If you were to ask CEO and president of Creative Planning Peter Mallouk what he loves most about the industry, he’ll give you a two-fold answer.
“The most rewarding part is helping a client understand the situation they're in, helping people achieve goals and keeping them informed and educated along the way,” he says. “You could get good advice in a lot of different places, but it's very hard to get it in a way that's easy to digest and actionable and I find that very satisfying.”
Tied for that, Mallouk added, is watching someone who comes to work at Creative Planning and “achieving things that maybe they themselves didn't realize they were capable of achieving and watching them grow professionally.”
Mallouk has guided the Overland Park, Kansas-headquartered firm for more than 20 years. Throughout the organization’s rapid growth, he’s maintained a relentless dedication to fostering a culture of excellence that has set him apart in the wealth management industry.
That’s why he’s being recognized for his service as an InvestmentNews Awards 2024 Excellence Awardee, with the winners announced on June 20 at 583 Park Avenue, New York City in a glitzy, red carpet ceremony. Click here to register to attend.
Reflecting on how the industry has changed when he first entered the financial planning space, Mallouk noted 90 percent of his clients were at mutual fund companies, whereas ten or fifteen years ago, most were coming from other brokerage houses.
“Independent firms are now larger, they're more well known, and people tend to look for fiduciary more often," he said. "We find ourselves competing more with independent firms than with anybody else and that shows how much this space has progressed, but also how much more competitive it is going to become.
“Our philosophy is just to stay ahead of the industry as much as we can and try to focus on the wants and needs of our clients,” he added. “That's worked for us for the last twenty years, and I suspect it'll work for us for the next twenty.”
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