The firm's investment committee develops each portfolio individually. Its members do not have any type of investment that they feel has to be included in a portfolio or one that should be absolutely avoided. They believe in active investing, rather than passive, but tend to be conservative.
Jack and Marcia Bowerman have been clients for about eight years and like the type of investments the firm has used. "They are conservative, which I like," says Bowerman, a business consultant. "They don't recommend wild and fancy strategies, but stick to the basics."
The firm uses Schwab Institutional as the custodian for accounts but will handle other types of investments if a client has them when he or she comes to the firm. "There is nothing that we shy away from or that we say has to be in an account, except to say we make sure a portfolio is allocated across a lot of types of investments," Eaton explains. "For instance, regardless of how things are going now, there is always a place for real estate in a portfolio. We do not make people sell everything when they come to us, but we use Schwab almost exclusively because it makes it easier for us and easier for the client."
Because they stress complete financial planning, most of the firm's clients got to them by word-of-mouth rather than commercial advertising. "It is almost impossible to market what we do, because people are not coming to us to be money managers. They are coming to us to manage their entire lives," Stepp says.
The firm will not handle just part of anyone's investments and will not act solely as money managers. They do not prepare taxes or handle legal work, but insist on knowing about whatever affects the client's life and on reviewing all tax returns and legal documents, including those affecting estate planning, insurance planning, retirements and education funding. They will work with siblings, children and parents of clients if asked to do so or if it affects the client's circumstances.
"From time to time, Kathy and Howard have given advice to my son and daughter-in-law at no additional fee," says Bowerman. "It is the little things like that that they do that adds a lot of value to their work. Kathy is a great financial planner and Howard is good at investments, but another of their great selling points is that they have improved their bench strength to where it is really good."
Like many of the clients, Bowerman came to the firm after seeing Stepp on a local television show and reading that the firm was considered one of the top 250 in the country by Worth magazine. Stepp has done financial commentary for the Fox television network for many years and was a national spokeswoman for Citibank for several years.
"We are generalists, so that gives us a lot of media opportunities," she explains.
Bowerman adds, "Kathy's personality came across very well on television."
That personality translates into an advantage for clients, says Rita Cortés, who owns a commercial construction company with her father in Kansas City and has been a client for about eight years.
"I met Howard and Kathy when I was looking for a financial advisor for my parents. My parents wanted me to do the financial planning, but that is not what I do. We looked at a lot of people and ended up interviewing five. Kathy and Howard came across as having a talent for understanding the different circumstances of their clients and they work in a comprehensive way. I like that. They also have a good way of delivering information that may be hard to hear sometimes.