Forty years ago, my wife, Debra, and I created Clayton Financial Services, Inc. Prior to that incorporation, even though I was a solo practitioner, I dubbed myself “Clayton and Associates” in an attempt to make my company seem bigger and more substantial. In reality, there weren’t any “associates” to speak of, just me and a part-time secretary.
I had just completed all the education and testing requirements to become one of the country’s first CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals and had licenses to sell insurance and securities. My greatest challenge at the time was that I hated the “selling” part of the business. The need to constantly find new business, along with the abundance of rejection, was extremely difficult for me.
Forty years ago, there were no cellphones, internet, or email, and the most common sales techniques consisted of making “cold calls” over landlines, sending out direct mail, and simply going door to door. I knew after a very short time I could not operate that way for the rest of my career.
In the early 1980s, the terms “financial planning” and “financial planner” were largely meaningless in the industry. These labels were mostly used as a more appealing method of branding and marketing to help sell insurance or securities (a trend that unfortunately continues today). I guess it sounded better than calling yourself an insurance salesman or stockbroker.
Thankfully, over time, industry standards were adopted that required a higher level of expertise for people providing financial advice. The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) designation was created as a first step to recognizing financial planning as a true profession. It was a designation for those “planners” who had the experience, knowledge, and education needed to adequately help people meet their financial needs.
In addition to creating the baseline for providing clients with competent financial planning services, the designation also established ethical standards for the profession. A primary focus was to help avoid the inherent conflict that exists when advisors are merely “selling” commission-based products. After all, every commission dollar paid comes directly out of a client’s account, which reduces the client’s overall return.
Joining forces with Debra in life and business was a turning point for both our careers. Shortly after joining the firm, Debra was quite insistent that the sales-associated conflict needed to be eliminated. If you’re familiar with the saying “happy wife, happy life,” then you already know where this story is going!
Indeed, we gave up the various insurance and securities licenses, as well as the commission income, to create Topeka’s first “fee only” firm. The vision was an independent business providing true financial advice with a transparent (and smaller) fee. While this meant a few tough financial years for a young firm with just a few clients, over time this represented the best decision we ever made.
When we made the transition to fee-only, we thought other firms would likely adopt the model as well. Fortunately for us, most others were unwilling to eliminate commissions and/or simply didn’t see the value in financial planning beyond making a sale. As such, we had many years as the only local option for independent, fee-only, comprehensive financial planning and investment management.
Forty years later, we are proud that Clayton Wealth Partners continues to do as we’ve always done: focus on helping people with their financial lives and build trusted relationships along the way. Providing comprehensive financial planning and investment management was, and is, more labor intensive and requires a much different set of skills than merely selling products.
When we started out, we divided the knowledge and expertise between us, with Debra focusing most of her time on our investment strategy while I focused on everything financial planning related. Today, CWP serves over 650 individuals, companies, non-profits, foundations, and endowments throughout the entire country. This small company of two now has 13 full-time employees, including five CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals and a dedicated investment team led by a Chartered Financial Analyst®, the highest designation in our industry.
While Clayton Wealth Partners has grown and will continue to grow, the most gratifying aspect is that the growth is based on the same basic principle that Debra and I adopted four decades ago: Always put client needs first.
It’s been an amazing past 40 years, and we are so grateful for the many wonderful clients and incredible staff who have been with us along the way. Thank you for allowing us to work with and for you, learn your stories, and be part of your financial journey. Cheers to the next 40 years of Clayton Wealth Partners!
Stayed tuned for the second part of this blog: “Forty Years Young: The Future of Clayton Wealth Partners.”
Randy Clayton
Randy is unique as a financial planning firm founding partner, as financial services has been the only career he has ever held. After 40 years in the industry, he still finds it gratifying to have founded a firm that provides fiduciary, fee-only financial planning that helps clients achieve their goals.