Following a feature this week about how former military personnel can thrive in wealth management, here is an account from a former Navy man about making the transition.

Earlier this week, this publication carried a feature about the trend of former military personnel finding fulfilling careers in the very different path of wealth management. The editorial team here have been inundated with a number of personal stories that would have overwhelmed a single article, so we decided to continue running accounts that we think shed further light on this area and which will stimulate readers. FWR is keen to hear from others who might have come into the wealth industry from unusual or very different backgrounds to a conventional financial route. Email tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com and robbie.lawther@clearviewpublishing.com

The following account is from Scott Morris, who has served in the US Navy (1995 – 2003) and who is now a senior financial advisor working at International Assets Advisory. Here is his story.

My military career began in the early nineties a few years before I enlisted.  I grew up in a single parent home where my mom, a high school dropout at age 15, tried to raise my brother and me despite being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. My biological father was gone but that didn’t stop his older brother from stepping in from time to time and trying to make up the difference.  He flew me out to the coast at age 13 and I fell in love with the Pacific Ocean, one of the most powerful experiences of my childhood.  Over the next couple years my uncle also flew me to the east coast where I could experience the Atlantic Ocean too. The biggest challenge that I faced as a boy in the mid-west always revolved around money. I grew up in the welfare system and if I was going to experience the world and be near the ocean, I had to plan.

On June 13, 1995, with my mother’s permission, I enlisted into the United States Navy. During the course of the next year, while on inactive reserve, I began preparing for the medical field. My rate was already selected and I was to become a hospital corpsman. Three days following my high school graduation I hopped on a plane and headed for a Naval bootcamp at Great Lakes, near Chicago. Upon my successful completion I was quickly transferred to San Diego where at Naval Hospital Balboa, I began to learn my job. It was November of 1996 before I was transferred to FMSS, a school that not only taught me combat medicine but also taught me how to kill like a Marine.

February 1997 arrived and I received my first orders, they took me to Okinawa. While at Okinawa I was attached to the 3rd Field Service Support Group. This was a one-year tour that provided me with exposure to everything from emergency medicine, to jungle navigation. I survived extreme weather, language barriers, and homesickness before coming back stateside with the 1st Marine Division and Camp Pendleton.  

While at 1st Marine Division I received a meritorious promotion to petty officer 3rd class and was awarded several medals and awards for my service. I also faced a crossroad.  My active obligation to the service was coming to an end.  I had an option to take orders with a shore unit at Camp Pendleton or seek orders elsewhere. I chose to sign orders and extend my obligation to go to Hawaii.

Four months after moving to Oahu and settling in to Naval Medical Clinic Pearl Harbor I was married.  The next year my wife Sarah and I were greeted by our baby girl Mercedes. Her birth would set off a series of events that would change our lives and take us in a different direction. I was promoted to petty officer second class, and after five years I was already at retirement rank, a great foundation for a long military career, then 9/11. We received a call from the mainland when the towers were hit. I was chief of emergency medicine by that time and had to spring into action. I helped lock down our base and coordinated efforts for the Pacific Rim commands. Four days later and contingency plans in place I was able to see my wife and daughter.

Sarah and I spoke and we knew that given the circumstances, we just weren’t going to survive the demands of the military as a family. I submitted my request to separate from active duty three months early to attend college. Following the approval, I was able to enroll in the winter/spring semester and start school the following January with a declared major of chemistry/pre-med. I was working full time while in school and maintaining the honor roll. I graduated with my associates in chemistry and transferred to the University of Missouri Columbia. This was one of the lows I overcame, but not without its challenges. I was still working full time and attending school' Sarah was working full time as a teacher and going to graduate school when our son Skyler was born premature. That experience forced me to re-examine things and I decided to transfer to a smaller institution closer so that I could be home more. I transferred to Central Methodist University and changed my major to physics (I thought the course load was easier) and averaged 20 hours a semester so that I could still graduate in a timely manner, and maintain the dean's list.  I didn’t have a great plan yet but decided at graduation to help an old friend out and teach H.S. science for a couple of years.

I had been teaching science when my mother-n-law passed away at age 62 with leukemia, it sent shock waves through our family. I decided to step away from the class room and I took a nine-month unpaid internship with a wealth management firm. Despite it almost ending my marriage, I knew that this is where I belonged. The branch where I worked had gone through three managers, and at the end of the internship I walked away. Something didn’t feel right.  I then signed a contract to work at another firm as an employee, and I learned as much as I could over the next five years. I wasn’t a great employee, I struggled doing things “their” way, and I was tired of lining the pockets of the general partners when they weren’t doing what was optimal for clients.  It was time to move on.

In September 2015 I left them and evaluated where I was and where I wanted to be. When I was in healthcare, I provided a service that people needed and in emergency situations didn’t have much of a choice. When I moved into academia I provided an education to people who needed it and really only needed it to fill a requirement, they didn’t want to be there.  Finance is different, it gave me a chance to provide a service to not only people who need it but they want it and seek it out.

I have been in service of others my entire adult life, even as a child I served the needs of my disabled mother. The medical training I received set the stage for the confidential information that I would handle, it has carried through to student records and now to the information specific to my clients.

When it comes to “battlefield strategies” or even “medical emergencies” you have to put things into perspective and not just your own. I ask a lot of people how many sides are on a stop sign, almost 100 per cent will say eight because it is an octagon, but may forget about the front and the back, I say there are ten… its perspective.  When you examine strategy, you have to consider as many perspectives of the “enemy” as possible, that’s why chess champions are always 30 moves ahead. In finance we have enemies too, inflation, taxes, market risk, and lack of education. My main goal is understanding perspective so that I can meet expectations.

The most difficult issue for the transition is accepting the freedom.  When in the military you have an objective, one that can be accomplished when you stay within the rules of engagement.  I was successful because I thought outside the box and accomplished the needs of the command and my country, that’s why I had a lot of medals to adorn my dress, I didn’t set out to get recognition, it just happened because I was going above and beyond.  

I have more lateral opportunities in a free market that give me comfort knowing that I can truly service all of the client needs, full service, that positions me beyond some of my peers and competition. The easiest thing is what to wear - I don’t have a uniform any more and I can be more expressive of my personality.

I think that veterans can add value to any company, financially. It just has to be a good fit. Some companies want a military vet who stays within the lines and does it their way, and there are some robots out there, that's not me though. Some companies want structure and accountability. Some companies are seeking vets who have overcome adversity and don’t quit. Every situation is different.

My advice begins with a self-evaluation, and I would expect them to know who they are and what limitations they face. Then I would seek out professionals in counsel, finding out the company structure.  I would also get market education so that the employment can support a lifestyle. There are some jobs you just simply want to avoid because of location. I would tell them to think outside the box - if they don’t they will never get out of the cubical. I would also tell them to take courses in etiquette, there is nothing more embarrassing then attending a professional dinner and watching people who don’t know how to hold a fork, eat too fast and are messy, as well as talk with food in their mouth.