After graduation in 2010 from Central Michigan University (CMU), I knew generally what I wanted from my career: to enrich people’s lives by helping them invest their hard-earned, hard-saved money. However, I didn’t have a clear idea how I would do that or how many different career paths were available within the investment management landscape. For example, there are firms that sell financial products such as mutual funds, insurance, and annuities, and there are firms that manage the money directly as a professional service, aka money managers. I knew of these different paths from my studies in college, but I was unsure which was right for me.

My career began at an investment brokerage and insurance firm, a one-stop shop encompassing all financial needs, not just investments. I sold annuities and mutual funds, all types of insurance, and even comprehensive estate plans. I didn’t really manage money, I sold financial products. It was uncomfortable and frustrating because often times these products came with high fees and locked up clients’ money for years, only to return mediocre gains. It was a sales job, not an investment management position.

I wanted to make people money, not sell them financial products. I wanted the ability to create and execute different investment strategies dependent upon the market and goals of my client. Most importantly, I wanted to explain my strategy, not someone else’s.

Eventually, my career led me to the front door of Meyer Capital Management. MCM allows me to create my own recommendations, present my supporting data, and implement my investment strategies. This type of management firm, one that encourages and supports flexible approaches, is exactly what I was in search of.

The attractiveness of MCM’s money management is the strategic approach taken to investing. The structuring and upkeep of portfolios is where the fun and the motivation for me personally comes into play. It is fascinating when I come into work every day and confront the challenge of an ever-changing market environment, one where windows of opportunities are constantly opening and closing. To take advantage of these opportunities, my colleagues on the investment team and I research, analyze, and incorporate different philosophies and styles to identify high potential investments for clients.

For instance, when an investment candidate is identified, the investment team rarely purchases the security at the prevailing market price. Typically, we use a combination of fundamental and technical analysis to determine a price that will maximize rate-of-return potential of the investment. If the price is unattainable, we abandon the idea and return to the drawing board in search of the next opportunity.

Investment team conversations and our best ideas invariably revolve around one question: “How can we make the most money for clients with the least amount of risk?” At last, I have found the professional focus that I’ve wanted since graduating from CMU: to enrich people’s lives by helping them invest their hard-earned, hard-saved money.