Business Spotlight: The Mutual Fund Store

Owner: Terry Conner

Founded: December 2001

Address: 1835 E. Republic Road, Ste. 104, Springfield, MO 65804

Phone: (417) 889-9997

Fax: (417) 889-7550

Web: www.mutualfundstore.com

E-mail: tconner@mutualfundstore.com

Products/Services: Fee-based investment-advisement firm specializing in mutual funds

2007 Revenues: $1.4 million

Employees: 7 (3 financial advisers)

When Terry Conner opened the Springfield office for The Mutual Fund Store in December 2001, the investment-advisement company had only two other locations – its headquarters in Overland Park, Kan., and an office in St. Louis.

The chance that Conner took on the company during its early expansion period proved instrumental in a ripple of success that followed, according to Chris Braudis, corporate vice president of operations.

The Mutual Fund Store, founded in 1996, now has 68 locations in 30 states with more than $4 billion in assets under management. Franchisee Conner’s office has $125 million in assets under management for about 400 local clients; the average client’s portfolio is worth more than $300,000.

“The results speak for themselves,” says attorney Joel Block, a partner in Springfield-based Burkart, Hunt & Block PC and one of Conner’s investment clients.

The Mutual Fund Store built Block a portfolio four years ago that has produced annual returns exceeding 12 percent, Block says.

Diversified interests

Conner wasn’t always in the investment game. He graduated in 1987 from University of Missouri with a degree in industrial engineering and was working as a manager for regional telephone company Contel when he decided on a career change.

“I’ve just always had an inordinate amount of interest in investing and had worked with my family and friends,” Conner recalls. “I had a friend that was in financial planning, so I went into that as well.”

Conner first worked at Heim & Young Financial Corp. in Springfield. In 1994, he launched his own company, Wealth Management Inc., which his team still operates in shared space with The Mutual Fund Store at 1835 E. Republic Road, Ste. 104.

Today, Wealth Management deals almost exclusively in insurance products and accounts for less than 5 percent of the revenues generated collectively by Wealth Management and The Mutual Fund Store franchise, Conner says.

Conner’s team, including fellow certified financial planners Michael Vaughn and Debbie Green, recently was among the five offices given The Mutual Fund Store’s Keystone Award, which recognizes locations with $100 million in assets under management. That sum is roughly double the companywide average.

Bold introduction

Conner became a CFP in 1996, and a few years later The Mutual Fund Store founder Adam Bold came knocking. Conner says he initially brushed off Bold’s attempts for a meeting, though he eventually agreed to lunch.

“When we sat down, we found out we had a very similar investment philosophy,” Conner says. “When I kind of looked at some of the success that he was having, it seemed like a really good fit.”

The Mutual Fund Store has carved its niche by focusing on mutual funds that are under the top-performing managers. Charles Schwab & Co. serves as custodian for the investments, Conner says.

The company charges clients quarterly performance-based fees instead of transaction fees. Accounts must have at least $50,000, and clients pay fees between 0.225 percent and 0.375 percent of the account’s value based on account size, Conner says.

Local assets under management have grown at a 30 percent annual clip, attributed mostly to word-of-mouth and a syndicated radio show produced by The Mutual Fund Store, Conner says.

“The Mutual Fund Show” airs locally 11 a.m.–noon each Saturday on 104.1 FM and 1260 AM.

“It puts everybody on the same side of the table financially,” Conner says of The Mutual Fund Store’s performance-based fee system, which helped net the Springfield office $1.4 million in 2007 revenues.

“The advisers want their clients to do well, because the better the clients do, then the better the adviser is compensated. Everybody’s pulling for the same goal.”