How I Got Here

Growing up in a small farming community, I learned the value in wholesome service and aligning one’s words with their actions. My parents raised four kids, two girls and two boys, in a loving environment, highlighting the importance of family, and nurturing an appreciation of the natural world around us. My father came from a line of Italian immigrant farmers. Throughout my adolescence, I witnessed the cultivating and growing of a number of crops to include rice, soybeans, cotton, milo, and even catfish. My mother was always there supporting my dad any way she could and was the heart-filled glue that kept the family bonds strong. Being born into such a loving environment helped mold an optimistic view of the world and my family, with the exception of one sticking point….money. Money was the only thing I noticed was a point of resistance within the family dynamic. Somewhere deep in the back of my youthful mind, without fully realizing it at the time, I developed a belief that if I can get money taken care of, all will be well with the world.

Coincidentally, I had the fortunate experience of having a sixth grade teacher who had worked on the New York Stock Exchange prior to a career in education. His most treasured project for us was the creating and maintaining of mock investment portfolios. Most of the students found this to be drudgery, but I took quite the liking to it, and the growth of my portfolio reflected this. A seed was planted.

I excelled in school and was able to attend college free of charge based on academic merit. This pleased me at the time because I knew the burden of college costs would not be an issue for my parents, or myself. I enrolled at Southern Arkansas University and like most, found college to be a new level of liberation. Being able to select what I studied, I chose to focus on mathematics. I didn’t have a plan at the time what I wanted to do with it, but the idea of studying anything else felt inauthentic. My sophomore year I heard about a program that, if accepted, led to becoming a nuclear-trained officer in the Navy. Meeting the program’s academic requirements, attaining my top secret clearance, and securing my acceptance after an interview with the Head of Naval Reactors, Admiral Bowman, I had formed a plan! One of the big draws of this nuclear program was the generous salary the Navy provided to pay for college tuition and such. With my expenses already being covered, I educated myself further on investing and put the income to work for me. The money troubles I observed as a child were starting to melt away.

I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in mathematics, then began my five year adventure with the Navy. I enjoyed living in a variety of places (one being Charleston) and working with people from all walks of life. I crossed the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, managed nuclear power plants on the USS Truman, played key roles in multinational military operations alongside Marine Expeditionary Units, and explored countless cities around the world. I even got to chase pirates off the eastern coast of Africa! Needless to say, this five years was a welcomed education for this small-town farm boy from Arkansas.

As much as I appreciated my time with the Navy, I knew it was time for me to move on at the end of my tour. I was faced with the decision on what to do next. Most in my position at the time would either stay in or get a well-paying job in the nuclear industry. Neither of these were close enough to my heart, so I decided to make use of the G.I. Bill I earned while in the Navy. Hooray!! The paid-for education continues rolling in!

I attended business school at the University of Florida. I saw business school as an effective way to round off my existing education and offer a broad range of options once I finished. Collaborating with other students and faculty from many industries, I was able to more precisely determine the type of work I would find fulfilling. After many interviews and offers, I still felt incomplete in my search. I knew I wanted to work with investments, but not the type of jobs presented to MBA graduates. 

Starting at the age of 19 and up until this point in my life, I did my own investing. Along the way, I found great satisfaction helping friends in college and the Navy that had come into extra money and needed some education on how to invest it. The act paralleled my desire as a child of wanting to help my family with money. It felt very close to home for me.

Coming into the last weeks of graduate school, I was sitting in class and noticed an ad for a brokerage firm, Edward Jones. Upon seeing this ad, I was transported to a conversation eight-year-old me had with my grandfather. He had taken me fishing, as he regularly did. We were sitting in his boat among peaceful swampy waters close to the Mississippi River, and somehow the subject of money came up. After heartfelt offerings of financial wisdom, my grandfather closed with, “Son, there’s only one person I trust my money with, and that’s Edward D. Jones!” As this childhood memory vividly played out in my head, the feeling I had in my gut assured me that this was the next step.

After being hired on with Edward Jones, I had the option to choose wherever I wanted to live in the country. From my travels, I was acquainted with a good number of areas from which to choose. It came down to Charleston or San Diego, neither of which I could make a strong enough argument against the other to decide. So, like many other big decisions in my life, I listened to my gut, and Charleston felt more like home to me.

I moved back to Charleston in the summer of 2011, and began building relationships that are still growing. I observed many aspects of the financial services industry, some of which I resonated with and others not so much. Now that I was helping people with their finances professionally, some things came into my awareness. Mainly, it didn’t feel like work to me. Until now, the jobs I held in my life consisted mostly of manual farm labor or being up all hours of the day with rotating watch work in the military. Here, I was doing something I loved, and was able to provide that something to others directly, then witnessing their appreciation as they felt more comfortable with their financial security. It hit home with me in the most fulfilling of ways.

I spent over 10 years with Edward Jones, always learning and discovering ways of adding more value to people’s lives. During this time, I utilized the remainder of my G.I. Bill and earned a Master’s Degree in Financial Planning. I attended countless seminars and workshops with the intention of gaining knowledge that would transmit to a higher level of service. But beyond all the classroom education, the time spent with clients, simply listening to their stories, offered the most insight into what people look for from their financial professional. Over time, I reveled in giving clients the best of what I had to offer, and leaving anything else encouraged from the industry by the wayside. Eventually, I wanted to offer more of my knowledge and experience than being a representative of a big brokerage firm allowed. And with this, I decided to start my own investment advisory firm.