Brendan+ founded Ross Asset Advisors to level the playing field for individual investors by bringing them the knowledge and skills that have previously been the domain of large institutions. Investors need crystal clear, unbiased, bankable advice – a rare commodity in a noisy industry. They also need to hear it from the horse’s mouth – and Brendan works personally with all of his clients.
Brendan graduated from Brown University with a double major in Economics and Sociology. He received Magna and Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded Honors in Sociology.
Brendan began his career at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman), where he worked for a variety of clients including United Airlines, Bank of America, and AOL. He left Mercer to join MediaOne’s newly formed Strategy Group.
Brendan was an early employee of blogging community Xanga.com. He then joined Ticketmaster where he lead a team of Product Managers in the development of web-based products including the Sports TicketExchange, now used by 54 NBA, NHL, and NFL teams.
CEO of ReserveAmerica and Fanfare Media Works
Brendan has run a number of companies prior to founding Ross Asset Advisors, including ReserveAmerica, where as President he grew revenue from $20 to $28 million. ReserveAmerica is the world’s largest outdoor recreation reservation company, employing 600 people across North America.
Fanfare Media Works, where Brendan was President & CEO, is the largest provider of in-supermarket advertising on register tape and shopping carts, generating $60 million in annual revenue from a team of 400 employees and over 500 independent contractors. At Fanfare, Brendan led a private equity backed turnaround, recapitalizing the company after only 6 months.
After running this second, successful turnaround, Brendan took a break to focus on managing his assets – and found his true calling.
Ross Asset Advisors was born of the many requests he received from friends and former colleagues to improve their investment results and bring long-term vision to their efforts.
Brendan’s leadership style has always been based on honest conversation, careful listening, and earning the respect of those around him. His belief in the importance of candor and intellectual honesty has always garnered him the support of employees, customers, and suppliers.
Interview with Brendan
Q: What first sparked your interest in investing?
A: My high school offered a course in Economics, and part of the curriculum included a stock-picking contest. Even at that age I understood that stock-picking was gambling, and that if I wanted to beat all 30 students I had to make a moon shot. Unlike in real life, there was no prize for second place. I bet the whole portfolio on an airline in the throes of a hideous reorganization that had the lowest P/E ratio I could find. The stock leaped up, and I won. I remember very clearly being fascinated that my peers attributed to my intelligence what I knew to be mostly luck.
Q: When did you first take your own investing seriously?
A: My wife and I were among the “brilliant” people who bought real estate in Los Angeles some time ago. When we sold our house we turned $400K into $800K. I was young and had $400K in the bank. This was an extraordinary stroke of good fortune, and I was determined to capitalize properly on this luck. After rejecting conventional portfolios as too risky, I developed my high-yield, high-quality fixed income philosophy, and I continued to enjoy success in my portfolio and my career.
Q: What was it that led you to reject the traditional “70% stocks” approach?
A: I’ve always been skeptical of traditional approaches which tend to reflect yesterday’s thinking instead of tomorrow’s. As a student of finance, and as a voracious reader, I understood that we were participating in an unprecedented expansion of worldwide debt. Cheap credit has been creating asset bubbles for over 300 years, and I knew that the deflation of these bubbles would be extraordinarily painful.
I wanted to find a way to get consistently high yields, and I wasn’t afraid to give up some “theoretical” returns in exchange for actual returns that deliver growth over time.
As things turned out, my approach was more successful than I expected, and all signs point to a continuation of that success in the decade to come.
Q: What was the final piece of the puzzle for you?
A: The 2008-2009 crash. The dot-com bubble was one thing, but having stock and housing bubbles collapse at the same time really cemented my philosophy. Over the last 30 years, long-term government bonds have outperformed stocks. America seems to have a love affair with equities that is not justified by their returns. I focus on returns.
Q: After all of these years, what continues to amaze you?
A: People tend to have very good instincts, but they tend to invest away from their instincts – so for example they feel a huge anxiety right now (early 2012) that things aren’t going to get better for a long time, yet they continue to invest as if they will. If you don’t believe the future is bright, then why load up on the riskiest assets?
Q: How do you suggest people get started on taking control of their financial planning?
A: Although you can learn some things from reviewing a website, the best way to get started is to talk to us. As you’ve no doubt guessed, I have a passion for helping people get on the path to financial success. Setting and keeping people on the right path is not something that takes weeks of difficult deliberations, but instead is straight-forward, painless, and very satisfying.