Meet Eric
MEET ERIC
Founder / Wealth Strategy Advisor
Eric has worked in finance for over 10 years, both in private wealth management and as an analyst building financial products and valuing businesses.
He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). The CFA is "the gold standard" of finance worldwide, according to The Economist. On average, it takes four years, 18 hours of rigorous exams, and 900+ hours of study time to earn this credential.
He is also a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP™) and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).
Outside of MARGIN, Eric has taught CFP™ investment courses at a Colorado university. He has also served on the Englewood, Colorado Firefighter Pension Board, and CFA Colorado Board.
His passions also include handcrafting healthy (wannabe) Michelin-star farm-to-table cuisine, sweating through intense exercise, and savoring classic literature.
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My Story
WHY I STARTED MARGIN
My perfectly timed career in finance began in 2008, working with clients at a private wealth management firm. When the recession hit, my curiosity about investment research became an obsession, leading me to work as a valuation analyst performing valuations on small and mid-sized healthcare transactions.
Then, after finishing the CFA program, I moved into working as a Product Analyst at Transamerica, where I analyzed the firm's mutual fund landscape and eventually stumbled into leading their exploration into ETFs.
In short order, a promotion into Corporate Competitive Analysis led to daily deep dives into the complex inner workings of insurance and investment products. I found the work fascinating: our team’s research helped synthesize key industry developments, countless insurance and investment products, and competitor intelligence for a Fortune 500 C-Suite.
YET, SOMETHING WAS MISSING...
Research and analysis kept me further away from the deeply satisfying work of hand-crafting individual value for clients. As my dreaded 3:00 A.M. Sunday morning spreadsheet-filling wore thin, I returned to wealth management at a bank Private Client Group.
Unfortunately, the role was not what I envisioned. Unfortunately, a culture of ruthless incentives and constant managerial “encouragement” pressured me to treat clients like profit centers instead of patients entrusted to my professional care. It felt wrong.
I was being required to spoon-feed conflicted, watered-down advice and charge confusing, high, asset-based fees. I couldn't sleep at night. The steady check wasn't worth violating my own personal values, so I did something about it.
I asked myself: "What would I really want as a client?"
I'd want authentic, unconflicted, handcrafted advice. I'd want transparent pricing and a focus on value adding services.