A question I often hear is why in the world I gave up a top position that, by every indication, was going amazingly well to go out on my own to start over from scratch.

The answer lies in a story that dates back more than 20 years, when I was introduced to the financial services industry right out of graduate school. It was explained to me that I’d get to help clients grow their wealth, and because we were “independent,” we gave our clients a choice from a menu of available products.

Most of the in-house training I received back then was centered around sales techniques. Various representatives from large mutual fund and insurance companies would come in to pitch the use of colorful performance brochures highlighting historical charts that showed how wealthy clients would have become if they had invested in hand-picked five-star funds. Essentially, all I needed to do was get clients to buy into these platforms, and I’d become their hero while earning great compensation. I was totally hooked. I thought, what an amazing win-win opportunity! But was it, really?

Over time, it became apparent to me that things weren’t adding up. How could I claim to be independent when I was dealing with a pre-selected menu of financial products? After some digging and number crunching, comparing real returns, I realized the actively-managed funds we were marketing weren’t delivering positive results for my clients. Rather, the fund companies were raking in huge profits, largely due to the exorbitant – and often hidden – fees. After subtracting the fees and factoring in inflation, my clients were actually ending up in the red!

On top of all that, a question lurking in my mind was: If these so-called 5-star fund managers really knew which stocks would do better, why did these funds tend to significantly trail the overall market’s performance, over time?

In the midst of that mental back-and-forth, I was introduced to Mark Matson, whose platform would turn my world upside down – in a good way. It categorically rejects the actively managed funds approach. Instead, this platform adheres to a structured portfolio management approach based on the Nobel Prize-winning academic principles of the Efficient Market Hypothesis, Modern Portfolio Theory, and the Three-Factor Model. What was intriguing was that these were the investing theories I had studied in grad school, and I found them to be more realistic. What’s more, the associated fees were significantly lower, compared to what I had been offering my clients, and the net returns were much, much better.

My clients were depending on my guidance to grow their hard-earned wealth for a better tomorrow, but my hands were tied. As long as I worked for a company with high fees and limited offerings, I would not be able to provide the best options to my clients. I knew I had to change course. The only way that could happen would be for me to leave everything behind and start from scratch, on my own, with practically nothing. It was not an easy decision, but I knew I could not continue on the same path in good conscience. Yes, I had to deal with some rather unpleasant consequences, financially and otherwise, but I have never regretted that decision.

The difference is crystal clear. Today, at Laser Wealth Management, LC, we confidently help our clients avoid speculating with their wealth. We are proud to see more and more families living with clarity and purpose as they watch their investments generate positive returns over the long haul. And we are incredibly excited to be independent in the truest sense of the word.