1. What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your job?
The most challenging aspect and the most rewarding aspect are nearly the same. The most challenging aspect of the job is when a client I’ve had a long-term relationship and many great conversations with begins to decline to the point where he or she can no longer handle day-to-day finances and needs support from other family members and caregivers. The most rewarding aspect of the job comes from either clients we’ve had for a long time or family members that I talk to after a client can no longer make decisions. Often, they talk about how much they appreciate what our investment team has been able to do for them or their loved ones over the many years we’ve worked together.
2. What has been the high point of your career so far?
Investing other people’s money naturally leads to many highs and lows. The key is trying to keep as level an attitude as possible through all of the noise that we hear in the world. I would say that right now is the high point, and I hope that just about every day going forward will be a new high point in my career — whether it be through further knowledge gained or stronger relationships built with clients.
3. Thinking back on your career, what advice would you give your 21-year-old self?
I would tell myself to pick up the phone and just start calling prospects. Starting out, calling on clients was one of the scariest things I did, but the only way to get better is to start doing it and keep at it. I discovered that most people are generally very nice, and most were more than happy to talk to me. The second piece of advice I would give myself, which I did, was to not even bother interviewing for other jobs — just stay with The Droster Team. I was an intern here when I was 21, and I stayed.
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4. What would you say are the best things about living and working in Dane County?
I have a lot of family in the area. My wife and I are both from the Madison area, and we wouldn’t ever want to live anywhere else. I love the connection to the campus and the vibrant urban community that Madison provides, but also the ease to get to many nature areas in a short amount of time. My job has given me occasion to travel to many other large cities to evaluate investment firms, and I always come back with a renewed appreciation for how nice we have it in Wisconsin overall and Dane County in particular.
5. Do you have any guilty pleasures?
At least according to my wife, traveling to baseball stadiums is a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve been to more than half of the Major League stadiums, and I usually try to get some buddies to go with me. I love to see all the different stadiums, and it gives me a chance to see other cities as well.
One year I made a trip to Detroit and Toronto to see the stadiums and a couple of games. The pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays ended up pitching one of the best games in baseball history. This website ranked it the fifth best ever. However, it could have been even better. My buddies and I were only moderately interested in the game until we realized the pitcher, Brandon Morrow, had a no-hitter going and it was already the ninth inning. He got the first two outs in the ninth. With only one out left and a chance to see my first no-hitter, Evan Longoria, the batter for the Tampa Bay Rays, hit a weak ground ball that barely made it through the infield for the game’s only hit.
The pitcher did go on to finish the game, but if he had made the last out and completed the no-hitter, it would have been the highest game score for a pitcher in a no-hitter in Major League history. I’m a bit of a numbers geek, which wouldn’t surprise anyone given my profession, and that would have been a really cool thing for me to have witnessed. Instead, it was just really close!
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