There are few words that ring with greater beauty in America than freedom and independence. These tenets, upon which this great nation was founded, inform all that United States citizens strive to embody. Such liberty is the reason this country has historically been known throughout the world as a place for unparalleled opportunity for growth.
One local financial advisor—Charlie McNamara III LUTCF, CMFC, owner of McNamara Financial Group—believes wholeheartedly in such independence in his business and that has contributed to making him the great success he is today.
“I started out as a financial advisor with Prudential, I then became a manager, and eventually went back to being an advisor and rebranded myself as McNamara Financial Group.” While McNamara thoroughly enjoyed his management experience, he missed the gratification of helping clients on a one-on-one basis with difficult, life-altering matters such as losing a job, losing a loved one or preparing for retirement. Very recently, McNamara decided it was time to better position himself to fit the needs for the way the practice was evolving. “Our focus has grown more towards wealth management and financial planning over the past few years,” he says.
He also added financial advisor Philip Rosenau to the team and designed a new logo and website to better reflect the firm’s growth. Rosenau’s capabilities in the life insurance and other protection products will be of great value to the team as a whole. As such, McNamara is truly celebrating his firm’s new- found independence with gusto.
“All I care about is my clients,” McNamara says. “ When you work as an employee for any investment firm, versus an independent financial advisor, you generally don’t have as large of a product or service mix that a fully independent firm would have. Our priorities in how to devote time and energy to suit our clients’ best interest are better fulfilled within this new platform. I’ll never forget the opportunity Prudential afforded me to get started in the business and we plan on keeping them as one of our partners for risk and protection products.”
McNamara’s colleague Ricardo Ferreira, founding partner and portfolio and planning strategist, notes the move to independence did not happen overnight. In fact, years of fore-thought, discussion and planning came ahead of the switch.
“We’ve been talking about doing this for a few years,” Ferreira says. “Over the last year we really studied what our best options would be. It’s great to be in a place where you have the all the resources you need.”
“ We spent over nine months doing due diligence on all of the independent broker dealers,” McNamara says. “We looked at about five we thought would be good options, but realized some were OK and some weren’t truly independent. What we found is LPL was a great fit. We were also able to team up with a local LPL Hybrid RIA, Great Valley Advisor Group (GVA), which consists of an in-house compliance platform, a plethora of investment research technology, and a network of independent financial advisors. By joining them, it allows us to not feel like ‘a fish out of water.’”
As LPL Financial likes to say, advisors are independent, but not alone. By offering a revitalizing, personalized alternative to traditional “ Wall Street” investing, the truly independent advisors of LPL Financial, including McNamara and his team, are able to better focus on customer goals by offering unbiased, objective advice in an environment wherein professionals are expertly supported and trained.
McNamara notes, “The independent firms don’t have an ‘axe to grind’ with any particular product because they don’t make the products, therefore the flexibility is greater. I can provide other services, choices and competitive rates for clients. Also, if a client has Vanguard or TD, we are able to service that and work with it be- cause our hands aren’t tied.”
Clients are supported largely across the board by Mc- Namara Financial Group’s ability to provide such a heightened degree of honesty and straight-forwardness in their services.
“I feel like the bulk of the clients have been really excited about it,” McNamara observes. “We’ve actually picked up more assets and more accounts that we previously couldn’t service.”
“This has been a positive move for our clients,” Ferreira adds. “They realize there are more options going for ward.”
Even the McNamara Financial logo has undergone a metamorphosis. The new logo, according to McNamara, “rep- resents us looking out into the future, looking out for your money and looking out for your well-being.”
With such a genuine commitment to truthful, up-front service, the future looks bright for the independent advisors of the McNamara Financial Group.
Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Great Valley Advisor Group, a Registered In- vestment Advisor. McNamara Financial Group and Great Valley Advisor Group are separate entities from LPL Financial.
McNamara Financial Group
450 East Street, 2nd Floor Doylestown, Pa. 18901
(215) 348-3176
McNamaraFinancialGroup.com
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life Magazine, February, 2017.
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