Why they made the move

HANK McLARTY:  Being independent has changed my view of success. It's changed my view of what living really means.

Having the impact that we have, that's a great feeling. Building a culture at Gratis Capital. Building a team that is as passionate about taking care of clients as I am, it's a great feeling to see that.

And the services that Schwab provides for us give us all the things that a client might miss from being from a Wall Street firm. But the ability to be creative and provide cutting edge advice, and it be current, and pull in experts and professionals to collaborate on a client's behalf gives us the ability to provide them independent advice. So it's kind of the best of both worlds.

Now, with this firm, we are helping clients achieve levels of success by allowing them to live their life. And so the culture that we've built here is very synergistic with what we are preaching to our clients, and that is we work very hard here, but success is not driven by just the revenues that our firm generates. It's by us having a policy of people being at home with their families, and not always focused on hours here at work.

The thing that I most enjoy about being a father is watching my sons develop. And I haven't just watched them. I've been in the middle of it with them. An awful lot of the decisions that they make today are a direct result of discussions we've had, of them watching what I do, and how I handle situations. And the fact that they're becoming awesome young men is a joy for me to watch and be a part of.

Certainly when my sons were born, it changed my focus, and that's when I got involved with Make-A-Wish, the charity that I work with. I met a couple of the kids that we were granting wishes for, and then that, of course, that was it after that.

Today, when I leave work, and I'm on my way home, and just in the car and thinking about what we're doing for clients, I get a very good feeling about the way that we're adding to their lives, the way that we're taking care of these clients. It's something that I'm proud to tell my sons about what I do at work every day.

Disclosures

Hank McLarty is a client of Schwab and was not compensated for their comments. The experience described may not be the experience of all clients and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.

Information included in this video is intended to be an overview and is subject to change.

The above-mentioned firms and their employees are not affiliated with or employees of Schwab unless otherwise noted. Mention should not be construed as a recommendation, endorsement of, or sponsorship by Schwab. The views expressed are those of the third party and are provided for informational purposes only. Experiences expressed are no guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of you or your experience.

Third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. Third party firms and their employees are not affiliated with or an employee of Schwab.

Schwab does not provide legal, regulatory, tax or compliance advice. Consult professionals in these fields to address your specific circumstances.

Schwab Advisor Services™ provides custody, trading, and the support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"), member SIPC, to independent investment advisors and Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. ("CSIM").

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

©2024 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). All rights reserved. Member SIPC.

ROBERT AMATO:  No matter how high up you are in these larger broker-dealer firms, you're still an employee. And the RIA space was compelling to us because we felt like we were building something, we owned it, and we controlled everything within that space.

BEAU DAVIS:  Robert and I have always had a mindset that, you know, this is the way we want to do things. And now that we're owners, we don't have all the blocks, and walls, and things in the way, and other advisors, and opinions, and… I call it noise.

ROBERT:  We came to the conclusion that setting up as a registered investment advisor on Schwab as a custodian was absolutely going to work out the best for us and for our clients.

BEAU:  But one of the things we wanted to make sure, that if another 2008 happened again, that the one thing our clients weren't going to worry about was whether or not the custodian or the company that was holding their funds was going to be okay or not. And we knew with Charles Schwab, we knew they didn't receive any money from Uncle Sam, and they didn't need any money from Uncle Sam to stay in business.

And we wanted to make sure we're in a position to really do the best for our clients with the least amount of distractions. I'm not near as stressed like I was several years ago. I have more time to coach my kids. I probably wouldn't have been able to do that, you know, at my old firm.

ROBERT:  I've got young kids, so that's the majority of it these days. You know, they're only going to be so tiny for so long.

I always go back to antique car restoration, you know, having time to do the things I really want to do. It's a very long, methodical process, but at the end you get a beautiful reward.

BEAU: Yeah, I think helping people feels good, right? Giving back, it's a good thing. And, you know, the reward is, is knowing that you're giving folks an approach to get them through retirement, you know, when they refer other potential clients to you. I don't know how you quantify that, but there's a peacefulness about that. I mean, it's a good thing. It feels good.

[DISCLOSURES]
Robert Amato and Beau Davis are clients of Schwab and were not compensated for their comments. The experience described may not be the experience of all clients and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.

Information included in this video is intended to be an overview and is subject to change.

The above-mentioned firms and their employees are not affiliated with or employees of Schwab unless otherwise noted. Mention should not be construed as a recommendation, endorsement of, or sponsorship by Schwab. The views expressed are those of the third party and are provided for informational purposes only. Experiences expressed are no guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of you or your experience.

Third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. Third party firms and their employees are not affiliated with or an employee of Schwab.

Schwab does not provide legal, regulatory, tax or compliance advice. Consult professionals in these fields to address your specific circumstances.

Schwab Advisor Services™ provides custody, trading, and the support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"), member SIPC, to independent investment advisors and Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. ("CSIM").

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

©2024 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). All rights reserved. Member SIPC.

ROSS SINGLETARY: Probably the first business book I ever read, interestingly, was How to Be Your Own Stockbroker, by Charles Schwab.

My wife's father started his own business when he was in his late twenties, and I always admired what he had done, but I admired the freedom that he had. I thought it would be very rewarding and fantastic to be an owner and a founder of a business. It's just incredibly rewarding and gratifying, and I firmly believe it's a better way to do business.

Freedom was a big part of driving this decision. We believed in the RIA model, and we really feel like it put us on the same side of the table with the client, and we are just unequivocally in a much better position to do that as being part of our own firm, without question.

We're not worried about face time in the office in front of management because we are the management, and we don't have to report to anyone. And we don't have to worry about a manager in some far-flung office who really doesn't understand at the core what we're doing in our business with clients. So we're immune from that, which is incredibly rewarding. You can't put a price on that.

It makes for a more enriching environment to work in when you like everybody you work with, and I would include everybody in our firm, people that we like to go to lunch with, people that we like to have a drink with after work, play golf with, socialize with. We've been very lucky in that regard, so it just makes it a lot more fun.

I hope what my children and my partners' children took from what we did is that just follow your dreams, and pursue them wholeheartedly, even if it's a risky thing to do. And if you do, I think it can be incredibly rewarding and successful.

[DISCLOSURES]
Ross Singletary is a client of Schwab and was not compensated for their comments. The experience described may not be the experience of all clients and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.

Information included in this video is intended to be an overview and is subject to change.

The above-mentioned firms and their employees are not affiliated with or employees of Schwab unless otherwise noted. Mention should not be construed as a recommendation, endorsement of, or sponsorship by Schwab. The views expressed are those of the third party and are provided for informational purposes only. Experiences expressed are no guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of you or your experience.

Third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. Third party firms and their employees are not affiliated with or an employee of Schwab.

Schwab does not provide legal, regulatory, tax or compliance advice. Consult professionals in these fields to address your specific circumstances.

Schwab Advisor Services™ provides custody, trading, and the support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"), member SIPC, to independent investment advisors and Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. ("CSIM").

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

©2024 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). All rights reserved. Member SIPC.