By: Pete Marshall, Managing Partner
Wow, I can’t believe that Marshall Financial Group has been serving clients for 19 years! The days are sometimes slow, but the years are fast. Here is a brief business history of Marshall Financial Group and the road to where we are today.
MetLife Beginnings
I started at MetLife 10 days out of college. I never imagined that this would be my one and only career. During college at Western Maryland (now McDaniel College) I studied for my series 6 exam, and I interviewed with 10-20 different places and in all industries. MetLife gave the promise that if you worked hard then you would be successful. There was a lot of uncertainty but one thing that I knew for sure is that I would work hard and with that I felt like I would control my own destiny. With all of that said, it did end up being true (hard work = success), but I was extremely naive as to all of the other nuances of the business (especially on the insurance side of the financial world).
I was made agency director at age 23 after my predecessor transferred to the pharmaceutical industry and the other agency director was diagnosed with colon cancer. I found myself ‘in-charge’ of 20 to 30 agents/advisors which left little to no time for my clients. Prior to this, I had successfully grown the business through simple things like- doing what you tell people you will do, being proactive and organized, and most importantly creating financial solutions. When I became Agency Director my professional life changed to sales goals and managing other less motivated advisors.
These were early lessons about not letting titles and compensation get in the way of what I was truly passionate about. I really enjoyed making an impact on people and their financial situations. I’m not a quitter but it felt like quitting going back to the advisor role. This was ultimately one of the best decisions that I have ever made and looking back, it gave me valuable insight into both sides of the business “working on the business” vs. “working in the business”.
As I continued my career I started to learn about all sorts of new ideas and financial strategies. I came to realize that I couldn’t do all of those strategies where I was. I’ve never been short on ideas and things that I wanted to do. I wanted access to a wider range of services and investments which could provide more opportunities for my clients to build wealth and achieve their financial goals. This is ultimately why I decided to start Marshall Financial Group.
Key Milestones
I’m going to skip over lots of various milestones and get to the heart of it. We are currently managing approximately 650 million dollars in assets. Looking back, I can remember celebrating a milestone of 100 million dollars under management. When I left MetLife, I was managing about 10 million dollars in assets. I remember when our holiday party was two couples. I also remember when my buddy would make the joke that we were the Marshall Financial Group ‘of one’ when it was just me! It doesn’t seem like that long ago.
When I left MetLife, I started working out of the second bedroom of my home in Canton, Maryland. This was in 2005, and at that time, working from home was not perceived the same way it is today. In those days it could be more embarrassing than normal to work from your home. I went to see clients at their office or home. I would fax things and run to Kinkos to bind reports. It was super inefficient, but I loved the hustle of doing everything at that time. I would fill in paperwork while I watched TV at night and meet with clients all day.
My daughter was born in 2008, and I moved my business out of our home in March of that year and invested in an office. This was the start of becoming a more official business instead of a one-man-show. We were really rocking and rolling and then the market collapse of 2008 hit. It was a lonely time. At that point I missed the camaraderie of a big firm. At one point the stock market was down almost 50% that year through the beginning of 2009 and there was major doom and gloom surrounding the markets and the economy. I thought that it would be an opportunity of a lifetime to invest at this low point in the market, but the message grew weary during the full bear market and was further compounded by the major companies that ran into difficulty over that time.
Although this downturn was brutal it ended up being a blessing in disguise. If we could make it through that we could make it through anything! Things rebounded in 2009, and we were back on track. Everyone had PTSD for several years after that but who could have predicted a decade-long recovery? Time does fly!
Building a Team
A lot of running a successful business is being able to find the right people. There are so many things that I could write about, but this is always number one. If you can get the right teammates who embody and fit the culture of the firm and our dedication to exceptional client service, then the rest falls into place. There is some luck that goes into it as well.
Let me highlight a couple of key people – my partners, Sheryl and Anthony. Sheryl was/is a college professor. She had a young daughter (one of three) who she wanted to be there for growing up. As her daughter grew up and was ready to graduate high school, Sheryl wanted to use her knowledge and time to return to her work in the financial planning industry. Sheryl’s other daughter worked for a jewelry company, which happened to be owned by friends of mine. Here’s where the luck comes in. We hire recruiting firms and post on job websites, but we got Sheryl from a jewelry industry connection! Sheryl’s addition immediately stepped up the game of the firm. Her knowledge of financial planning took us to the next level and in those days, she did all the plans. At one point, while we were bringing on a new advisor, Sheryl was churning out 5 plans a day and they were all really advanced.
We found Anthony through a recruiting site. In another stroke of good fortune, he had worked with an advisor at Wells Fargo and learned all aspects of the industry. He had been encouraged with the potential opportunity of taking over the advisor’s business one day. That timeframe kept getting delayed and delayed, but Anthony used that time to master the operational aspects of the industry. We were fortunate that he was able to join our team and bring all of these skills to MFG. He quickly took over the trading and helped us to fully upgrade our capabilities over that time period. Since then, he leads the advisor team and trading.
I could go into a story about each partner or advisor and maybe I will in the future 😊. We’ve evolved from “Marshall Financial Group of One” to a team of ten advisors, five support staff, and a newly established C-suite in 2023. We have worked hard to achieve a combination of creating a culture that team members want to join and finding the people that will thrive in it. A lot of the “good” advisors in the industry are good salespeople. Our goal is that our advisors are good people, in every sense. These are team members that care about the client and possess our core values. People that will not only do a good job but exceed expectations. It seems simple but believe it or not, it can be difficult.
Looking Ahead
Next year, we’ll celebrate 20 years! I am a big proponent of trying to get better each day. I’m a ‘self-help’ avid book reader. I have read in multiple books about the goal of trying to improve by 1% each day. While we may not be able to do that in your financial accounts on a daily basis, it’s a mindset we can adopt in our work and service to our clients each day!
I tend to be positive. There have been some low points as well over the past 19 years. It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. There has been stress, anxiety, not too much blood and sweat, but some tears. In the end, I’m extremely happy with how fortunate we are to have our clients, partners, and team members. If I had envisioned what this business would look like 19 years ago, today’s reality would far exceed my expectations. We couldn’t really ask for anything better than all of you!
Thank you all for being part of this journey, and cheers to the next 19 years! I can’t wait to see what the future holds!