Biography

I am a general securities Registered Investment Advisor (1995) and am licensed to engage in the business of advising others as to the value of securities and as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing or selling securities, as defined by the Investment Advisors Act of 1940.

I was born in 1950 and have a BA in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (1976). I have been an investor for over 30 years and an Investment Advisor since 1995. I am active in my community and have lived in California for the last 15 years. I am an active member of the International Association of Financial Planners and the American Association of Individual Investors.

I started by working to become a floor broker at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for a local brokerage firm. I became their broker in the Japanese Yen and served to execute arbitrage positions for a large New York bank. I left the exchange to join the marketing effort by Texas Instruments in the emerging microcomputer market. I joined the Victor Company of Japan (JVC) and for the next 10 years learned and practiced Japanese management techniques. Today I use many of these management techniques in my practice.

Most of my clients are individuals. However, I will also advise pension plans, trusts and estates, banks, charitable organizations and other businesses. I give advice on (but do not necessarily recommend) all types of securities, ranging from general securities to commodity futures. I perform my own fundamental security analysis. My main sources of financial information are corporate annual reports, corporate press releases, corporate rating services, research materials prepared by others, financial newspapers and magazines.

My wife, Lettie, is a graduate from the University of Texas and holds licenses as a Series 27 (Financial Operations Principal), Series 7 (General Securities Registered Representative) and a Series 63 (Uniform Securities Agent/State Law). For Pivan Engineering Company she provides all of the compliance reports, which are filed with the regulatory agencies. She also manages all of the accounting required by the company’s CPA. She is an invaluable resource and one that all clients should know.