Thursday, December 11, 2008

Invest In Yourself, Not Wall Street

My husband has worked in the securities industry for twenty-four years. He's made a living all that time by giving sound financial advice, walking his clients through the the '87 crash, the decline after the Internet bubble, and the 2008 financial crisis, and all the ups and downs in between. He's a very smart guy. :-)

The recent turmoil in the markets prompted him to do something he'd been wanting to do for a long time, which was leave the bureaucracy to the big lending institutions, and focus on what he does best, which is give good advice. :-) So, he went independent, and formed Tampa Asset Management. He resigned from Wachovia Securities, and asked his clients to trust him with the private management their assets, away from corporate pressures, rumors of buy-outs, bail-outs and mergers.

It was a gutsy move, and quite frankly made me a little nervous at first. Resign from his job? Becoming an independently registered investment advisor is a complicated process, and so is starting up your own business in a time of recession. Three full-time employees means salaries, benefits, office space, equipment, all the overhead costs of doing business - all so my husband could do his job as objectively as possible. You see, it was obvious to him that his clients didn't really need to be so dependent on the big banks. If he went independent, he could put their money to work where it would do the most good, in an impartial way, minus commissions. No money-lending institution looming over his shoulder, no wondering what the higher-ups might be up to. He IS the higher-up. Bob Garey, CEO of Tampa Asset Management.

(Sorry, honey... you're only the boss while you're at the office, just to be clear.) :-)

In case you couldn't tell, I'm very proud of my husband, both for achieving his dream of independence, and for truly wanting to do the right thing for his clients, most of whom he's worked with for years, and consider to be his friends.

His new company motto is "Independent, objective investment advice. Invest in yourself, not Wall Street." Check out his website at http://www.tampaasset.com/.

2 comments:

Anna Sugden said...

Congratulations Bob! We're proud of you too.

Anna (and Keith)

Terri Garey said...

Thanks, Anna. I shall tell him. :-)