Noticing something wrong with the insurance industry back when he started out in the early 1980s, wealth manager Rick Clark started crafting out customized solutions.  He said he recalls this volatile economic period when rising insurance premiums and a lack of available coverage for several types of liability insurance led to a crisis that has been attributed, to the expansion of tort doctrines for insurer liability and the McCarran-Ferguson exemption from antitrust laws.

“The problem that I saw was that insurance companies were all about selling just their products … so it really wasn’t in the best interests of the client,” said Clark, now CEO of Clark & Associates, Inc. Financial Solutions, a full-service wealth management firm. “They only have to sell things that won’t hurt you – but that isn’t really planning, that’s just selling product.”

And while talk from Congress about instituting a uniform fiduciary standard to stop those practices cold is something Clark agrees with, it has nothing to do with his company, which is already a fiduciary. That means that Clark & Associates, Inc. has undertaken to act for and on behalf of another in a particular matter in circumstances which give rise to a relationship of trust and confidence. “We provide a variety of services, and the client ultimately chooses which are suitable, using our guidance and expertise,” advised Clark. 

The Reston, VA. Based firm provides retirement income strategies, wealth accumulation, asset protection, annuities, life insurance, tax minimization and long-term care, as well as IRA and 401k rollover services. “Clients are typically in the ‘50 to 80’ age range and have, as a bare minimum, $100,000 to invest, although most have more than $250,000 and even that floor is set to rise to $400,000 soon,” Clark said.

Clark said his firm puts clients first by crafting customized solutions for individual portfolios – the old 1950s portfolio management theory simply does not work anymore – and by investigating alternative investments for riding out down markets. Clark & Associates, Inc. also stays in contact with clients and takes a proactive approach toward unforeseen events, such as a death in the family. He added that his clients lost an average of 1 percent or less from their portfolios during the last down market, a much better outcome than clients of even the largest firms.

“Anyone can make money when the market is up, but when the market goes down, then you know if your advisor knows what he’s doing,” Clark said.

For more information visit: www.clarkfinancialplanning.com