Louis D. Rivera, AWMA • Williamsville, NY
SC Parker LLC • Cadaret, Grant & Co. Inc.
Read full biography below

Proactive Advisor Magazine: Lou, discuss the scope of your financial advisory practice.

I have over 20 years of experience in the insurance and financial industries and have been an independent financial advisor since 2011. I position myself as a full-service financial consultant for clients. I have a deep background in property and casualty, life, and health insurance, as well as a wide variety of investment products and services.

My goal is to employ my knowledge and experience in addressing the full nature of clients’ financial concerns and aspirations. I offer clients guidance across many areas, including asset protection and risk management; accumulation strategies and wealth distribution; management of qualified retirement plan assets; and strategies for retirement income, legacy planning, and disability and long-term-care planning. I often work closely with clients’ other key professionals, such as attorneys, CPAs, bank trust departments, or real estate professionals.

I am proud to be affiliated with SC Parker LLC, which is a well-established financial advisory firm with a heritage of serving investment clients since 1925. As an independent firm, we have no obligation to recommend a particular firm’s investment or insurance products and offer clients impartial guidance. We can access a full universe of risk protection and investment solutions for our clients. We want to help clients manage their wealth in an advisory relationship characterized by ethical principles, transparency, accountability, and professionalism.

Are there any particular client segments you serve?

When I was recruited by an affiliate of John Hancock in 2007, I relocated to the Buffalo area from Virginia. I was not only moving to a new place but also transitioning from the property and casualty insurance sector to focusing on the life, health, and investment needs of clients. I spent significant time studying and believe I quickly grasped the nuances of a new set of products and services. I also had to build a client base from scratch and was still expanding it when I decided to become an independent advisor a few years later.

I realized that while many firms and advisors in the area were focusing on the more affluent and higher-net-worth pool of potential clients, there was an overlooked segment of middle-class people from all walks of life—including blue-collar workers, health-care employees, mid-level administrators, teachers, government employees, and sole proprietors. I saw this segment as a tremendous opportunity for my practice.

I built my practice the old-fashioned way: knocking on a lot of doors, presenting educational workshops, doing some pro bono work, and gaining entry to workplace settings and company employees. This approach gradually yielded a referral multiplier effect from clients’ family members, friends, and work associates. I also discovered that the “millionaire next door” phenomenon was real, observing that this group often spends conservatively, saves as much as they can, and sometimes builds a surprising level of wealth. Their funds are frequently tied up in their 401(k)s or 457 plans. Working with third-party investment managers, I started to help manage the assets in those plans, building personal relationships. This eventually led to managing additional assets down the road, potentially including a spouse’s retirement savings plan, a client’s older IRAs, or inheritances.

How do you approach providing financial guidance for a new client?

If possible, I like to have an introductory call with a prospective client before our first meeting. This breaks the ice and builds an initial level of comfort. Many clients have not worked with a financial consultant before, and it can be intimidating for some. They are going to have to open up to someone they do not know about financial and life issues that are very personal.

During client meetings, I ask a series of questions: What brings you in to meet with me? What are you trying to accomplish? What would make you happy that we met today—and over future meetings? What is it that you expect from me as a financial advisor? Have you had previous experience with an advisor, good or bad? What is your biggest fear about money, and what is important to you about money? Do you have a financial safety net? What do you realistically expect out of retirement? How about your aspirational retirement dreams? What legacy would you like to leave behind?

When you ask these types of questions, it opens up a treasure trove of information. You begin to understand who this person is and what they’re trying to accomplish. If you can translate some of their emotion and what they feel, you can synthesize it and play it back: “This is what I understand about your financial attitudes, investment preferences, and feelings about risk.” We then move into a full discovery process about their financial situation and objectives. I use comprehensive financial software that enables me to work with clients to gain a holistic understanding of their financial picture and to examine different financial scenarios. I don’t believe in developing a lengthy financial document that will never be read or used. I do believe in identifying a specific hierarchy of financial priorities and a disciplined process for addressing those for each client.

As an Accredited Wealth Management Advisor with a background in various disciplines, I find that clients are often pleasantly surprised by the breadth of practical and technical guidance I can offer. This may include assessing their current insurance coverages, optimizing their benefits selections, and providing comprehensive wealth management and tax-efficient retirement-income and legacy planning.

Describe your overall investment philosophy.

There has always been debate in the industry about active versus passive investing. I do not think it is an either-or situation. Everything depends on a client’s objectives, risk profile, risk capacity, and time frames. In general, I think there is a role in client portfolios for more stable and consistent core strategies and for nimble tactical strategies that can adapt to different market environments—taking advantage of opportunities or mitigating losses. I believe in well-diversified portfolio allocations, with diversification by asset classes and different types of strategies. I work with several third-party managers, each possessing a distinct investment approach that may be well-suited to a specific client’s portfolio, depending on their objectives. Considering the abundance of excellent fund managers dedicated to investment management around the clock, it makes sense to leverage somebody who excels in one particular investment area—for example, sector-rotation strategies or tactical income or bond strategies.

Educating clients about investments is an important part of my practice. I guide them through the basics of market cycles and loss mitigation. While risk-managed strategies may not always deliver the highest short-term returns, the mathematics of portfolio losses indicates that they should show greater returns over the long haul. They also have the added behavioral finance benefit of a less volatile investment experience. That is important, as investing should be approached like a marathon rather than a sprint. Sticking with a disciplined investment plan and avoiding behavioral or emotional mistakes is key to building long-term wealth. Reinforcing that mindset is one of my most important roles as we follow a balanced approach to investing and strive to achieve sustainable returns over time.

“Educating clients about investments is an important part of my practice.”

What would you ideally like a client to say about the experience of working with you?

I hope they consider me a compassionate listener who can help deliver tangible results across their financial lives. I hope they see me as someone who is easy to talk to and explains things in a jargon-free way. I think being trustworthy, collaborative, and proactive are also very important attributes. My mission is to help clients feel empowered as they navigate their financial journey with customized solutions and a clear path to achieving their objectives.