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My education in the financial world started when I was 18. That was the year I watched my parents’ retirement dreams come crashing down.
My dad had a good deal of money he acquired from when he sold his private medical practice. The plan was to invest it in a way that would provide for my parents’ future. But my parents took some bad investment advice and ended up with a lot less than they expected. As a result, their retirement was marked by financial stress.
The experience shook me up. I decided I wanted to know enough about finances to avoid the mistake my parents had made, so I enrolled as an economics major at the University of Maryland, College Park. After graduation, I became a financial planner.
While my initial motivation was to help myself thrive financially, I soon found great satisfaction in guiding others. I saw how many people in our culture were confused about investing and I became committed to helping as many as I could.
Launching my career at Morgan Stanley
There was no settling in at Morgan Stanley. From day one, they expected me to produce. They gave me a phone and computer and told me to go find some clients.
While it was challenging, Morgan Stanley taught me success was not going to be spoon-fed to me. If I wanted to thrive, I had to help myself.
Morgan Stanley also taught me how large firms can focus on supporting the shareholders more than the investors. This led to practices that reduced the quality of services we provided to clients, one of which was pay structures designed to promote certain asset types.
Another example of the ineptitude I witnessed was the limited investment options large firms offer. The plans we would prepare for our clients typically focused on stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Outside of those few assets, we weren’t much help.
However, I started to see there was more to the world of retirement planning. Annuities, for example, are an investment that can be very beneficial to investors with certain retirement goals. Morgan Stanley didn’t give me the flexibility I needed to truly provide the best retirement plans for my clients.
The longer I spent working at a big firm, the more I came to understand that the advice I could offer was determined by decisions at the top. My input as an advisor was limited, which didn’t sit well with me, so I looked for a position that would allow me to offer unbiased financial advice.
Finding more freedom at independent firms
I left many of my frustrations behind when I left Morgan Stanley to work at an independent firm. I could now make the decisions that were most appropriate for my clients, rather than just offering the packages the company prescribed. I could also draw from a full slate of products, which accelerated my education when it came to the various investment options that were available and the ways in which they could serve my clients.
Learning the ins and outs of running a business was another part of my education at an independent firm. I became a student of IT, HR, marketing, office management and the many other tasks that go into keeping a firm afloat. It was an education that would prove to be invaluable as I struck out to open my own firm.
Providing investors with a fully digital option
Many things went remote during the Covid-10 pandemic, including financial advising. Suddenly my client meetings were on Zoom. It was a much different feel than what I was used to, but it kept things going.
I assumed when the pandemic passed that clients would be happy to resume our in-office meetings, but I was wrong. It seemed remote meetings were more comfortable and convenient for clients. They didn’t want to deal with traffic and parking and frankly, I couldn’t blame them. Even those who lived just minutes away from our posh class-A office space opted for Zoom meetings.
As I contemplated the shift, the idea of a completely virtual firm came to me. I realized I could provide the convenience clients wanted while also doing away with many of the costs that come with having a physical office. A virtual model would allow us to serve our clients more efficiently and pass the savings on to them.
I’m extremely happy with where my journey in financial advising has taken me. From the first time I had a client tell me how much peace she had knowing her retirement was going to be provided for, I knew I would devote the rest of my career to helping people. Today I’m able to do that for clients anywhere, offering them an efficient process that delivers a fully comprehensive plan and considers every nuance of the lifestyle they have and the lifestyle they are seeking.
Aaron Cirksena, founder and CEO of MDRN Capital, is a 2011 graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, where he studied economics. Since then, he has devoted his entire career to financial planning, distribution planning, and managing client money. He first worked with multiple $1 billion teams at Morgan Stanley and independent firms, and eventually created his own independent services firm in MDRN Capital, which is revolutionizing retirement planning by offering a comprehensive range of services, including income planning, investment management, tax planning, healthcare, and estate planning, all with a greater degree of effectiveness compared to traditional providers. As a fully digital firm, MDRN prioritizes efficiency and convenience, providing remote consultations and digital account opening.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.