Honoring Advisors Who Serve(d): July 4th, 2013

Service Dates: 1977-1999

Work you did: Aircraft Maintenance, then Medical Logistics

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I was nearing the end of my first enlistment and was unsure about re-enlisting. My NCIOC, whom I really didn’t think much of, told me to write down the pros and cons of both staying in and getting out. Once I did that, I became a “lifer.”

Name: James Schwartz

Title/Company: Senior Advisor — Strategic Wealth Advisors

Branch: U.S. Air Force

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: 2nd Lt to Captain

Service Dates: 1985-1997

Work you did: A-10 and F-16 Fighter Pilot

Brief story that stands out from your service time: The first year in the USAF was spent in pilot training near Del Rio, Texas. While learning to fly the T-37, student pilots must become proficient in acrobatics, including loops, barrel rolls and split-S’s. The split-S is a maneuver where the pilot rolls the jet upside down then pulls back on the stick forcing the jet to fly straight down then continue to a level flight path heading the opposite direction (think of the second half of a loop). As I went through my split-S maneuver and the nose of the aircraft was going straight down toward the earth, my instructor, sitting to my right, said, “Jim, you better pull a little harder.”

And so I did—probably a little too quickly and a little too hard. The G’s (acceleration one feels on their body at the bottom of a roller coaster) increased from zero to 3, then 4, and finally 5. At 5 G’s a 150-pound person weighs 750 pounds! Well, my instructor wasn’t prepared for such a quick transition to 5 G’s and he passed out! I finished my split-S back to level flight but it took my instructor some time to regain consciousness and figure out where he was (later he divulged to me that when he came to he thought we had crashed). At this point the flight was over (due to the loss of consciousness episode) and I flew him back to the base where after two days he was back in the saddle. As I look back at that incident, as a new student pilot, I have to say I was a little scared when I realized my instructor (the person I counted on to be there when I screwed up) had lost consciousness and it was up to me to bring him home. Name: Robert S. Peterson

Title/Company: Vice President, Investments — Raymond James & Associates

Branch: U.S. Army

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: Pvt. to Sergeant

Service Dates: 1970-1973

Work you did: Military Intelligence, Linguist

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I was trained as an interrogator and a linguist in Laotian. I spent most of my time teaching English to foreign nationals.

Name: Bill Gross

Title/Company: PIMCO - founder and co-chief investment officer

Branch: U.S. Navy

Rank held at beginning of service and at end: LT JG – Lieutenant, Junior Grade

Service Dates:  1967 – 1970

Work you did: N/A

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I arrived at the Pensacola Naval Air Station ready to fulfill my enlistment and ready to become a fighter pilot. And like all raw recruits, we were put in the capable hands of a drill sergeant. Remember, the drill sergeant’s duty is to humiliate and harass us to the breaking point and beyond. And me, the cocky college boy, was so shaken by the experience that it was one of the military moments I remember most vividly. I spent half the night cleaning my rifle, and failing the inspections nonetheless. It took me so long to make up my bunk to my sergeant’s specifications that I slept on the floor. I did push-ups and chin-ups and marched and ran obstacle courses but my sergeant was never satisfied. “You’ll never fly a jet Mr. Gross!,” he screamed. “BLIMPS are more your style!” I ended up flying neither.

Meredith Schneider

Title/Company: Principal — Schneider Wealth Management

Branch/Rank: US Army – 2nd Lt through Captain

Service Dates: June ’92 – Aug. ’96

Work you did: Platoon Leader, Maintenance Officer, S-1, Civil Affairs Officer

Brief story that stands out from your service time: I am honored to have had the opportunity to meet so many people from all over the country who served with great dedication. I will never forget the “Any Solider” letters we received while in Bosnia. Some days they were the only link to life outside of our tents since we had no phone, television, newspaper, Internet, and often no mail from loved ones. I remember a letter in particular from a young boy in Rhode Island who wrote in reply to a letter I wrote back to him. He wrote, “Receiving your letter was the happiest day of my life.” Little did he know how happy I was to receive his letter of support.

Harold Evensky

One of the few people in the advisor community who is identified by one name, like a Brazilian soccer player, Evensky is the chairman and cofounder of the wealth management firm of Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. He is the author of numerous books, is now an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University and among his honors has been membership of the IA25. But Harold is also a veteran, serving in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army as a Captain from 1968-1971.

Joni Youngwirth

Folks from Commonwealth Financial Network know Youngwirth quite well, as do other advisors who have benefited from her practice management knowledge delivered in speeches at national conferences, or who have read some of her prescriptions in the pages of Investment Advisor, for instance. 

They may know of her practical, disciplined bent when it comes to practice management, but what they may not know is that this partner to advisors previously served with the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of first lieutenant.

Youngwirth is Commonwealth Financial Network’s managing principal, practice management, and a regular contributor to Investment Advisor.

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Check out previous Advisors Who Serve(d) installments from 2011 and 2012 for Memorial Day and Fourth of July.

We know there are more of you out there who served, so please consider adding your name and story to the growing list of Advisors Who Serve(d) by filling out this simple questionnaire at AdvisorOne.