Winter Park financial adviser follows beat of a different drummer
March 22nd, 2008, 8:36 pm Hobby Shops
Seriously?
Yes. For Khalsa, 38, his passion for music eventually fueled his fervor for investing and his guts as an entrepreneur.
He earned some money (”a nice, quality comfortable living,” but not enough to retire on) when Seven Mary Three hit it big with “Cumbersome,” a single that sold a million records in the mid-1990s. He started investing and caught the bug.
“I’ve seen friends in other bands blow it,” he told me. “You don’t have to look too far or read too deeply to see people who got bad financial advice . . . Instead of reading Rolling Stone, I found myself reading The Wall Street Journal and Business Week.”
Khalsa spoke to me this week from Austin, Texas, where he is attending the South by Southwest music and film festival, an annual pilgrimage for many in the industry.
He’s not just there for the entertainment; he’s looking for clients.
“I’m a pretty good drummer,” he said. “But, there’s a lot of really great musicians out there . . . In the world of finance, particularly wealth management, there’s really nobody with my background. The entrepreneur in me said I could do something great in that vein because nobody’s doing it.”
Khalsa graduated along with his bandmates from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He majored in psychology with his sights set on medical school.
Then the whole fame thing happened. The band started touring. They filmed music videos. You get the idea.
That lasted for a while, and Khalsa even played on the band’s recently released album, but he is no longer touring with them.
The wealthy clients he’s acquired at Smith Barney during the past 15 months expect a level of service that doesn’t mesh with life on the road.
“It’s not a hobby,” he said of his new career.
So now his days are filled with keeping tabs on indicators such as the S%26amp;P 500 and counseling the local surgeons, lawyers, artists and other clients who are worried about holding onto their money through the market turbulence.
His investment philosophy centers on creating a well-diversified portfolio that accounts for the global economy.
“My feeling is we need to be thinking about those kinds of things and at least having those conversations with our clients,” he said. “If you want some growth, but want to hedge your bets, we’re the U.S. not the only economy.”
At its core, Khalsa’s role is to simplify the financial lives of creative people who typically are not planners by nature.
We’ve all seen the M.C. Hammers of the world who got rich quickly only to squander their profits just as fast.
“I sort of felt like this area is an area where I could really help,” he said. “I sort of see it as a personal mission.”
Beth Kassab can be reached at bkassab@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5448.
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