Issue 19

October 2020

Following the launch of the Keystone Fund, I’ve had a number of conversations with individuals interested in learning more about me and Spring City Partners. Which has been great!

While still very early, I think the idea of combining active and passive investments with one person resonates with people. In theory this is how most people invest their money. My model is slightly different. However, I think providing greater transparency into your investments and the decisions behind them is an incredibly important differentiator when selecting someone to entrust with your assets. Typically, an advisor collects your assets and creates a portfolio of passive and active investments. The active investments are managed by a 3rd Party. As a client you are relying on the decision making of a manager two-steps removed from you to manage your assets. With my model you get direct access to me and transparency about decisions made in the Spring City Fund, while still being able to make an allocation to a passive fund tracking the broader market.

While this all sounds good in theory, the reality is I need to convince you to hire me to manage your assets. When you think of typical professional services (accountants, doctors, lawyers), there is an event that triggers you to inquire about their services. As the son of an accountant, I know firsthand how everyone scrambles to get their taxes done by April 15. When you are sick, you reach out to a doctor about a diagnosis. If there is a death in the family, a lawyer helps execute the will. When it comes to your personal finances there isn’t this obvious event that triggers you to reach out for help.

This gets to the heart of finance and the stereotype of a pushy salesperson in a nice suit meeting with you to sell a financial product. I don’t have a personality to do that. Instead, I rely on this newsletter and conversations I have with people in my network to attract new partners. For my existing partners, they know I spend the majority of my working and leisure time thinking about investing and helping them meet their financial objectives. My logic is that by writing thoughtful pieces, that will trigger some people to inquire about working with me. Hopefully I do a good job for my existing partners and they refer people in their networks to reach out to me. That’s the secret sauce of my business model. Pretty simple.

Considering this is my newsletter and my business relies on converting readers to partners, I want leave you with a list of events that could serve as a trigger for you to reach out to me.

Currently going through any of these scenarios? I’d love to hear from you.

Bill