Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Fenison.
Michael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My career in financial service began in 1981 when I was hired to work for a firm that provided union benefits education to employees of local school districts. Part of that education included various programs for retirement investing. During that time, I acquired my insurance and general securities licenses. I also entered the Certified Financial Planner program. After five years, I decided to start my own firm. Over the next twenty years, I grew that firm to include a retail brokerage operation supervising ten branch offices, insurance brokerage serving over three hundred agents and established a Registered Investment Advisor. With thoughts of retirement at age 55, I sold the firm in 2007.
Although I may have been considered successful by some, and I certainly enjoyed helping my personal clients, I never felt fulfilled by the financial services industry in general. The industry was under constant criticism from legal and consumer groups that highlighted the worst of the industry. It was difficult to feel great working in an industry with so many flaws, especially when I agreed with the criticisms. So, retirement was sounding pretty good.
When I began discussing my retirement plan with friends and colleagues, they challenged me to consider ways to improve the industry and eliminate the criticisms. It was an intriguing idea, especially since I didn’t have a clear vision for my personal retirement. I began to explore different options to reduce or eliminate the many criticisms of a typical financial services firm. I looked at various established business models, the value that they provided and the expenses to the client. I looked for areas to maximize client value while creating a scalable business model that could build a brand that represented something consistent and positive.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Major industry criticisms seemed to revolve around the conflict of interest regarding the sale of commissioned products, the quality of investment advice from advisors, advice without regard to taxes or other interrelated areas, and a failure to follow a financial planning discipline before selecting investments.
It was common for advisors to sell high commission products because that was how they were compensated. It was also common for advisors to get their professional training from the wholesalers providing the high commission products. Many financial advisors had no professional training or professional credentials of any consequence. Many financial advisors are prohibited from or unqualified to provide tax guidance on investments. “Financial Plans” were often used to discover the client’s assets available for product sales, and then the plan was abandoned. The industry needed a new solution.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pure Financial Advisors story. Tell us more about the business.
Pure Financial Advisors, Inc. was designed with the following priorities:
1. Consistently place the client’s best interest first.
2. Deliver state of the art integrated financial planning and asset management.
3. Provide a true career track for professional “Certified” financial planners.
4. Maintain a focus on scalability to provide a consistent client experience and value as we expand to help as many people as possible.
5. Create a brand that has a true value and meaning that we can be proud of.
By 2008, we had designed the business model, created the infrastructure, hired our initial team of executives and planners and launched the advertising. We had no clients, no revenue, and the worst recession since 1929 was about to begin.
By nature, I think entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic. Sometimes overly so. I certainly was no exception and being a bootstrapped enterprise running cash flow negative for three and half years was not the original vision. But we were committed to building something to be proud of no matter what. Our favorite saying was “If you are interested, you do what is convenient”, “If you are committed, you do whatever it takes”. It’s a great motto, but, we were severely tested as we worked to achieve profitability.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc?
Early on, we discovered that a better mousetrap does not assure success. We felt that we had created a much more trustworthy, professional, coordinated, researched and deliverable solution for people looking for financial planning and asset management. But as different as we believed we were, we used the same language as other firms and it was difficult to differentiate our value from other firms that talked the talk but didn’t deliver the value that we were designed to deliver. We had a problem; we were tiny and up against giant marketing budgets tickling the ears of our potential clients. The solution: we needed to educate the public. We needed to teach people what true financial planning consisted of and the value it could deliver. People needed a free sample of true value! Just like Costco, if the sample tastes great, you just might want more.
We believed that the more intelligent, financially educated and aware a potential client was, the higher the probability was that they would recognize the value we delivered. We focused on financial education at every opportunity. We hosted a talk radio show and a television show. We produced podcasts, white papers, and web content. We taught adult education retirement classes. The free sample? Once someone is interested, we offer the assessment stage of the financial planning process for free. This critical stage of financial planning includes an educational review of a client’s goals, resources, financial history, and experiences. The output is a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Also provided is a review of areas and strategies the client might consider, to increase the probability of success. We consider it pro bono work and the client has no obligation. After a tasty bite, many clients want more.
Has it worked for us? Yes! In September 2017, Wealth Management.com ranked Pure Financial Advisors, Inc. as the 3rd fastest growing RIA in the nation since 2010. For 2017 Inc. 5000 lists us as one of the fastest growing private companies in the nation. Financial Planning magazine recognized us in 2017 as one of the top 150 RIA Firms in the nation. The San Diego Business Journal has listed us many times as one of San Diego’s fastest growing privately held companies as well as one of San Diego’s largest wealth management firms. And we did it one client at a time!
Contact Info:
- Address: 3131 Camino Del Rio North, #1550, San Diego, CA 92108
- Website: purefinancial.com
- Phone: 619-814-4100
- Email: info@purefinancial.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PureFinancialAdvisors
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ymywshow
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pure-financial-advisors-san-diego-2
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
