By Steve Harris, Founder Harris Private Wealth
Marking 40 years in business is a very humbling milestone. I am filled with awe and a sense of accomplishment and, mostly, gratitude. We’re celebrating Harris Private Wealth’s 40th anniversary with a focus on the people who got us to this place. Our clients — you — are why we are here, and I am deeply thankful you have trusted us to be part of your lives for so long.
Forty years ago, I couldn’t have envisioned what we’d be doing today, how we would be doing it, and what it would all mean. When I started the company in 1985, financial planning, as we know it now, didn’t even exist as a business. But I knew from the get-go that that is what I wanted to do.
So much has changed in the past 40 years, and through it all, we’ve had an eye on the future — of both the firm and for our clients. We continue to plan and grow, welcoming new clients to the fold regularly. My son, Evan, joined me in 2015, and our Director of Financial Planning, Chris Lewis, became a shareholder in 2024. Of course, the technology we use to do our day-to-day jobs has changed, too. But the foundation of our company is what I have always, always believed: If we stay true to our core beliefs, by providing true service and exceptional value for our clients, we’ll do well in the long run.
“Created in 1905 The Harris Approach was a creed and a philosophy by which every family member and every employee of The Harris Company department store lived. Harris Private Wealth, was founded in 1985 with the express purpose of “looking after” multigenerational families by providing precisely this level of service.”
In commemoration of our 40th anniversary, Evan and I sat down with our CMO, Karen Hebert-Gordon, to talk about how we got here and where we are going. Here’s our conversation:
Karen: Congratulations on this milestone. So tell me, how did Harris Private Wealth get its start?
Steve: In my senior year in high school, I was one of two kids voted most likely to succeed. I knew that the reason people voted for me was that my family had a well-known retail business, The Harris Company, and they thought I was going to go into that. I was always very proud of that legacy, and yet I wanted to make my own way and not rely on the past success of my family. I was really interested in money and finance and what I knew about markets. To me, that was fascinating.
Early on I knew that I wanted to be in financial planning and financial advice, but that didn’t exist then as it does today. So, I started out as close to that as I could get at the time, which was the life insurance business.
Karen: When were you able to shift to the kind of financial planning you wanted to offer?
Steve: After 14 years, I felt stuck. Selling and making money on a transactional basis was hard for me, because I wanted to have more of a relationship with clients from a planning standpoint. I got recruited by a firm called Sanford Bernstein, and they had this remarkable thing where they were providing advice to people and managing their clients’ assets. They charged a fee for those assets under management, and then helped people make financial decisions and manage their portfolios. I just fell in love with it! I had nine months of interviews, plus intensive training and testing. The tests highlighted my belief that if I did the right thing for my clients, I’d be successful in the long run.
Karen: Sounds like a good mantra. Did you get the job?
Steve: Well, the Wall Street ethos was to get the money first and ask questions later — and don’t slow yourself down worrying about what happens to people along the way. That just didn’t work for me, and I didn’t get the job.
But I had an “aha” moment from that interview process. All I’d seen before was commission sales with advice as an incidental. I got to see a new business model. Financial industries were beginning to converge, and it was finally possible to actually incorporate planning into what I was doing. When I realized I could combine my background in capital needs analysis with investment advice and financial planning and follow-through together in one relationship, it changed everything. It’s a very common model today, but back then, nobody else was thinking that way.
Karen: What was the biggest challenge in making that change?
Steve: I was taking on a new identity as a financial advisor. I honestly didn’t know how my clients would perceive it. I found out it really wasn’t an issue for most of them. Some of them said to me, “You already know more about me than practically anybody, so why wouldn’t I work with you on this?” I was very grateful for those votes of confidence.
Evan: Don’t forget the personal challenge of having three kids under 12 at home — and leaving a lot of money on the table in pursuit of something where you were starting from zero again. There was no guarantee clients would work with you. You took a risk, all in pursuit of wanting something more for the clients who either started as family and friends or became family and friends, plus wanting more for yourself and your family. If I had to guess, knowing you and knowing my mother, it was probably the personal challenges that were more difficult to overcome and take the leap than the business ones.
Karen: And what was the change like from your clients’ point of view?
Steve: I was very happy that it seemed to be a natural follow on to the relationships I’d already built. Many of our clients today are the clients we started with back in 1985. Looking back at that, and knowing they are still with us — I’m just grateful.
I’ve got clients we’ve been working with for 40 years, and 30 and 20. We’re in a relationship business. And it’s a good thing because it incentivizes us always to cultivate those relationships, because I still believe, to this day, that if you do right by people in the long run, you’re gonna do fine.
Evan: Part of the reason I was willing to join the firm was because of what I saw growing up. I had interned. I’d been in the office. I knew many of his colleagues and clients. They’ve known me since I was a small boy, and the message was always the same: “Your dad is an incredible person. He’s so honest, he’s so caring, he’s so helpful.” That’s why people do business with us, and I’m honored to be part of it. I have to add that the business is obviously important, but getting to have lunch with my dad … well, there are plenty of folks who wish they could spend the amount of time with their dad that I get to spend with mine.
Karen: What does this moment mean to you, celebrating 40 years?
Steve: In some ways, I’m amazed, and I have to pinch myself. It’s turned out even better than I’d hoped. It’s very rewarding. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to accomplish 40 years ago. I get to work with my son. I get to work with clients whom I love and care about. I am so lucky.
People thought I was announcing my retirement last year. I just don’t want to retire. Why would I? We’re working with wonderful people. We have great relationships with them, and we get to help them make decisions that are meaningful. It’s nice to actually be able to use 40 years of accumulated knowledge. I’d love it if it could last forever.
Karen: Speaking of forever, what do the next 40 years look like?
Steve: Some things will definitely change and be a lot different. But there are things that will never change. Human beings will always react and process and deal with things the way they have always done, which is mostly emotional and sometimes rational. That means that our job will not go away. Our tools and technology may change, but the human need for connection with people they trust to help them make difficult choices and decisions will never go away.
Evan: He says he’s surprised that we are where we are. I’m not surprised. Since I started working with him, it was only ever gonna go this way. There was a Harris Company before this one. And it was a very different industry in a very different time. But what’s consistent through it? The creed of the company has persisted through the first business, which lasted a few generations, and into this business, which is now in its second generation. It’s the idea that we serve, whether it’s customers in a general store or making sure we serve each client now with what it is they’re seeking. When we tie into that the idea that if we do what’s best for the client, we will be OK, I see that persisting, long after my dad is here, and if I do my job right, long after I’m here. The No. 1 thing is that we make sure we take care of those who are entrusting us to take care of them, and the rest seems to work itself out.
Thank you for reaching out! We look forward to speaking with you and will be in touch asap. If you have an immediate need, please give us a call (408) 547-3390.