Comments on: Henry Ford and the Need for Flexibility http://www.roadtoindependenceblog.com/2008/04/13/henry-ford-and-the-need-for-flexibility/ Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:15:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jeffrey McClure http://www.roadtoindependenceblog.com/2008/04/13/henry-ford-and-the-need-for-flexibility/comment-page-1/#comment-255 Jeffrey McClure Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:26:53 +0000 ia-wordup-8715#comment-255 Amen to that! - I have spent the last nine months converting my old brokerage clients into RIA clients. We are about $60 million into the $100 million client base and still chugging along. John Henry McDonald, one of the pioneer's in this profession once told me that given my experience, expertise, and asset base I only lacked one thing, and that was to sell my house. As we changed from brokerage to RIA I did indeed sell my house and have moved into one less than half the size, with about a third the house payment. Why? Because my personal income is about one quarter what I was earning as a broker. A client asked me today why I would do that; voluntarily reduce my compensation by that amount. I answered her by asking why small farmers who often have to hold down a regular job to make ends meet keep on farming. She immediately understood and replied, "You much love what you do." I do. The satisfaction of being able to look my clients in the face and state without reservation that I am providing them with the best allocation, the best managers, and the least cost they could find anywhere in the world is deeply satisfying. Another good part of this change is that instead of looking for new clients so that I could earn the commissions necessary to keep serving the earlier clients, I am now trying to figure out how to find the time to get to all the people who want me to manage their portfolios! I am satisfied that I will probably never earn in any year the amount I once earned as a very successful broker, but I am also delighted to know that all I have to do to live at a comfortable standard of living is to take good care of the clients I already have. Jeff McClure Amen to that!
- I have spent the last nine months converting my old brokerage clients into RIA clients. We are about $60 million into the $100 million client base and still chugging along. John Henry McDonald, one of the pioneer’s in this profession once told me that given my experience, expertise, and asset base I only lacked one thing, and that was to sell my house. As we changed from brokerage to RIA I did indeed sell my house and have moved into one less than half the size, with about a third the house payment. Why? Because my personal income is about one quarter what I was earning as a broker.

A client asked me today why I would do that; voluntarily reduce my compensation by that amount. I answered her by asking why small farmers who often have to hold down a regular job to make ends meet keep on farming. She immediately understood and replied, “You much love what you do.” I do.

The satisfaction of being able to look my clients in the face and state without reservation that I am providing them with the best allocation, the best managers, and the least cost they could find anywhere in the world is deeply satisfying. Another good part of this change is that instead of looking for new clients so that I could earn the commissions necessary to keep serving the earlier clients, I am now trying to figure out how to find the time to get to all the people who want me to manage their portfolios!

I am satisfied that I will probably never earn in any year the amount I once earned as a very successful broker, but I am also delighted to know that all I have to do to live at a comfortable standard of living is to take good care of the clients I already have.

Jeff McClure

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