2024 Winter Update
By: Erin Barry, CEO
It is hard to believe that we are over a month and a half into 2024! One of my personal goals for the year is to keep you, our valued clients and friends, informed about our firm’s operations, goals, and philosophies. February marks my 5th year with the Firm, including the last 2.5 years as CEO. I see this occasion as the perfect opportunity to share some highlights from our past five years and offer a glimpse into our exciting future.
In 2019, our firm finished our transition to becoming a registered investment advisor (RIA). This change, I firmly believe, ranks as one of the most significant decisions we have made in our firm’s history. It furthered and formalized our belief that clients’ needs should always be put first which, unfortunately, we feel does not happen as often as it should in our industry. By operating now as a fee-only RIA, we have committed to being held to a fiduciary standard, and we have made this commitment because we believe it’s the right and best way to operate.
We go beyond the RIA model, believing in proactive support for our clients. This means doing more for our clients than just managing their investments. We’ve invested in a comprehensive suite of technology, which allows us to streamline routine tasks while providing insightful financial analysis for informed decision-making. We have great tools in place already, but we also know that innovation in the financial technology space is constantly evolving. We continue to actively evaluate new solutions to elevate client value, and anticipate introducing at least one, and potentially more, this year.
As the last few paragraphs likely showed you, we don’t shy away from progress. In 2019, our nimble team of 10 was managing approximately $430 million of assets for our clients, with two offices in Maine, and one in South Carolina. Now, 5 years later, our team has doubled to 20. We opened a satellite office in Greenwood, South Carolina, to allow us to reach more clients there and in 2023, we moved our Greenville, South Carolina, team to a newly renovated office building with additional room for growth. Our team now includes a CFP® and ChFC®, a CPFA®, a CPA, and an AIF®, and multiple staff members currently studying to earn new credentials.
The growth hasn’t stopped there. The wealth management industry often measures the size of a firm in terms of “assets under management” and this month we reached a new milestone. I am incredibly excited to share that we are now managing over $1 billion in assets for our clients. This is a milestone we have been working toward for some time, but also one we worked cautiously to achieve, as we never want to sacrifice our commitment to our clients to simply achieve the goal. From all of us at Means Wealth, we are deeply grateful for the unwavering support and partnership that you have extended to us throughout our journey. Thank you also to everyone who has referred a family member, friend or colleague to us. And for those of you who are clients, thank you for allowing us to manage your assets and to work with you through your financial journey.
Our firm was founded by David G. Means in 1935, who dedicated his life to help guide and steward his community through challenging times just after the Great Depression. Mr. Means understood that wealth management isn’t just about numbers, it’s about empowering people to achieve their financial dreams. As we look to what is ahead, our goal is to continue to honor his legacy by continuing to equip our clients with practical strategies to help guide their decisions and grow their wealth.
Thank you for being a part of our journey,
Erin
