Omar Qureshi CIMA®, CPWA With Hightower Wealth Advisors | St. Louis

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Saint Louis, Missouri. It’s time for Saint Louis Business radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Saint Louis Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Omar Qureshi. He is the managing partner and investment strategist with Hightower Wealth Advisors, Saint Louis. Welcome.

Omar Qureshi: Thanks, Lee. Thanks for having me on the show. Great to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Hightower. How are you serving, folks?

Omar Qureshi: Yeah. So at Hightower, put most simply, you know, we really help clients simplify the complexities of wealth. So I often tell people that, you know, if you don’t have any money, you always think that having money would make your life a lot easier. And in reality, the opposite is true that the more more wealth you accumulate, the more challenges and the more things that you have to deal with. And that’s where we come in to basically help our clients who are high net worth or ultra high net worth clients. So that means, you know, net worths of 5 million plus help, you know, navigate through all those complexities of wealth.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? Do you mind sharing a little bit about your journey? How you got here?

Omar Qureshi: Yeah, yeah. Love, love to share this. You know, I’m going to go all the way back to the early 1980s. I was given a mac two computer by my parents for Christmas, and that started me on a love affair of technology, and it was just something that always interested me. I have a very active mind. I get bored easily. And so technology was one of those things that, you know, you can hardly get bored or you can hardly master. And you know, when you fast forward into the 1990s, of course, it was the first of the internet revolution and the internet boom and the dotcom, you know, boom and bust. And, you know, a lot of the companies that were making a lot of money in the stock market, I was very familiar with from my kind of tech interests. So I started trading stocks, actually, in my dad’s pension account. We did it together, and I read the Wall Street Journal, and that’s when I sort of discovered the stock market. And, you know, yet another thing that kind of changes every day and you can never really master. So I’ve always had kind of a finger in both pots, but when I graduated from college, I was, believe it or not, fixing computers for a company on the weekends, really for for kind of beer money. It happened to be a financial services firm, and at the end of the summer, when I’d done all my computer related projects, they kind of knew I wanted to get into the financial side of the world, and they offered me a job. And so that company is actually one of the predecessor companies of Hightower. So I’ve been there 25 years. So short version is I started by fixing computers on the weekend at this company, and now I’m the managing partner.

Lee Kantor: So that’s the modern version of the mailroom is the. Yeah.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah, exactly. I guess so, I guess so.

Lee Kantor: So, um, your clients you mentioned are high net worth. Are they coming to you? Um, because they’ve tried to do this on their own, and then now they’re like, hey, this is getting too complicated, or I’m missing things. I need an expert. Or are they coming to you from maybe another wealth advisor who is just maybe not as attentive?

Omar Qureshi: Yeah, I think it’s a mixture of both. You know, I think and by the way, this answer is going to be different based on the different generations. So, you know, the meat of our clientele are boomers, and boomers generally tend to be delegators. So, you know, they’re happy to basically pay somebody like us to help manage their financial affairs. That’s that’s not as true for the younger generations who want a much more active part. But I think what I found true across all generations is when you get enough money, when you accumulate enough money, you start to realize, man, this is this is serious. And I can’t screw this up because there’s a lot at stake. And I think that’s where people reach out for help. Or, you know, they can do the basic stuff on their own. But when it gets to taxes or estate planning or more complicated investment strategies or corporate benefits, they think, you know, I have no idea what I’m doing, and I don’t have the time to learn to deal with this. And you know, and that’s where we see a lot of demand. Um, we do, you know, we do pick up new clients from from other advisors. Um, you know, in the Saint Louis market in particular, it’s an incredibly fragmented market. So there’s tons and tons and tons of people who call themselves some version of me. Right? Um, but there’s a lot of, uh, divergence in terms of what services they’re actually providing people. So I think the end consumer has a hard time differentiating how these firms might be different and might support their needs better or worse than others. Um, and so, you know, oftentimes we see people who’ve had bad experiences or they just feel like they’re not getting the attention or the services or the depth of knowledge for their particular situations. And that’s when they look to, uh, to make a move.

Lee Kantor: Now, you know, when there’s a bull market, everybody’s system works or seems to work. It’s just a matter of degree. When it gets a little more chaotic and a little more volatile. Um, that’s where I think a professional comes in handy. Um, what advice would you give maybe that person who’s on their own right now and everything seems it looks like they’ve got everything figured out, but as volatility and chaos ensues, possibly, uh, you know, things might change. Is there any advice you would give someone who doesn’t have a wealth advisor right now? You know, maybe some of the trade offs that they’re not maybe taking into account.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah, yeah. No, I love this question. I think it’s a very timely question with the amount of uncertainty that we’re currently facing as a country. Uh, which, by the way, is manifesting itself in the markets and generally not in a good way. Um, to your point, you know, markets have been very, very Be positive. Over the last handful of years, they’ve actually returned, you know, roughly two and a half times the average return for the last two years, which is to say, people have made a lot of money. Um, and you know what? What I’ve personally seen across not our clients, but but, you know, maybe new clients and even folks outside is that they’re taking on a considerable amount of risk, and they may have outearned the market that two and a half times return because they’re just taking so much additional risk. And it makes you look brilliant when it’s happening and things are going your way. The problem is, as you said, when things are going down, that level of risk has an equal impact, but this time to the downside. So the first thing I said. And I think a lot of this started, you know, during Covid where people more so than ever started viewing things like the stock market as sort of like a hobby as a casino.

Omar Qureshi: So we’re seeing people, you know, whether it’s cryptocurrencies, whether it’s, you know, options, strategies and a subset of that called zero days to expiration, zero RT options, leveraged funds, which are, you know, goosing up the returns. There’s a there’s a ton of people using all of this stuff, and I fear that they don’t really understand what’s going to happen when things go the other way. So my my advice to anybody today, um, is, you know, know your risk, know what you own, figure out what you can afford to lose and rightsize your holdings to to match that. Because I think we’re in for a period of time where there’s, you know, a shakeup of sort of the global world order that we’ve known for 40 years. That’s all happening very fast. Uh, you know, obviously that coming out of Washington today, for sure. Um, and, and that always puts, you know, markets at risk. So I think it’s a great time. If you have gains, know what you own, know what the risk is rightsize those things before it’s too late.

Lee Kantor: Now do you see any impact on the prevalence of gambling in in sports and where it just they’re, they’re making it seem like this is almost like an investment strategy and you’re bombarded with opportunities to literally in real time make bets. Is that does that positively or impact your industry in the wealth industry, especially with young people.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah. So so I haven’t I haven’t seen a huge impact directly of that. But but where I think there’s certainly parallels is that mindset, that mindset of oh I’ll, you know, put some money down and I may get paid 5 to 1 or 10 to 1 if it hits. People are treating the stock market that way also. Um, and that’s where I think you get into trouble. Um, you know, sports gambling has obviously become very popular as states look to collect more tax revenue, right? Ultimately, that’s why a lot of this stuff gets approved. And, you know, it’s just like Vegas. Uh, if you think you have better odds than the house, you know, think again because you don’t. Uh, the house is always going to win. Um, that’s I would make that same statement. If you’re treating the stock market as a gambling venture rather than an investing game investing approach. You know, for participating in sort of the longer term fortunes of good companies, you know, in the market.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I just I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of young people and they just spend so much time and energy in their mind that they’re they think they’re, you know, planning for their future by, you know, studying, you know, football lineups. And they could be taking that same money and just using the power of compounding that is going to have a better chance of success. Um, it just I just think the younger people especially are equating what that is and what you do as similar. And I don’t think they’re similar at all.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah. I think, you know, to your to your point, I totally agree. And I think, um, they’re viewing the stock market though like the casino as well, that. Oh, I can just make these big bets get paid off and I’m going to get rich this way. So that’s the commonality is there’s this notion amongst younger folks that they can make these insane bets and make huge upside and somehow become rich from that, where that that is not going to work. You know, maybe a handful of people are lucky enough where that works, and then there’s going to be millions of people where that doesn’t work versus the tried and true method. To your point of saving regularly, investing in a good portfolio, letting the markets do its thing, compounding wealth over time. Um, that’s a much higher probability to create wealth. And when, by the way, you look across all of our clients at Hightower, um, that’s how they all made their money. Uh, they didn’t gamble their way to good fortune. Um, they worked hard. They started businesses. They saved a lot. They invested wisely. And that’s that’s why they’re in the positions that they are today.

Lee Kantor: Now let’s talk a little bit about kind of maybe the mindset of your clients as they go through the different stages of their life. You know, when they’re younger, you know, obviously they’re trying to accumulate wealth. So they’re investing regularly, like you said. But when they get to be of a certain age there, there comes a period where they have to accumulate. And that might be challenging for some people who spent their whole life saving. And all of a sudden they’re like, well, I don’t have money formally coming in anymore. And now I’m taking this out. How do I come up with a good, you know, accumulation plan that feels safe and comfortable and will, you know, keep me, uh, having money throughout my entire life because I don’t know when it’s going to end. There’s a lot of unknowns when you get older and you’re in the accumulation phase.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah, yeah, it’s a good question. And I’ll approach this from, from a couple of different aspects. I want to start with, you know, kind of client psychology first, as that has a huge impact on clients in these different phases. And so, you know, the question I ask, you know, new folks who come into our office to learn about what we do, I always ask them the question of, you know, tell me about your experience with money, uh, before you were 16 years old. You know, tell me about your family. Did you have money? Did you not have money? Did your parents resent people who had money? Did you not have a lot, but, you know, acted like you had plenty. You know, tell me all of those kinds of stories about your childhood. And I’ve heard everything from people’s, you know, father going to jail and, you know, all sorts of stories that come out of that. The reason why I asked that is because your relationship with money is imprinted in your brain by the time you’re 16, and so all of the, you know, coping mechanisms or habits or feelings about money or relationships with money, those are all determined by those formative years. Okay. And so as you as you think about, you know, somebody who’s retiring, for example, and needs to switch from taking, you know, for adding money to the portfolio to taking money out of the portfolio.

Omar Qureshi: Well, imagine if their childhood, they didn’t have any money, their parents just scraped by, saved every nickel, didn’t waste a dime on anything, you know, were completely frugal. Well, imagine what happens to that person when they’re at retirement. It it is like it’s worse than pulling teeth to get them to take money out of their portfolios to live. Because they are not wired to do that. And so it’s part of what we do, one, to elucidate these kind of thoughts around money and bring them out, because a lot of people don’t think about this stuff. Uh, you know, more often than not, but then also help them kind of cope with this fact of this is why you accumulated all this money was to retire and eventually, you know, take, take money out. So, um, it’s a very emotional time for clients in that retirement phase, right? They they sort of question who they are. A lot of their friends typically are coworkers that you don’t really hang out with those coworkers after retirement anymore, and you don’t have something to fill your day anymore, right? Of going to the office or whatever. Um, so so it’s a big change and money is obviously a big a big part of that.

Omar Qureshi: Um, and so what we do is try and help clients, you know, through those phases. A lot of it is, um, you know, planning way ahead of time. Um, so, so when you mentioned kind of accumulation versus accumulation, we we map that out and we constantly are planning and incorporating new facts and figures and goals into that client’s plan and then presenting them to say, hey, you’re on track for this or you’re going to, you know, you have a great, great probability of this all working out exactly as you want to. So reassuring them along the way. Um, is very important and I would say a good advisor in our industry. Um, you know, even though we’re known for investing people’s money as sort of the primary thing we do. The best people in this industry are going to be the ones who insist on planning first, and then figuring out the investments in the context of that plan. I would I would tell people, if you’re if you’re quote unquote advisor is just talking about investments, and that’s the only conversation you have, you’re missing out on a much richer picture of of planning for your future and taking advantage of a lot of strategies.

Lee Kantor: Now, why don’t you share a little bit about what it’s like working with your firm? Um, when a person, you know, raises their hand and says, Omar, I’m ready. Um, can you talk about what it’s like when you onboard them and what the regular kind of rhythm of your conversations are with your clients? So, so the listener can get an idea of what it’s like. Um, you know, to be working with your team.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I’ll mention, first and foremost, uh, we are a very high touch service, uh, firm. Um, you know, we want our clients to be welcomed and taken care of in every single way we possibly can. Um, you know, even down to the phone, we don’t have phone trees. You don’t have to dial one for an operator. We just answer the phone. We want people to appreciate working with us and and feel like they’re really, uh, a part of our family and vice versa. And that they’re very well taken care of. And and by the way, our clients are high net worth clients. And so they, they expect that that high touch service as well to a large degree. So, you know, the interactions with a new client will always start with us getting to know you as a person and then getting to know you on paper. Um, you know, and that’s a little bit of an x ray, a little bit like a doctor’s office when you have to fill out way too much stuff. We ask for a lot of information up front, um, so that we really have a full picture of your situation. So things like taxes and insurance documents and, you know, wills or trusts and investments and corporate benefits and, you know, all of the various things that you might have. Um, and we’re going to sift through all of that, and we’re going to put together a presentation where, uh, at no cost, we kind of give you a high level thoughts of their situation. And here’s what we see.

Omar Qureshi: That’s good. Here’s some deficiencies. Here are some things we might recommend. We’re going to tell them essentially a roadmap of what we might do for them if they choose to work with us. And again we do that at no cost. Um, up front. Then they get to decide, hey, is this going to bring value to my situation? Um, is this firm going to help me achieve my goals? Um, and then if they sort of, you know, decide to move forward from that and become a client, then we moved into the implementation implementation phase. Um, you know, where we’re going to start doing the recommendations, get more specific, more detail oriented around a lot of the different things. Um, you know, and that, that honestly that that phase could, depending on a client’s complexity, could take up to a year, right, to, to to get everything in tip top shape. Um, and then we moved to an ongoing cadence of reviews and education, uh, with the client to make sure that they’re on track. You know, if the markets have changed or tax laws have changed, or if something in their lives have changed, we obviously want to know about that. Um, and again, that education piece is making sure that they’re up to speed about all of the things happening in the world that might impact them. We also do things like family meetings. So you mentioned, you know, getting into the decumulation phase and then eventually getting older. You know, what we find is that after a certain number of years after retirement and the client becomes kind of comfortable being in that retirement phase, they kind of, you know, graduate to this next phase, which I’d call legacy.

Omar Qureshi: And that’s basically asking them, you know, or themselves asking the question, what what’s going to happen to my wealth when I’m gone? Who’s it going to go to? Who’s going to be in charge of it? Am I going to leave any money to charities? What are the restrictions in place? And they have this legacy mindset to want to really focus on on all of those types of issues. What I will say. That’s true of the boomer generation. That’s not at all true, say, of the Silent generation is boomers don’t want to be a burden to their children, whereas the Silent generation, you know, went out of their way to make sure they didn’t tell their kids anything about anything. And it was sort of like, figure it out after I pass away. Boomers generally don’t want to do that. They want to have everything buttoned up. And even when they’re gone from this earth, everything is in good order and it’s easy for their kids to handle. So we do family meetings, for example, where we’ll bring in their children and we’ll educate the family about the parents situation. What do they need to know? Who do they need to call? How are things set up? What’s the intent? What’s the sort of value system of the parents that they want to, you know, pass along as well. Um, so that’s that’s kind of the end part of that, that cycle.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or the team, what is the best way to connect with the website?

Omar Qureshi: Yeah, our website is just ww dot Hightower s t l.com. Um, or they can email me directly. I’m just Omar at Hightower stl.com.

Lee Kantor: Well Omar, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Omar Qureshi: Yeah. Thanks, Lee. Thanks for the opportunity to be on the show today.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Saint Louis Business Radio.