’t want his
clients going down with the ship just
because too much of their portfolio
was dedicated to one particular type of
investment.
“I do not have another 2008 in me as
far as my investment strategies go,” he
said with a chuckle that did not mask
the stress accompanied with even
talking about the Great Recession.
“That is why I diversified. I would
rather be too diversified than be under-diversified.”
His message is getting across to clients
– especially to skittish baby boom-
Christina Lindsey Orta, CFP®
insurance products available are on the
expensive side.
The best solution Lindsey has found
thus far, is for clients to purchase a
long-term care policy with a death benefit
rider. The insured can use the longterm
benefit if necessary. Should they
not need long-term, skilled or assisted
living care, the death benefit associated
with the policy that will go to their beneficiaries
is increased.
It’s one way to meet one of the common
goals at life’s end: transferring
wealth to the next generation.
“People who have a jumbo CD for
example are much better served to put
that in this type of policy,” Lindsey
said, cautioning to read the fine print to
ensure the death benefit is indeed what
the insured wants.
Long-term isn’t something Lindsey
John Lindsey, CFP® CEO and Founder
comes around about every ten minutes.
We just don’t invest on those kinds of
emotions.”
What Lindsey, along with his partner
and daughter, Christina Lindsey Orta,
do instead is to apply the lesson learned
in Aesop’s fable called, “The Tortoise
and the Hare.,” The fast-moving jack
rabbit who mocked the slower-moving
turtle decided to take a nap mid-race,
and found himself beaten by the slower,
but more consistent competitor.
“Getting rich quick is not something
we aspire to,” Lindsey said. “We are
diligent and we are deliberate.”
4195 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Suite 125
Westlake Village, CA 91362
Toll Free: (855) 334-0033
www.lindseyandlindsey.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.43

y eboni lightner
THE ART OF STORYTELLING IN MEDIA RELATIONS
Business owners using the services of public relations experts
should know there is a difference between a media consultant
who has worked in the industry as a journalist and a PR professional
who has not: The journalist knows what editors and
reporters want.
Only occasionally will you come across a reporter or editor
at a trade or general market publication who is open to
the rah-rah company sales pitch. Most are looking for innovations,
trends and stories that are relevant to the news
of the day. Communications professionals who get clients
covered cultivate relationships with journalist by first being
helpful.
Having worked as a journalist for 23 years, 15 at the Chicago
Tribune, T. Shawn Taylor, president of Treetop Consulting,
knows how to write marketing materials that get
noticed and picked up by reporters at major publications.
In an effort to promote small to midsize companies and
nonprofits, Taylor and her team of communication professionals
use journalistic tactics to write engaging key messages,
press releases, speeches, web content, newsletters
and special reports designed to attract media and potential
partners.
“I approach my work like I’m writing an article,” Taylor
said. “Our press releases are picked up wholesale by a
lot of publications because they are already in story form.
And so really, it’s the storytelling, I think, that makes a big
difference. It’s also that research aspect, because not only
was I investigative in my field as a journalist, but I’ve been
asked to do research and special reports for clients as well.”
Furthermore, Taylor said that her team customizes pitches
for particular reporters by looking into their research
interests and projects. “You can’t just send out one pitch
to cover everybody,” she said. “That’s a great way to get
ignored.”
Even though Taylor is more experienced with print media,
she has written scripts for television and also works
with consultants who develop video content for their web
sites, events and YouTube.
Taylor looks for clients who work within the business
sphere, assign challenging projects and provide a needed
service to people in the community.
“The next phase is to ... assign account managers to deal
with things, so that I can continue to grow the business,”
Taylor said. “Sometimes your dream can find you, and
that’s really what happened in my case. It found me.”
www.tcgrowingideas.com

y andrea lehner
An Experienced Guide
Experience is the best educator
– and an even better motivator.
For Terry Allen, a seasoned
financial advisor of over 25 years,
experience not only helps her create
solid wealth accumulation and
management strategies for clients, it
was also the reason she got started in
the industry in the first place.
Allen, who originally began her career
in the telecommunications and banking
industries, found herself heeding poor
investment advice from a financial
planner in the mid-1980s. After losing a
substantial sum, she made it her mission
to become educated on the intricacies of
wealth management.
Driven to help keep others from
falling victim to costly advice, Allen soon
became licensed and dedicated herself
to providing her clients with the best
information, education and technology
available for making solid investment
decisions.
Today, Allen is president of Enhance
Wealth Advisors®, a Northern California
wealth management firm focusing
on establishing lasting trust-based
relationships with clients.
“We have a one-on-one relationship
with our clients,” Allen said. “We listen
Terry Allen, CFP ® ,
Accredited Wealth
Management Advisor SM
Financial Advisor with Royal Alliance
Associates, a member of the AIG
Advisor Group. Terry is a member of the
Financial Planning Association (FPA),
Estate Planning Council of the East Bay
and is President of the Estate Planning
Council of Diablo Valley. She graduated
from the University of San Francisco
with a Bachelor of Science Degree in
Mathematics.
to them and we customize our advice.
It’s not cookie-cutter. We want them to
have a good quality of life.”
At Enhance Wealth Advisors®, clients
don’t need to worry about keeping up
with popular industry jargon. Allen
acknowledged that every client’s
primary concern is to know that they
will be okay, no matter what happens
in the market or in their own personal
circumstances. She likens her role to
that of a guide helping clients navigate
the tough decisions, while steering clear
of rocky bottoms or euphoric buying
periods during market peaks.
“Ultimately, it’s the client’s money
– and our advice needs to be such that
they are able to sleep at night,” Allen
emphasized, adding that a crisis of
confidence more than an overvaluation
of stocks was at the root of the 2008
economic collapse. “I learned how
contagious panic is.”
She is also an advocate of saving
money and living within one’s means.
Allen believes that the one up side to the
crisis was that people began re-adjusting
their priorities, creating emergency
funds and relying less on credit cards and
equity lines. This is even more important
when looking at real estate investments,
“
Ultimately, it’s the client’s
money – and our advice
needs to be such that they
are able to sleep at night,
-Terry Allen
an area where Allen has a lot of personal
and professional experience.
Planning for any eventuality –
including living beyond 100 – is the
cornerstone of Allen’s philosophy. By
using advanced software, she is able to
run a wide array of scenarios with her
clients, either in person or online, to
predict the long-term cause and effect
of different life circumstances and
investment decisions.
Choosing the right investments is
also paramount for success. Allen only
recommends investments that are best
for the individual client, often purchasing
the same for herself and her family when
in similar circumstances.
“Most importantly,” Allen said,
“You’ve got to start today. You’ve got to
come up with a plan and stick with it,
revisit it and revise it.”
*Terry Allen is a registered representative, offering
securities, insurance and advisory services
through Royal Alliance Associates,Inc.,
member FINRA/SIPC and a Registered Investment
Advisor. Enhance Wealth Advisors
is not affiliated with Royal Alliance Associates,
Inc. or registered as a broker-dealer or
investment advisor.
www.enhancewa.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.45

y michael gordon
Diversity - Alternative Investments
Keep Portfolio Profitable
He wasn’t working as a financial
advisor when the Great
Recession, spanning 2007 to
2009, hit the nation’s economy
together with an abrupt burst of the
housing bubble and historic crash of
the stock market. Instead, he was running
a then successful and profitable
construction company which, like so
many others, felt the extreme economic
shockwaves of that time period. As a
business owner, he gained first-hand –
perhaps unwelcome – experience with
efficient and non-efficient methods of
dealing with an economy and financial
market that was clearly drowning, with
no life preservers in sight.
What Kal von Gal, CEO of Vulcan Investments,
LLC, based in Birmingham,
Ala., also had was his personal interest
in investing, which he honed to a fine
edge during that period.
“I started this firm from my own personal
experience as a private investor.
I like economics in general, and realized
that my own experience of having
gone through the time period now
called the Great Recession could help
others,” von Gal said. “I saw how that
impacted many other individuals – especially
those just headed to retirement
– losing their entire life savings because
they were not positioned correctly in
the market. Based on my investments,
I knew I could help people do a better
job if I began giving them investment
advice as a professional investment advisor
representative.”
Founding Vulcan in 2010, von Gal
hasn’t looked back since, except to keep
his memories and lessons learned from
the Great Recession fresh in his mind.
His firm has no strict asset requirement
that potential clients must meet.
Rather, von Gal’s criterion has much
more to do with mindset than with current
numbers.
“We look for clients who desire to
think outside the box when it comes to
investing. We want to work with people
interested in finding investment opportunities
that would not normally be
found in the headlines of the financial
newspapers,” von Gal emphasized.
International real estate is one of the
“alternative” investments, von Gal references,
and the firm’s website has a
landing page dedicated to explaining
Vulcan’s approach. Individual investors
may join the firm’s collective overseas
real estate portfolio, gaining financial
strength in numbers, allowing the firm’s
real estate specialists
to handle the ins
and outs of
managing foreign properties.
Another example of von Gal’s different
take on investing comes at a time
when lower oil prices are giving some
investors significant pause regarding
the future of the oil and gas industry in
the United States.
Not von Gal. In a commentary posted
shortly after Thanksgiving 2014, he
encouraged investors to consider including
oil and natural gas companies
in their portfolios: “The rapid selloff
in the oil sector is creating a once-in-adecade
buying opportunity for many
consistently profitable and well-run
companies that wouldn’t otherwise
be trading at such discounts to future
earnings,” vonGal wrote.
www.vulcaninvestments.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

y felix badea
PUT THE NEST EGGS
IN DIFFERENT BASKETS
No
one knows for certain
when the next significant
market correction
will occur.
Yet, what Karla
Leonard, CEO and
Asset Manager of
IMI Asset Management in Ontario, Calif.,
does know is that her recommendation of
not keeping all of one’s financial assets in
a qualified plan remains in effect.
“You should know that the values
of these plans are predicted to lose 70
percent of their value the next time the
market corrects,” Leonard wrote in her
company blog in mid-February 2015.
She believes concentrating all of or even
a large percentage of one’s assets in the
pre-tax, qualified investment plans usually
offered through employers is much
riskier than investing in alternatives. She
asks clients and anyone reading her blog,
“Are you in a position to afford the loss?”
As it is fairly safe to assume that the
resounding answer is, “No,” Leonard advises
clients to consider placing a portion
of their portfolio funds into a qualified/
non-qualified longevity annuity contract.
“There is no other vehicle that can be
used that will work like an annuity,”
Leonard said. “They provide guaranteed
income for both lives. The remaining
principal, interest and bonus paid
are paid out at death. The principal can’t
go down; you get upside potential of the
market but avoid all the losses. You don’t
get all the growth, but you can never
loose. Longevity annuities continue even
if an account goes down to zero.”
Since the Great Recession of 2007 to
2009, Leonard said she has noticed a
sharp increase in client concern that they
may outlive the drawdown phase of their
accumulated wealth in their retirement
years.
“People are searching for someone they
can trust that will guide them through
this,” Leonard said. “They need to know
how to protect their assets so they can
live out the dreams they have for their
retirements.”
That, in large part, is why she is a
staunch proponent of life insurance and
long-term care insurance.
“While we all want to do the best we
can for our loved ones, there is a limit
to what human beings can do on their
own without skilled nursing assistance,”
Leonard said. “The time to get long term
care insurance is now, before you need it.
The younger you are when you purchase
it, the lower the premiums will be.”
www.imiassetmanagementco.com

y a. marie velthuizen
PUT SOME RISK ON THE TABLE
Taking on risk is more palatable for investors, now that a half decade
has passed since the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2007 to 2009. It is
inaccurate to say that risk is not trendy; risk has always been linked to
investing aimed at accumulating wealth. Yet, a look at today’s market,
along with the activity reported by major financial media, indicates that
many investors who pulled out of the market five years ago are back in.
And that’s where they ought to
be, if you ask Edward Huffman,
owner of Huffman Financial
Services, Inc., Dobbs Ferry, New
York.
Even though he jokingly admits he
himself should have, “headed for the
hills,” leading, with his client investors
hot on his heels during what is now
called “the Great Recession,” Huffman
knows his clients belong in the market.
But only in a very specific niche, in
his opinion: And that niche is mutual
funds.
Nothing else. Mutual funds are
something that Huffman, with his statistical
background, can easily monitor
and track.
“We spend our time tracking mutual
funds. That is what we do,” Huffman
said. “We tell our clients, ‘We are not
trying to get you 20 percent return per
year.’ We tell them, if we can do what
the market does over time – say 10 to
12 percent per year – we feel successful.
We want clients who want that
slow and steady type of progress with
their investment. Not someone who
wants to hit the home run and do day
trading.”
Long-term investors give Huffman
the opportunity to build relationships
as he helps his clients grow their assets
during the accumulation phase of
retirement planning. He gets to know
their families, their careers and their
aspirations. In each monthly newsletter
sent out to clients, Huffman fea-
tures achievements and happenings
amongst his client community.
Along with their joys, he also knows
their fears.
He knows many are still scared, despite
the passage of time since October
2008, when the Dow Jones Industrial
Average, the S&P 500 and the NYSE
took serious nose dives leaving many
investors with losses of 40 percent.
“I call it, ‘The Great Fear,’” Huffman
said. “Because that is exactly what it
did to so many people. It made them
scared. In 2008, we basically had a systemic
failure of our monetary system.
That is indeed a great fear that does
not just go away.”
Huffman tells his clients that today,
everything about investing is a little
bit different than it was before the
Great Recession. Transparency of investing
is now paramount. The mutual
fund options a client exercises must
come with a crystal clear prospectus –
or else, steer clear. Their awareness of
risk must be heightened, yet enlightened
and informed.
The reality of investing is that some
risk must be on the table for a gain
to occur. “That has always been the
standard,” Huffman said. Yet, today,
that standard comes wrapped up in a
package acknowledging the dangers.
“The ability to accumulate money
risk-free just does not exist anymore,”
Huffman said. “You are forced to take
risk. For some, that risk may be more
than for others, but there will always
have to be some risk to make some
gain.”
That’s where his statistical knowledge
comes into play.
As a former secondary mathematics
teacher who became “a bit too bored
with fractions,” as he explains it, Huffman’s
years spent as a Statistical Ed-
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

itor for the No-Load Fund Investor
Newsletter, which also published the
handbook for No-Load Fund Investors,
now directly benefits his clients.
The newsletter was owned by Sheldon
Jacobs, who started a sister company
investment firm in 1987. Huffman’s
first job with Jacobs was to track
the performance of mutual funds for
the magazine to report. Soon he began
managing client accounts – and also
found his calling.
In 1990, Huffman began
managing money for family
and friends. In 2000, he hung
out his own shingle. Starting
with $8 million in assets under
management, Huffman
currently has $30 million in
client assets under his management.
He does not advertise.
He doesn’t run a website.
Clients come to him by word
of mouth referral only. He knows
it doesn’t produce record-breaking
growth, but that isn’t his interest.
“We are not greedy. We are not
trying to be an accumulator of assets
under management just to be able to
put up some big number,” Huffman
said. “You have to ask yourself, ‘What
is my goal?’ Is your goal to have a lot
of assets under management or is your
goal to help your clients. I am here for
my clients.”
Edward Huffman
President of Huffman Financial Services, Inc.
Dobbs Ferry, New York
1 Bridge St # 19
Irvington, NY 10533 - View Map
Phone: (914) 674-0522
Learn about our team
by visiting the Our
Team page.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.49

y andrea lehner
A Family-First Approach
Personalized Service Going Above and Beyond
When Greg Kojak takes on a new client, he makes
a commitment that involves more than just his
expertise in building a strong portfolio. He commits
to a comprehensive service-oriented approach that
builds long-lasting trust-based relationships with his clients
and their families.
Kojak, a partner at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Financial Group,
specializes in total wealth management with a niche in tax
strategy. “Our clients have complex investment, estate tax
and insurance needs that require exceptional attention to
detail,” he said.
Within an ever-changing tax landscape, Kojak noted that
staying abreast of how nuances of the tax system impact a
client’s overall financial picture is crucial. Equally important
is meeting with a client’s other service professionals to
ensure that every aspect of a client’s wealth and assets is
being managed from an all-encompassing perspective.
“There are all sorts of things swirling around each and every
client from a tax standpoint,” Kojak said. “Having a
unified front between the financial advisor and CPA or tax
preparer is going to show its value on their tax return.”
Total wealth management includes ensuring clients will
have their finances in order for a lengthy retirement and
possible long term care expenses. “The objective,” Kojak
explained, “is to ease into retirement without relying solely
on retirement assets right away. The first couple of years of
retirement are pretty crucial to stability in the portfolio and
making sure that you don’t dip into the principal.”
Retirement planning includes strategically evaluating
when clients begin taking social security benefits. “The
most common social security misconception is that every
person should be at full retirement age to maximize benefits,”
he said, adding that sometimes it make more sense
to start early, while in other times waiting is more advantageous.
Going above and beyond also means tackling uncomfortable
subjects, such as estate planning. Kojak explained that
most people procrastinate, avoiding this important aspect
of wealth management. That’s why he makes sure his clients
are taking the necessary steps toward this crucial element,
including offering to schedule and accompany clients
to meet with estate attorneys at no additional cost to
the client.
Kojak considers himself a family advisor, which includes
helping spouses and children prepare for the inevitable.
“My clients want to make sure their children are on course
for their own retirement and planning, but also to diligently
use any assets coming down from mom and dad for the
intended purpose.”
He travels throughout 10 states to provide face-to-face
family meetings in the comfort of a client’s home. To maximize
the personal aspect of his practice, he invites clients to
get to know his family, too. “It adds a little more dimension
to the relationship,” Kojak said.
It’s this careful execution of service and personalized attention
that has helped Lincoln Park Financial to thrive over
the course of the past decade.
www.lincolnparkfinancial.com
Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth
Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment
Adviser. Lincoln Park Financial Group, 2755 North Lincoln Ave, Chicago,
IL 60614, (773) 572-6455
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015

y andrea lehner
A New Breed of Infrastructure & Sovereign
Investing for Global Markets
Infrastructure requires investment – and even the best ideas can get waylaid by a
lack of funding. When developers, sovereign, sub-sovereign and local governments
need to make sure that infrastructure projects can make it from the drawing board
to the community, National Standard Finance, LLC, steps in as an experienced and
highly skilled partner, advisor and private sector niche investor.
By providing alternatives to traditional bond
financing, with investments often ranging
from 20 to 30 years and in sums exceeding
U.S. $500 million per project, National Standard
brings private debt and equity capital, along
with a wealth of expertise, to the development
of healthcare facilities, energy, housing, public
works and utilities, public transportation, higher
education, public venues and economic development
initiatives throughout the world.
“We recognized there was a successful
European and Canadian
model taking hold under the rubric
of public-private partnerships and
public sector or government-related
lease investments,” said Hugo Barreca,
President and COO.
Although the original goal was to
introduce this model in the United
States, challenges such as short political
election cycles and the restrictive
language of U.S. municipalities
under the Dodd Frank amendments
have made it difficult.
Today, National Standard works
almost exclusively in international
markets, with a niche of international
infrastructure that they consider essential and providing
private capital directly to sovereigns. Barreca explained
how the projects are normally backed by sovereign or
sub-sovereign support including sovereign guarantees or
leases.
Infusing private capital into global projects helps both
developed and developing nations solve significant social
problems. For example, National Standard is currently
working with Brazilian developers and the Brazil government
to build over 72,000 low income homes on government-owned
land.
“There’s a shortage of over a million homes in Brazil. It’s
very difficult to find affordable housing. The government
has started a new social housing program,” Barreca said.
By becoming involved in this project, National Standard is
not only helping to solve a severe housing crisis
in Brazil, but the company is creating hundreds of
local jobs in the process and improving the quality
of life for hundreds of thousands of low income
citizens.
National Standard is involved in similar projects
across the globe, including infrastructure in
different parts of Africa, renewable power and
housing in India, oil refineries and renewable energy
in the Middle East, “Smart City” technology
in Asia and state-of-the-art healthcare
alternatives throughout the Caribbean.
“We are changing the way governments
think about, finance and plan
essential projects,” Barreca said, adding
that political issues remain one of
the most challenging aspects of getting
worthy projects completed.
“We look at political risk, and at
economic and political patterns going
on at the local level that would
not be under control under any kind
of investment,” Barreca explained.
“We pride ourselves on the fact that
we understand there are going to be
politically driven policies and objectives,
and that drivers may not be purely economic.
“We are patient. We are looking for long-term investments,
which in today’s world is a rare thing. We imply
the Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway long term investing
approach to our business model. We’re willing to
navigate those waters, providing alternatives and other resources
to develop these projects.”
41 Madison Avenue
31st Floor
New York, New York 10010
T: (646) 202-2680
www.natstandard.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.51

y michael gordon
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A MUST
But for financial firms, so is compliance
As an innovator in electronic communications
compliance, Erado Message Control Solutions
provides services to some of the top financial
companies in the United States and in other parts of
the world. Headquartered in Renton, Washington,
with an additional office in New York City, clients
of the firm include banks, broker-dealers, insurance
companies and registered investment advisory
firms.
According to CEO Craig
Brauff, Erado began in 1994
by providing email services.
As Federal regulatory changes relating
to email started to occur in 2001,
he saw a new need emerging. “We
realized that there was a market opportunity
in the financial services industry
to provide an archiving and
surveillance platform for regulated
financial institutions,” said Brauff.
Through ongoing research and
development, adaptations, and upgrades,
Erado now has what Brauff
considers to be one of the top three
archiving and surveillance programs
for the financial services industry.
Acknowledging that no system
can guarantee that it is hack-proof,
Erado can report with pride that
its platform, which provides robust
firewalls, has been failure-free and
hack-free for over ten years. They
are currently at work to develop a
way to deliver their services via private
networks. Brauff noted, “Our
customers in both regulated and
non-regulated industries will have
the ability to deliver and access their
corporate data that we archive in a
100 percent private environment,”.
Keeping pace with the dynamic
innovations in electronic communications,
Erado has also grown their
archiving and surveillance services
to accommodate all forms of electronic
communications – including
email, instant messaging, text messaging
and ten different social media
platforms.
“We have seen tremendous
growth in the use of social media in
regulated industries. It is necessary
in the financial world. The millennials
– the next big chunk of financial
service business – do not use fax machines,
and email usage for them is a
secondary communication method.
The transition has been made from
e-mail to social,” explained Brauff.
Last September, Erado launched,
Engage, a social media listening
tool that allows financial service
advisors to leverage the content
contained in their social streams for
increased revenue generation. Engage
provides real-time reporting
of life events – such as the birth of a
child, the purchase of a new home,
graduations, marriages, divorces,
job changes, retirements and other
life changes – that are relevant to the
services that advisors provide.
Currently Erado is working on
capturing and storing video data,
and future plans will see the firm
move deeper into business intelligence
and data analytics of customer
data to help clients utilize these
insights to grow their businesses.
Global expansion is also forecast. “In
2016, Europe is adopting many of
the same general archiving and surveillance
requirements that exist in
the U.S., so we are looking optimistically
at Europe, Asia, and other parts
of the world.” Brauff anticipated.
321 Burnett Ave South Suite 100
Renton, WA 98057
Toll Free: (866) 673-7236
Direct: 1-425-277-8266
www.erado.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.53

y judy scinta
Longevity and
Social Security
Impacts Planning
When President Franklin D.
Roosevelt signed the Social Security
Act in 1935, it was to usher in “a
system of Federal old-age benefits”
according to the preamble of the
official document. The United States
Social Security Administration
(SSA) reports that, at the time, life
expectancy was age 60 for men and 64
for women.
Through the ensuing decades, a
debate emerged about the chances
of survival for the program itself.
Baby boomers were the first to hear
the notion that by the time they reached
retirement, Social Security would be a
dry well yielding them nothing, even
though they had – by law – contributed
to the fund their entire working lives.
This threat looms even more heavily
over Generation X and Millennials,
especially since, decade after decade,
people are living longer. Today, the
SSA reports a life expectancy of ages
84 and 87 for men and women, respectively,
assuming an individual reaches
age 65. Twenty-five percent of those individuals
will live past age 90 and ten
percent will live past 95.
So how do threats of a collapsed Social
Security system and issues of longevity
affect a financial advisor’s approach
to client investment planning?
Joshua Scheinker, senior vice president
of Scheinker Investment Partners
of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC,
believes that Social Security benefits
will cease sooner rather than later and
maintains that retirement plans alone
must now be able to support people for
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - MAR 2015
30 years or more.
“I think that Social Security itself will
be gone – and anyone forty and under
will not see Social Security income. I
think that the prolonged life of Social
Security is certainly in question for
those under 40 I also think that 99.9
percent of our population is not prepared.
Now, that being said, people 60
and under are not ready for this conversation
yet. They have under-saved
in their 401(k) plans, they think Social
Security is going to help them, they are
just not prepared,” said Scheinker.
As a wealth management advisor,
Scheinker specializes in creating retirement
plans and designing investment
strategies using options, mutual funds
and other alternative investments. His
advice to younger clients is to allot
half of all pay increases they receive
for deposit into their 401(k) plan. Programmed
investments – including dollar-cost
averaging for retirement plans,
529 plans (education savings plans
with tax incentives), and monthly investments
into taxable accounts, are
typical strategies used by the firm.
“For every younger client we have
walking in the door, we set these
Scheinker Investment
Partners was established
to continue our tradition
of providing the highest
quality of service and advice
to our clients – individual
investors, families,
retirees, business owners,
corporate executives and
foundations.

Joshua A. Scheinker
Senior Vice President/
Wealth Management
Joshua Scheinker serves
as Senior Vice President/
Wealth Management and
specializes in creating
retirement plans and
designing investment
strategies using options,
mutual funds and other
alternative investments.
www.scheinkerinvestmentpartners.com
things up. We want them to buy into
this process of dollar cost averaging
It has to be systematic monthly investment.
Everyone needs a plan and
a path. Over the long haul, an oldschool
asset allocation is a smoother
ride, and that’s what people want,”
Scheinker explained, adding that international,
fixed income and alternative
investments create a well-rounded
portfolio.
Scheinker Investment Partners
manages assets of over $970 million
for high net worth clients and has
over 150 years of combined investment
experience as a firm built on fostering
client relationships. Working
with individuals and families with
investable assets of at least $500,000,
their average clients are generally
business owners, physicians and
attorneys with some $4 million to
invest who want to follow a sound
investment plan. “Our clients don’t
call us to trade their securities – that’s
not the business we’re in. Truly, we
are involved with their families. We
are a family wealth manager,” said
Scheinker, explaining that the firm
also works with clients who have upwards
of $30 million.
Most clients come to Scheinker Investment
Partners via referral from
accountants and attorneys. Scheinker,
who is certified as a Wealth Management
Specialist, also has a marketing
degree and has implemented
awareness strategies through his
years with the firm, starting with
high-end print ads in the late 1990’s.
He ran ads throughout the state in
prominent newspapers and publications,
later expanding into television
by running 30-second spots. Keeping
pace with digital marketing, the Baltimore-based
firm now has a presence
on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Scheinker has been featured in the
Wall Street Journal, Businessweek
and other prominent financial news
platforms. “Everyone is doing background
checks on you. When people
put your name in Google and see that
you have been in the Wall Street Journal,
that helps you,” said Scheinker,
explaining the importance of establishing
credibility in the public’s eyes.
All of these efforts, including hosting
special client events, have proved
successful in making new contacts
and bringing younger clients into the
firm.
While Scheinker’s commitment
to his clients and career highlights
are evident, he is equally gratified
to be working with his father, Gerald
Scheinker, who serves as an executive
vice president with the firm.
Long sought after for his expertise in
stocks, treasury bonds and tax-free
alternative investments, the senior
Scheinker was ranked in Barron’s
“Winner’s Circle” for four consecutive
years, from 2006 to 2009. He was
also named in Barron’s “America’s
Top Advisor Rankings” in the state
of Maryland, positioned as number
13 and then at number 4 in 2012 and
2013, respectively. And in 2013, the
international daily newspaper, “Financial
Times” named him as a top
400 financial advisor in America on
their FT 400 list.
“Being able to work for the last 18
years side-by-side with my dad has
been great. I love what I do and enjoy
it even more because he is here,” said
Scheinker.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.55

y amy m. armstrong
INDEPENDENT, BUT NOT ALONE
Financial Advisors Working with Upstream Investment Partners, LLC,
receive team support for their individual interactions with clients
In a trend that is seeing more advisors
opt for independent status
yet still accessing the availability
of team-like support, one Midwestern
firm is on the leading edge of this concept
that is transforming transactional
relationships with the financial advising
industry.
Steve Belloli, founding partner of
Upstream Investment Partners a firm
with 40-plus offices in nine states, is an
executive immersed in the concept that
financial advisors ought to be independent,
but supported.
He and his founding partners, Craig
Freund and Jon Holmes, each left top
level positions within Ameriprise in
2009 to form Upstream in Jan. 2010.
“Upstream is a firm that allows clients
to take advantage of a completely
open architecture, free from proprietary
recommendations. We work with
a very large pool of investment options
and platforms,” Belloli explained. “Clients
benefit by having an advisor that
truly listens to their needs and are able
to offer a vast suite of investment and
or planning solutions. “
Advisors benefit by being free from
the pressure of having to push “company”
products. It also allows them
to take a full fiduciary position recommending
what is truly in the client’s
best financial interest based on his or
her preferences and needs.
The ideal client for an Upstream-affiliated
advisor is anyone who is interested
in discussing and reviewing his or
her personal financial dreams and goals
“We do not have a minimum investment
amount to sit down and discuss
what keeps them awake at night,” Belloli
said.
He knows clients remain cautious
regarding the security of their financial
future even though more than a half decade
has passed since The Great Recession
market correction of 2008 and 2009
and a strong bull market has charged
along in the past couple years. To calm
their fears, he uses customized planning
via the eMoney Advisor system that
provides an interactive wealth management
platform that makes daily updates
and aggregates all of the client’s financial
accounts through a single, secure
log-in. Belloli runs “what-if” scenarios
for clients to review options when life’s
circumstances alter or economic changes
beyond one’s control occur.
“The Great Recession proved a powerful
point – the markets, be it the stock
market, fixed income markets, alternative
investment markets, etc. – can be
very volatile and discussions around
the “what ifs” is a necessary part of the
planning process,” Belloli said.
It is all part of a new breed of financial
advising firm where support of advisors
and their clients is prioritized well above
any corporate mantra.
“Our firm will remain completely independent
and our loyalty belongs exclusively
to our advisors and their clients,”
Belloli said. “Every day we will
continue to work with our advisors and
their clients to help build wealth and
manage their hard-earned assets.”
www.upstreamip.com.
3444 E. Lake Lansing Road
East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone: 517-219-9808
FAX: 517-575-6925
www.upstreamip.com
*Securities offered through Sigma Financial
Corporation * Member FINRA/SIPC. Feebased
investment advisory services offered
through Sigma Planning Corporation, a
registered investment advisor. Upstream
Investment Partners is independent of
Sigma Financial Corporation.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - JAN 2015

y andrea lehner
Finding the Right Fit
As the real estate industry continues to rebound, it needs to rebuild its top-level talent,
but many businesses are finding a shortage of candidates qualified to fill these positions.
John Cigna, a founding partner of Crown Advisors, says that, although there’s a good
reason for this, Crown has the resources, relationships and expertise to make sure the
right talent can be found to fill those needs.
Today’s shortage of candidates –
those with either three to eight
years, or over 20 years of industry
experience – was created by two significant
waves when hiring dwindled. As
Cigna explained the two waves were
1987 through 1993 and again for the four
years following the 2008 recession.
“These groups represent your future
leaders and your current leadership,”
Cigna said. “The only offset is people
not retiring either because of the most
recent downturn or because they are
just not wired to slow down.”
Cigna says current hiring trends remain
robust, but employers are facing
the added challenge of recruiting from
a shrinking resource pool with fewer
total candidates in the industry. “The
industry gets smaller and smaller every
day. Everybody gets to know everybody.
It’s more like three degrees of
separation – or less. Candidates can be
eliminated from consideration because
they are known in some way to the prospective
employer, further shrinking the
resource pool beyond sheer numbers.”
Still, he added that having more jobs
than candidates is always a preferable
problem to the reverse, as was seen
during the recession. “Both swings of
the pendulum are tricky,” Cigna said.
Crown Advisors has been in business
for 19 years and has remained strong
during the recession largely because
of their ability to develop friendships
with clients, candidates and their families.
Cigna, who’s been in the industry
for 30 years, said, “It all ties into being
comfortable with who you are, treating
others how you want to be treated and
being able to sleep at night by knowing
you’ve done all that you can the right
way.”
Cigna explained that placing candidates
requires more than matching resumes
with job duties. “We need to understand
the culture of a firm as well as
the candidate to ensure a fit,” he said.
“With the due diligence we do upfront
with the client and the candidate, our
success rate is very high.”
Crown’s due diligence includes researching
both candidates and clients.
They perform extensive background
checks of candidates and also work as
advisors for the candidate throughout
the entire hiring process, including
helping prepare them for counteroffers
or pushbacks from current employers.
To ensure that candidates are making
a positive transition, Cigna says it’s
equally important to evaluate the clients.
“I look at how I’m treated
as a service provider as a sign
of how employees will be
treated. We take very seriously
the fact that we’re approaching
candidates about
quitting their jobs for a better
opportunity for both
themselves and their families.
It’s a risk that no one
should take lightly. It has
to make sense for both
sides to do the deal.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.57

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Puzzler
Crossword by Myles Mellor
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11
12 13
14 15 16 17
18 19 20
21 22 23
24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
32 33 34
35 36 37
32 ACROSS
It's used to test the waters
ACROSS
1 Sink money into,
expecting return
4 They are part of most
portfolios
8 Changed to meet new
technologies
11 Completed negotiations
12 Nakamoto's ___coin
13 Ending for capital and
social
14 Wright wing
15 ___ Gatos or Altos, in
the Silicon Valley
16 A phoenix is said to rise
out of them
18 Look at, for acquisition,
perhaps
19 Army rank, for short
21 Wall ___
22 Tesla founder
23 Retirement fund
25 ABC rival
39 40
Across
1
Down
Sink money into, expecting return
1
4
Branding conc
They are part DOWN
of most portfolios
2
8
Capable of dev
Changed to meet new technologies
3
11
Lawyer's advic
26 Revolutionary 21st cenCompleted 1 Branding negotiations concern
originates from 5
12
Cutting edge d
tury gadget Nakamoto's 2 Capable ___coin of development 27 It's part of all e-mail words)
28 ___ general rule 13 Ending 3 for Lawyer's capital and advice social
addresses 6 One who helps
30 One of Google's
14 Wright wing re a suit perhaps 29 Match venue 7 Ashley to Kate
15
founders
___ Gatos
5 Cutting
or Altos,
edge
in the Silicon Valley
30 Contacted over a 9PACircle ratio
16 A phoenix said to rise out of them
34 62 for Social Security discussions
31 Come together10 Kick around
18 Look at, for acquisition, perhaps
35 Product backed by
watched by millions 33 In investing, don't 17 put Dennis Tito wa
19 Army rank, for short
Fannie Mae and Freddie (2 words)
them all in one 20 basket Letter addendu
21 Wall ___
Mac
6 One who helps
37 Trademarks, abbr. 21 Embezzled
22 Tesla founder
36 Thin layer of gold
another in
22 Enterpreneuria
23 Retirement fund
38 One of the letters in
life or business
23 Dream
25 ABC rival
income
7 Ashley to Kate, abbr.
24 Environment s
26 Revolutionary 21st century gadget
39 German stock index 9 Circle ratio
27 It's part of all e
28 ___ general rule
40 Spends without
29 Match venue
30
10 Kick around
One of Google's founders
planning
30 Contacted over
32 It's used
17
to
Dennis
test the
Tito
waters
was the
31 Come together
34 62 for Social first Security orbital ___ tourist
33 In investing, do
35 Product 20 backed Letter by addendum Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
37 Trademarks, ab
36 Thin layer 21 Embezzled of gold
38 One of 22 the Enterpreneurial letters in incomedegree
39 German 23 stock Dream index
40 Spends 24 without Environment planning
something
38
ANSWERS
Crossword by Myles Mellor

Alaska Charity Fashion Show Seeks Assistance
May 8, 2015 at 7 p.m. at Community Covenant Church in Eagle River, AK
The 2015 Simply Creative Wearable Art Show benefitting
FOCUS, Inc., a special needs service agency,
is requesting financial sponsorship to meet its goal of
raising $15,000 or more for the Eagle River, AK, based
agency providing support services for individuals and
families experiencing physical, emotional, cognitive
and mental disabilities.
2015 marks the fourth year that Simply Creative Photography
based in Eagle River, a bedroom community
outside of Anchorage, AK, has sponsored a homegrown
fashion show featuring local men and women in
outfits made by local designers. Each year, a different
local charity is selected to receive proceeds from the
show’s sponsorship, donations and ticket sales. FO-
CUS, Inc. was chosen for 2015 due to dwindling governmental
funding and the significantly increasing cost
of providing the specialized services and equipment required
to meet special needs.
This year’s show theme is “recycled materials” and
some of the materials being used in designs currently
under creation include but are not limited to garbage
bags, artificial flowers, soda pop can tops, sheet music,
newspaper and bullet casings.
The Suit Magazine’s Senior Writer, Amy M. Armstrong,
is wearing a dress made from the magazine’s
pages for the show. Her 17-year old son who has Asperger’s
Syndrome along with her mother, mother-inlaw
and husband are also modeling. Other models are
autistic and some have physical challenges. Some models
are in their early teens and early 20s. Several are 50
or older. This is an inclusive show featuring an elevated
runway, seats along the runway and funky music with
facts about various disabilities being announced by the
emcee between models. Models of all shapes and sizes
are welcome. More than 30 locals have signed up and
committed to a minimum of five hours of volunteer
service for FOCUS, Inc., prior to the show.
For more information regarding the mission of FOCUS, Inc., visit their website at www.focusoutreach.org
Visit the show’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/simplycreativewearableartshow/
Read more about the show at www.alaskastar.com/Alaska-Star/January-Issue-3-2015/Dressed-to-impress/
To provide financial assistance, contact Amy M. Armstrong, 2015 Simply Creative Wearable Art Show general assistant at:
amyarmstrong@gci.net
907-227-7906 – cellular and text message
Thank-you in advance for support of this worthy cause. Any amount gets the show closer to its goal and is
greatly appreciated. FOCUS, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 agency and tax information will be provided.

AD
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.60