Patric Greer, CFO of Edkey, Top 10 Admired Leaders of 2022

Paul Bullock
Founder & CEO
Wellington Investment Advisors


Patric Greer, CFO of Edkey

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After visiting with Paul Bullock, founder and CEO of "Wellington Investing Advisors," you know you have met an advisor that cares about his clients and truly believes in what he does. They are a boutique fiduciary investment firm out of Indiana that focuses solely on the individual investor. They strive to help their clients invest for a specific goal, whether it's tax-efficient retirement planning, caring for an elderly parent, or asset transfer through estate planning. They assist clients in defining their risk tolerance and then building personalized portfolios to accomplish their goals.

Paul and his team of independent advisors and staff have diverse backgrounds ranging from floor option trader to a retired schoolteacher, a CFP and financial analysist, a Russian immigrant, and an advisor that has been managing money before the internet. These guys know Wall Street better than most and their experience spans multiple decades. They provide complete financial planning, portfolio management, and from what their clients say in their unpaid testimonials, exceptional service. Paul believes that leading by example is the best way to harmonize their firm’s vision. Always doing the right thing when it comes to your employees, your family, and your clients is the culture he wants most to nurture. Paul will tell you that if you do well by your clients, they will stay will you for a lifetime, which is our goal.

Paul creates a caring workplace for his employees where they enjoy what they do. For him, having a work environment and culture that exemplifies doing an excellent job and enjoying what you do makes a significant difference in everyone’s attitude. He will tell you it’s not work if you love what you do. Our team works together to solve problems as they arise, says Paul. They have team meetings to develop strategies for working through employee problems or issues as they arise. They face problems head on and don’t sugar coat things in the hopes that they will solve themselves. This provides a culture of openness, kindness, and appreciation for the fact that not everyone sees things through the same eyes and having empathy for others is core to their work environment, he adds.

They have a hard-working team that cares about their clients. When asked what separates their firm Paul will tell you they are old school. As Steve Jobs once said, "Most people never pick up the phone and call. And that’s what sometimes separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.” In the age of text messages and emails, entrepreneurs must distinguish between good service and a text message he says. Growing a firm involves hard work and caring about customers which requires first class service. Paul suggests-pick up the phone and talk to your clients!

Each client is well-known; they don't call us using 800 numbers, adds Paul. We answer same-day phone and email responses; we understand financial planning and investment decision-making. Being a fiduciary promotes trust in our advice and guidance. Since good and awful markets have occurred, in a good market, anyone can make money, but clients need us most, and we earn our pay in bad times, Paul says. Emotional decision-making is eliminated. We adhere to the Warren Buffet principle, "Be greedy when others are fearful and be fearful when others are greedy". Paul works hard to help his clients increase their comfort level in difficult times and therefore increases their goal-attainment probabilities. I don’t let my clients make poor emotional decisions with their investments. I remember too well sitting through many panicked client meetings back in 2008 and the sheer pain on newly retired clients faces as they worried their hard-earned nest egg would soon evaporate. Nobody likes uncertainty, especially those that have just retired, and as an advisor, having been through these tough times, we know with confidence the advice to give.

We are in a difficult environment today. There are a lot of moving parts, from the war in Ukraine to escalating inflation and energy prices. Nobody knows how long the downturn will last or how severe it will become. We only know the variables at work and there are many. It’s easy for younger clients to ride things out, but for many older clients it provides a unique set of challenges such a liquidity concerns, and the longevity concerns. The first of the year we were very proactive in supplying liquidity as the downturn was quite evident. The question to be answered now is when will inflation peak, and will the Fed go too far with its rate hikes. Stay Tuned!!

In addition to managing clients’ assets after they retire; we have developed solutions to manage customers' 401(k) and 403(b) funds while they are still employed. Through this process we can help clients invest before and after retirement. Studies have shown that using experienced advisors can improve ROI and possibly financial success. For example, in a 2014 study done by Aon Hewitt Investment Research & Insights, they discovered that participants that received, "Help" earned significantly higher returns than “Non-Help Participants” across all age groups. On average, across eight different age cohorts, the difference in annual returns for Help Participants was 3.32% higher than for Non-Help Participants, net of Fees, according to the study.1

According to a recent Russell Investments 2022 article.2 A New Horizon for The Value of Your Advice, they believe advisors are never more important than during periods of meaningful change. They looked at the period of 2021 when the global pandemic created chaos in the financial markets, and they compared those clients that had financial advisors to those that did not, and they updated their “Value of Advisor formula” to say that “Our analysis clearly shows that the total value of the services you provide is substantially higher than your typical advisory fee”. They also noted that those financial advisors who helped their clients stay invested through the turbulence, who helped them prepare for an uncertain future, who worked with them to determine their post pandemic goals, can look back with a real sense of having provided true value.

Paul describes a recent client meeting that made him stop and really reflect on life. Here he describes talking with an 83-year-old client and his wife about funeral plots, and what seems like yesterday he was planning their retirement. It really makes you stop and think, he says. There is a real sense of satisfaction knowing and helping many of these same people for close to 30 years. It opens one’s eyes to the reality of life and the transitions we all will experience at some point. The joys, the sorrows, and being there to guide them through life's many financial hurdles. I understand my client’s needs and we work to help them accomplish their goals whatever they may be. It’s a great job, and I am blessed to have been a part of so many wonderful, hardworking individuals lives for so long. Paul looks forward to many more years of providing sound advice and developing great relationships.

If you meet Paul, you get a sense of real enthusiasm for life, and his belief in living it to the fullest. He is an avid equestrian polo player, not a great player he says, but one that will give you a run for your money and is always up for a challenge. He is a private pilot, and someone who loves spending time with his family and friends. He believes that an active lifestyle and exercise is imperative. He says enjoy what you can when you can, and when you can’t, keep trying because nothing good comes easy, and that’s life. Paul wishes to grow and continue to expand his business geographically, and to deliver five-star service to new and existing clients. For him, learning and keeping up with technology is also imperative in his line of work. If you stop learning you stop growing!! He adds, together, we can make smarter financial decisions that matter!

12014 AON Hewitt, Help in Defined Contributions Plans:2006 through 2012

22022 A new Horizon for the Value of Your Advice/Value of an Advisor? Russell Investments


Company

Wellington Investment Advisors

Management

Paul Bullock
Founder & CEO
Wellington Investment Advisors

Description

We’re a team of thoughtful, hardworking, and experienced individuals that believe in providing exceptional service and personalized investment advice.


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