Todd Flynn

Todd Flynn

Todd Flynn builds successful wealth management with the proper blend of inspiration and good sense.

If the proper combination of cre­ativity and prudence can create a successful wealth management firm, then CPA-turned-wealth-manager Todd Flynn might serve as a poster child for its creation and application.

Successful results are what Flynn hopes to provide for clients of his wealth management firm, Sagemark Wealth Management LLC. Currently, Sagemark has $275 million in assets under management and some 200 clients, and the firm contin­ues to grow rapidly in the face of a tempestuous financial environment.

In stormy weather, creativity and prudence are an especially valuable combination. How do these comple­mentary perspectives work together when it comes to wealth manage­ment? Via a disciplined, collaborative asset allocation approach that draws on, according to Sagemark, "the expertise of various dimensions of wealth management, including tax, estate, insurance and portfolio man­agement. Our team assists you in iden­tifying your financial goals, establish­ing a reasonable time horizon and the appropriate level of risk to achieve your goals."

The discipline and prudence that Sagemark offers clients is seemingly a hallmark of Flynn's own career. After graduating college with degrees in both accounting and finance, Flynn immediately went to work with accounting firm Martin, Bircher, Buller & Flynn, and has stayed there ever since—some 15 years.

It has always been his ambition, however, to be involved in financial advisory work as well as accounting. Flynn's father was in marketing for Texaco and his mother was a banker, and the two of them gave him an appreciation of the excitement that comes from providing interpersonal business services. For Flynn, who is a methodical but outgoing professional, the functionality of accounting always left him wanting a bit more.

"In accounting, you are paid by the hour," he points out, "and the services you can provide are limited by the kinds of regulations that are in place. Of course, you can be very good at what you do, or less so—it depends on how hard you work and what you know. But in the investing world, things seem a little bit more wide open. Your services are based at least in part on the ability to come up with the kinds of ‘best practices' that clients respond to."

Therefore, as the practice matured, Flynn began to discuss investment management services with his other partners. Eventually, it was agreed that the firm would become involved in this secondary venture—if an appro­priate partner could be found. After much searching, such a partner was identified, one that utilized the same mix of creativity and prudence that informed the partners' approach to accounting services. "We had inter­views with numerous companies," Flynn recalls, "but we felt that this one firm was very special. And one of its leading partners, Bill Schultheis, had an approach to investing that we believed was results-oriented yet inno­vative."

A partnership was formed, and the firm began offering investment man­agement in 2000. Today, a new initia­tive has brought Schultheis in-house with Flynn and his other partners. Schultheis brings some $190 million in assets, while Flynn and the others bring about $85 million, largely from the firm's accounting client base.

"Partially because of Bill," says Flynn, "we're jumping into the market­place with a critical mass that allows us to continue to serve our clients with the very best cutting-edge approaches and provides what we believe are sig­nificant advantages over time."
Schultheis' inspired yet common­sense approach to investing is a good fit for Sagemark. He has even written a book about his methods, called The Coffeehouse Investor.

Schultheis offers three principles of investing:

1. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. (Diversify into different asset classes.)
2. There is no such thing as a free lunch. (Capture the entire return of each basket, or asset class, through low-cost index funds.)
3. Save for a rainy day. (Develop a long-term financial plan.)

"Bill and I have similar philosophies," Flynn points out, "though he has a knack for simple, effective terminol­ogy. Because of my background, I might phrase it a little differently, but we get to the same place, and we're definitely on the same page."

Flynn says that the concept of wealth management has helped solid­ify Sagemark's approach. He was intro­duced to wealth management through California-based CEG Worldwide, a firm that specializes in cutting-edge research on the subject and provides coaching and training for advisors. "We understood a lot of the concepts involved in wealth management, but CEG Worldwide put them in perspec­tive for us in a way that made sense," Flynn recalls. "Everything they provide to you is based on market research and data, and it all works together to help you put it in the proper perspective for clients."

In the end, investment analysis and diversified allocation provide the pru­dence, while wealth management pro­vides the creativity. It's a combination that has worked well for Flynn person­ally and professionally, and he believes that it will work well for Sagemark's clients in the decades to come.

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