Harry Headrick • Longview, TX
ECU Asset Management • LPL Financial
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I was born in Victoria, Texas, and have lived essentially my whole life in the state. My mother remarried when I was young, and my stepfather became a very positive influence in my life. He was a career educator, starting as a teacher and baseball coach before becoming a school principal.

My mother was an entrepreneur—she founded Headrick’s of Texas, which supplied band uniforms and accessories to high schools across the region. I grew up with three sisters—two full sisters and one half sister—and was raised in a home where faith, family, and respect for elders were central values. We attended church regularly and often traveled across Texas to visit extended family.

After high school, I attended Texas A&M University, where I was an athletic trainer for the football and baseball teams. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education with a minor in biology, and then spent two years teaching high school biology and working as an athletic trainer. While I enjoyed teaching, I realized it wasn’t a great match with my life goals. That led me to pivot into financial services, starting with selling life insurance. At the time, my parents were working with a local manager at E.F. Hutton, who asked me to come talk to him about a possible position. He saw potential in me and encouraged me to take the licensing exams to become a stockbroker, hiring me in 1980. I entered their rigorous training program and became immersed in learning everything about the investment industry. I became one of the top producers in my training class.

I spent eight years at E.F. Hutton before moving on after the firm was acquired. Over the years, I held positions at A.G. Edwards, Dain Rauscher—which is now part of RBC, and Morgan Keegan & Company. I joined ECU Asset Management in 2012, where I became a registered representative with LPL. I enjoy working with a diverse group of clients—who are primarily members of Eastman Credit Union—addressing their specific financial-planning and investment needs.

I take a comprehensive, personalized approach to financial planning and investment management, built on more than 40 years of experience. Around 75% of my business comes through referrals from the credit union’s member service representatives, while the remaining 25% comes from long-standing relationships I have developed over the years.

Many clients first come to the credit union for something specific—maybe a mortgage or auto loan—but our representatives are good at identifying people who could benefit from broader financial guidance. Most have expressed interest in improving their financial situation, planning for retirement, or refining their investment planning.

When meeting with clients, I start by getting to know them as people—learning about their family, career, hobbies, and retirement goals. Then, I ask them to think about three hypothetical numbers: the bare minimum monthly income they’d need to cover essential expenses in retirement, a higher target income that provides for discretionary spending such as travel, and a “pie in the sky” figure that could fund their ideal retirement.

From there, I begin building a plan. I estimate their Social Security and pension benefits first, then build out strategies to supplement that reliable base income. I develop historically based projections using a variety of investment vehicles, which can include mutual funds, annuities, dividend-paying stocks, bonds, and managed investment strategies.

“I take a comprehensive, personalized approach to financial planning and investment management.”

Striking the right balance between growth potential and risk management is key. I’m a big believer in ongoing client education—helping explain complex financial concepts in plain language. I also make sure they’re aware of worst-case scenarios so they understand the importance of risk management.

Once we’ve discussed the pros and cons of different retirement solutions, we agree on a plan and begin implementation. I typically meet with each client twice a year to review progress and make adjustments if needed—usually due to a changed life circumstance rather than market performance. If changes are needed for performance reasons, we adjust accordingly, but that’s more the exception than the rule.

Beyond retirement planning, I also guide clients on Social Security claiming strategies, Medicare, college savings, retirement plan rollovers, and estate planning. While I don’t provide tax or legal advice directly, I have a network of CPAs and estate-planning attorneys I can refer clients to when needed. I also work with small-business owners to set up 401(k) and other retirement plans for their employees. While I handle the investment selection and monitoring, I typically bring in a third party to manage plan administration.

Yes. I tend to use some combination of passive mutual funds, active investment strategies, annuities, and fixed-income investments for my clients. For managed strategies, I primarily work with one third-party firm that focuses on investment risk management throughout their diversified strategy offerings.

Significant market downturns can dramatically impact a retirement portfolio, so mitigating risk is a priority for my clients. Many are blue-collar workers or retirees who have worked hard to build their retirement nest egg and want to protect what they’ve earned. Most of the strategies available from this manager can respond proactively to market conditions and make timely allocation adjustments. They can go to higher cash allocations in poor markets or add leverage and higher exposure in favorable markets. Some strategies focus on identifying sectors with the highest relative strength at any given time, allocating a higher percentage to those sectors. I also use tactical fixed-income strategies for many clients.

Actively managed strategies offer several tangible benefits for my clients. They provide access to sophisticated risk-management tools in a strategy that is customized to their risk tolerance, aim to help smooth out volatility, and offer the potential long-term compounding advantage of limiting deep portfolio losses.

Over the years, I have evaluated many investment managers, and I decided it made sense to use one provider. Their investment philosophy aligns with my clients’ objectives, and I am able to devote the time to gain a strong understanding of their strategies and how they are designed to perform. I also have a good relationship with their team. They conduct regular conference calls to keep advisors apprised of market developments and how their strategies have performed, which I find invaluable. They also have a proprietary tool that helps advisors and their clients set and maintain realistic long-term investment expectations, delivering a customized, personal benchmark. I refer to that often in my client review sessions.

Our firm conducts random client interviews every year, so we are able to see anonymous feedback. Clients often say they think I am highly professional, pleasant to work with, and very knowledgeable about financial matters and investments. One comment I hear frequently is that I make complex financial topics easy to understand. That means a lot to me because I’ve built my career on serving clients’ best interests. It’s rewarding to know they value that approach.