Waddell’s ideals centered on consistency, honesty

Profile in Emphasis on Financial Services for The Memphis Daily News

March 2, 2013

At a recent appearance in Nashville before an audience of 100 clients, friends and employees at the Country Music Hall of Fame, David Waddell of Waddell & Associates Inc. gave his company’s annual state of the union address.

He did the same Thursday, Feb. 28, in Memphis for a crowd of 300 at the FedEx Institute of Technology.

By his own admission, the financial planning firm of Waddell & Associates is “stronger than it’s ever been, and we’ve always been strong.”

The company, begun by his father in 1986 and taken over by Waddell in 2002, builds its business around three components: customized financial planning, providing investment management services on a discretionary basis and a process of dynamic communication to keep clients informed and involved.

And throughout it all, Waddell promotes a consistency in clients’ relationships and in the way assets are managed. To that end, the personal assets of Waddell, his employees and the business – a total of $30 million – are managed right alongside and in the same investment models as the $700 million total assets the firm manages.

Waddell attributes much of the company’s success, as he trumpeted in Nashville, to his team, saying “we have CPAs, CFPs and lawyers on staff, so we bring a lot of artillery to the table to do personal financial planning work.”

He makes a point to mention recent additions to personnel, including new chief operating officer Dawn Rapoport and the Nashville office managing director Corey Napier … (read more)