On his decades-long mission to simplify financial management, Fred has often been referred to as the “financial advisor’s advisor.” He has not only guided individuals and corporations but has also trained other financial advisors in his effective strategies. He authored the investment series “The Ostrich Syndrome: How to Get Your Head Out of the Sand and Take Control of Your Financial Future,” sharing insights and lessons learned from the financial missteps of others. His belief is that anyone can learn from these experiences to create meaningful change in their lives.
Fred has found great personal fulfillment in empowering people with practical, actionable investment management and financial planning. It’s no secret that he knows his stuff – his company has been the City’s Choice Award winner for “Best Financial Advisor” for nine consecutive years! But what was his very first job? What advice would he give a young Fred? Read on …
1. Who inspired your career path most?
It’s hard to say, but it was probably my dad – I learned a work ethic from him that is unstoppable. As a Depression kid, Dad did whatever he could to survive and help out his parents and younger siblings. He sold newspapers on a California street corner starting at age ten. When he got to Michigan in his early 20s, he had the opportunity to work for General Motors and would preach to me to get a “secure job” like he had, enjoyed and eventually retired from. I knew I wanted more from life.
Always entrepreneurial and studying successful people, I was determined to make my own mark and that dream became reality. Dad is now 95. I still drive him nuts with my “grab the brass ring” attitude about life, but it has worked well for me and my family. I guess the short answer is while my dad discouraged my career path, my rebellion actually caused my success.
2. What was your very first job?
As I reflect on my employment history, I started young. I had my first paying job when I was eight or nine years old, mowing lawns in my neighborhood (Ottawa Hills, in Grand Blanc). I had six or seven regular customers and recognizing it wasn’t particularly efficient to use a push mower, I kind of conned my dad into buying a little riding mower from our neighbor. It was fast, efficient and I was earning pretty good money for a nine-year-old!
During my youth, I also worked at a grocery store and a veterinary hospital; but my real enlightenment came when I started looking at the stock market. I realized that if I invested my earnings rather than spending it on stupid stuff that eventually, I could make more from my investments than I could from the actual job. I purchased my first shares of stock at the tender age of eight. That realization not only got me an early start financially, but it ultimately became my career.
3. What are you most excited about in your life right now?
For me to fully answer this question, My City would have to add 50 pages to the magazine. I have been blessed with so much, it is difficult to narrow it down. I was raised with a strong faith and have a wonderful wife, Tracy, who has shared this journey for the past 39 years. We have two married daughters and three granddaughters. Watching our kids grow into adulthood with the morals and values we tried to instill into them has been our biggest accomplishment. Now, they have their own families and are instilling those same values into their children: dream big, work hard for your dreams, no one owes you anything, practice does make perfect and finally, never accept defeat.
Reflecting on this question has made me realize that the same values we have instilled into our children are the ones that have made our company, Sapphire Blue Investment Partners, what it is today. We started from ground zero and now have created a company that makes a positive impact on the lives of individuals and corporations across the country.
4. Where is the coolest place you’ve traveled?
My wife and I have had the great opportunity to travel to many places, both nationally and internationally. Each excursion has a special memory attached. I would have to say that the most memorable is the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The accommodations and the view at the Four Seasons Resort were spectacular! The room was so impressive that when we returned home, we redesigned our master bath to mimic the one at the hotel.
Dream big, work hard for your dreams, no one owes you anything, practice does make perfect and finally, never accept defeat.
5. What skill would you most like to learn?
That is a two-sided question. One might say it’s patience – I have trouble waiting for results. As a visionary, I think about the future like a chess player and my next moves, ten steps out. I have trouble waiting for those ten steps to catch up with me. On the other hand, that drive has been at the forefront of the success we have created with the companies we have owned and operated. So, I guess patience will have to wait for another day.
6. Do you collect anything?
I am a bit of a hoarder. I attach memories to inanimate items and then have trouble discarding them; items from college (MSU), past memorabilia of goals we achieved and victories we saw as our businesses developed and reached the next level. I have some hundred-year-old crystal glassware I inherited – it’s not likely worth anything, but I can’t find it in my soul to throw an item in the garbage that has made it for a hundred years! My most precious collection is the great memories my wife and I have experienced through our life’s journey together.
7. What life advice would you give to your younger self?
On a wall in our office, we have a sign that is viewed by everyone who enters: “Think Like a Millionaire, Hustle Like You’re Broke.” Another piece of life advice comes from the late Steve Jobs, which I consider to be the most profound statement of all time. “If you walk past the mirror 12 mornings in a row and on each of those 12 days, you don’t like the direction of your life, change the direction of your life.” My mother always told me God deals the cards, how you play them is up to you. I would also tell young Fred that having money is not everything, but living a rich life is. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot do something. And finally, adopt the theory of the great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, whose most profound words were, “You can have anything you want in this life, if you simply help enough other people get what they want.”
