About David M. Anthony, CFP®, RMA®

Hi, I’m Dave Anthony and welcome to my blog!

This site is serves as a bridge between my professional and family life. It highlights my investment management portfolios and financial planning and retirement income strategies, and provides a small glimpse into my life outside of work. The site is designed for clients, friends, and those who are interested in the work that I do, but want to find out a little bit me and my thought process first.

Granted, most people who come here  usually know a little bit me, but if you don’t, here’s a quick update of my background.

•  I grew up in small town in northern Utah called North Logan. It is just “North” of Logan.
• There were six kids in my family, and I was right in the middle. Starting in the 6th grade, I began to pay for all of my own expenses. Well, maybe not all of my expenses, but if wanted to eat “hot lunch” at school, buy school clothes, or play football, I paid for it myself. I had jobs picking raspberries, delivering papers, making donuts at 4:00 AM at the local donut shop, bagging groceries, all sorts of things. This helped instill in me the importance of working hard, and thinking twice before you spend money.
  

  Men’s DII rugby league game–go Marauders!

• After my freshman year at Utah State, I lived for two years in Mendoza,  Argentina,  which has since  proven to  be a key pivot point in my life. Living with and serving the Argentine people was really my first glimpse into seeing the powerful blessings or tragic consequences that sound financial strategies (or lack thereof) can have on individuals, families, and a nation.
• When I was trying to decide my major in college, I remember thinking about why I was attending in the first place. I wanted to learn a skill set to be able to make more money than I was currently making. I paid for my own way through college by selling pest control door to door in the Summer, and waiting tables during the school year,  and I thought that if I was going to spend all of this time trying to make money, then I wanted to better understand how money works, and make it work for me!
• During the late 90’s, the .com bubble was in full swing and  I remember buying my first shares of stock from a local computer manufacturing company called Iomega. I saved up enough money to buy 500 shares of stock, and I made $1,000 on my first trade ever. Sweet! I set my sights on learning everything I could about the stock market, and with a couple of buddies we unofficially formed the “USU day trading club.” Good times indeed!
  

  Canyoneering down Cascade Creek, Ouray, CO.

• After graduating with a BA in Finance and a minor in Personal Financial Planning, & Economics, I got a job on Wall Street as a “proprietary equity trader.” When I moved out to New York, people would always say that it must be a real shock for me, a Utah kid, to be in the city. “No” I’d reply, “The bigger shock is when people from New York City move to Utah!” Ha!
• Working as an equity trader was like a dream come true, the only problem was it coincided with the the crashing of the tech bubble in 2000. I’ll talk more about this in later posts, but as a young 20 something, right out of college, it was absolutely incredible to see how this part of Wall Street worked. I remember sitting next to traders, young guys like me, and we’d got out to lunch and they would already be up $30,000 to $50,000 – by lunchtime! That was big money. Unfortunately, when the market turned, these same traders were then down in their accounts $2-$3 million dollars, and it was only February. OUCH!

• My experience on Wall Street helped shape the foundation for the FBIAS™ Fact Based Investment Allocation Strategies that I use in the portfolios at Anthony Capital, and specifically the importance of not trying to “predict” the market. The core beliefs that we follow at Anthony Capital are:

 

1. We don’t know where the market will go, and neither does anyone else
2. Wherever the market goes, it will get there by trending
3. Along the way, there will be out-performers and under-performers

• After stints at Merrill Lynch and UBS, I decided to start my own money management company, Anthony Capital, LLC, and became a Registered Investment Advisor. Along the way I’ve received several advanced financial planning and investment management designations including:  Certified Financial Planner™, Certified Financial Manager, and Boston University’s Retirement Management Analyst program.

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“It is not what you know that gets you in trouble, it what you know for sure is not true.”  Mark Twain

Over the past 17 years that I’ve been actively involved in the capital markets, I’ve seen first hand the impact that safe, secure, and smart financial planning and investment decisions can have on someone’s life, and on the life of those around them.

I’ve also seen the consequences of bad financial planning and poor investment decisions. Unfortunately,  when I’m reviewing a plan with a client and these topics come up, their answer are always the same:

“I wish I would have known!”

This reminds me of the famous line from John Whittier’s poem Maud Muller, “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!'”

It doesn’t have to be that way!

It sounds cheesy, but this is why I do what I do–to help people. I firmly believe that you can take control of your own financial future. You can make small changes now and incorporate some basic financial planning and investment management strategies and it will make all of the difference. After all, a wise father once told his son:

“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”

Small things like:

1. Making sure your investment accounts are set up in such a way to minimize unnecessary fees and expenses that act as a drag on your portfolio and eat away from your returns.
2. Investing in a tax-efficient and proficient manner.
3. Following a comprehensive financial plan that integrates all things in your financial life.
4. Having an investment policy plan in place with a proven track record to help you profit when times are good, and protect profits when times are bad.

So that’s a little bit more about me and my background. Thanks for checking out my blog, and I hope that my expertise is helpful to readers of this blog. If it is, then spread the word!

Best regards,

 

David M. Anthony, CFP®, RMA

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Where my Work has Been Featured

It is great to know that my passion for helping people with their financial decisions can make a difference. Here’s just a few places that I’ve been featured: