While in college earning an economics degree and chasing a football dream, I stumbled across personal finance and investment management classes and immediately found a passion. After graduating, I began my career at a very successful financial planning firm.
The firm was in a plush building with massive offices, multiple boardrooms, fireplaces and a basketball court on the lower level. The founder of the firm was a top producing financial representative who was a gifted salesman, always earning incentive trips through the broker dealer and honored with top advisor accolades. I looked up to the founder as my mentor, and I respected him for the successful and thriving business he had built.
During this early stage of my career, I was approached by family and friends to manage assets for them. These were the people closest to me, and I wanted to be sure I was doing the very best I could for them. It was during this time that I started to realize that people measure success differently, and that while earning trips and awards can be rewarding, it comes at an expense to clients that I didn’t feel was necessary or appropriate.
The organizations awarding these trips and awards were the same companies that developed the products my mentor was selling. The numerous fees and commissions associated with these products provided big profits to the organization to pay the representatives selling the products, the various layers of people involved within the organization and its branches, marketing expenses and the ongoing overhead expenses of running an organization of that magnitude. I decided this type of business and selling model was not for me – or my clients.
I decided to venture out on my own and create an organization that puts the needs of my clients first. Rather than being controlled by the constraints, inefficiencies and selling demands that come with being in a broker dealer relationship, I decided to become a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). The structure of Millerbernd Wealth Management allows us to provide a valuable service that can offer clients a wide variety of investment options at a much lower cost by eliminating the layers of people and overhead expenses tied to a broker dealer. We can manage client assets efficiently using practical and thoughtful investment strategies, and can tailor those strategies specifically to each client’s situation.
