Condor manages diversified, optimized and tailored investment portfolios for its clients using seven in-house strategies constructed mostly from efficient, low-cost funds. “We still have a model where we pick stocks, so we do some active, too, but the important piece is that we’re not pigeonholed into one scenario or one strategy,” says Schapiro. “How someone is invested depends on the specific client first, then on our expectations of the economy.”
These clients are served with complimentary, comprehensive financial planning, including retirement planning, life event planning, estate planning blueprints, tax planning, insurance evaluation and risk management, and educational planning.
The Condor work area is a zoo of cubicles where the walls and divisions between workers are virtually nonexistent. Portfolio managers work alongside planners who work alongside client service personnel who work alongside the RIA’s founder and president.
“I’m not bottled up in an office. I’m out there, too, working alongside everyone else,” says Schapiro.
The perks also help preserve the team environment. Schapiro makes sure there are team-building excursions to concerts and events every year, and every day the firm buys lunch for its employees.
Condor also offers an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, to staffers as they grow within the company. Schapiro believes that giving them a stake in the firm makes them more productive and will help his firm grow.
“I went around the country and realized that employee stock ownership programs were wildly successful in most places,” he says. “It’s about doing the right thing for the employees so that employees do the right thing for Condor and our clients. I think that is part of what makes us successful.”
NJ Biz, a statewide business magazine, has recognized Condor Capital as one of the best places to work in New Jersey. Part of retaining a youthful office is offering technological benefits and staying ahead of the tech curve, says Schapiro.
“We’ve always believed in technology. I got us a Bloomberg terminal in our second year of business. We might have been ahead of ourselves, spending $18,000 on the Bloomberg when we were still grossing under $100,000, but our accounts were built on those early assets. Our love of technology started right away.”
Several years ago, he initiated a policy that gave employees a smartphone of their choice after they had worked at Condor for three years. The firm pays for the phone, the plan and upgrades every two years.