Consumer IQ

I am a changemaker because I believe that the status quo is no longer viable in community or in business. I believe that it takes risk to make change and that sometimes that the most important change to pursue is the kind that most feel isn't achievable.

The place for which I feel a connection is my home. My wife and my son on the couch enjoying each others company and all the pressures of the outside world fade away. There is no better place to be yourself than at home.

I feel that there is a massive disconnect between the level of transparency and information flow between financial product providers and the consumers who use them in their important financial plans. At one point in history there was an incentive for financial service specialists to run ethical and transparent business practices, but as more and complicated products become available and the lack of consumer education about these products, the level of education drops and primarily for those who will likely depend on these products as significant pieces of their entire financial control. I feel that it is time that the marketing and sales be taken out of consumer education and then provided without the pressure of a sales consultation. I also feel that those financial services specialists who have the best client service business models should deserve a resource to help them compete with the far more active and aggressive sales people who hold the same professional titles. Consumers deserve better and so do the economies of the world who are affected by the actions of those who can't see beyond their own shadow.

I have been in the financial services industry my entire professional career. While attending college I was an analyst assistant for a mid-range hedge fund, working on spreadsheets and other financially related analysis. After graduation I spent the next 6 years working in the corporate offices of a regional broker dealer. I worked in institutional sales and equity capital research, providing both mutual fund managers and financial advisors with equity information and ideas. The last several years I've worked for a national broker dealer as a group plan and multi-level estate plan manager. I've seen more cases than I can count of individuals working with what they felt were credible financial services specialists who held licenses, but who didn't provide even the most simplified of client services support and plan management. I've also seen first hand how the product information is degraded from the product provider to the financial advisors through wholesalers, then from the financial advisors to the consumers in an attempt to generate commissions.