What are the most critical skills you bring to your work?
Along with the team I work with, our best skills come from our knowledge, our experience, and our commonsense approach to helping clients achieve their desired results. The investment business has somewhat become a bit of a commodity, where everyone has access to many strategies whipped up by Wall Street, and salesmen can make anything sound attractive. Our value comes from the knowledge and experience that we bring in implementing investment strategies that work for our clients’ individual needs. With over 25 years of experience working with wealthy families, I’d like to say we’ve probably seen it all. We can point out the advantages and disadvantages of virtually everything that comes across our desk. On top of that, we “eat our own cooking,” meaning we won’t suggest or sign off on a strategy unless we have vetted it ourselves with our own resources. Having the knowledge and experience is critical in helping clients make the best choice.
How do you define success, both personally and professionally?
Personally we have always defined success around the quality of the friendships we have with the many wonderful people that we spend time with. We are so fortunate, we interact with so many good people of high integrity and strong values and of course, the most important, are the fun and lasting memories we share with them and their families. A great successful day for me personally is a day chasing chukars on a cold winter day, a summer day in the middle of a pristine fly fishing stream, a round of golf, or a winter day on the beach in Mexico. Those are great days for me!
Professionally our success is defined by the value that we provide to our clients. We work diligently to make sure that our clients are empowered to make great decisions across every aspect of their financial lives. By sharing our knowledge and experience we find that our clients can find clarity and simplicity in making these important decisions. When their decisions or needs become crystal clear to them, and our clients have a full understanding of their success strategy, that’s when we consider our relationship to be a big win!
Outside of work, what skills and talents do you have that might surprise people?
Well, this skill is slowing down a bit, but I still love to spend time with kids on the basketball court. I am a former college basketball player and for almost 30 years I have spent many hours in the gym, helping young children become successful shooters. It has been so much fun to stay engaged in the sport and to watch the success that these kids have had. Many have gone on to play at the college level. For me to watch the excitement of the players and their parents/families reach a higher level of success has been incredibly rewarding and certainly brings a smile to my face.
What are some causes you care about?
There are so many great causes in our area, so it is hard to choose just a few. I hope that the desire to help others continues to resonate in the Treasure Valley. It’s just another reason that Idaho is such an incredible place to live. I love the Idaho Food Bank. It should be on everyone’s list, and especially the school back-pack program they run. The Idaho Foodbank’s Backpack program ensures that students who are chronically hungry have access to adequate food over the weekend by providing them with a backpack full of nutritious, kid-friendly food every Friday during the school year. Every Friday, each child of need receives a backpack with enough food for two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and two snacks. Meals consist of nutritious, child-friendly items that are easy to prepare and taste good! This makes a massive difference in some children eating or not eating over the weekend. Also, the School Pantries are an extension of the Backpack program. If children who receive weekend Backpacks are dealing with food insecurity, it makes sense that their siblings are, too. This program helps provide families with food through a pantry set up inside the school, where access is convenient for both students and family. My wife is a former kindergarten teacher and has seen first-hand the struggles that some families have with hunger. It’s not OK. We should all strive to support the many organizations that are working to put an end to hunger in these trying times. A lot of people are hungry right now, and I would challenge my friends and colleagues to pick one organization and help out our neighbors.
Who do you admire and why?
I admire people who have fought through adversity to find their level of success. I admire people who have started with nothing and have built something amazing from there. Maybe it’s a struggling business owner who has fought through tough times, or a single parent who has struggled to provide for their family, or a field goal kicker who makes the winning field goal after missing a couple. I admire people who rise above their personal level of adversity to succeed. People who are honest and ethical and have a high level of integrity. People who do the right thing, all the time. Specifically I admire my parents who somehow were able to get their children to the finish line. This is a tough job for all parents!