Reby Advisors, a financial planning and wealth management firm with 13 employees, recently opened a Manhattan office ”” at 250 Park Ave. ”” to complement its headquarters on Ridgebury Road in Danbury and a third office in Florida.
Company principal and founder Bob Reby this year celebrates 30 years since he set up his financial advisory business in White Plains, N.Y., with a single employee. The push to Manhattan is to better serve a client base for whom New York City means either home or work.
- Bob Reby, principal and founder of Reby Advisors.
“With our new office we”™re ready to help New York City residents and commuters confidently transition into retirement,” Reby said. For clients, the company model is designed to minimize risks to lifestyle and earn, as he said, “predictable streams of income they won”™t outlive.”
Reby said 10,000 baby boomers per day are retiring. “Most of them worry whether they have enough money to last a lifetime or whether they can sustain their lifestyles in retirement,” he said.
The business operates on a referral model. Reby said growth is imminent, with a pair of still-unnamed boutique advisory firms set to join Reby Advisors ”” under the Reby banner ”” as soon as the next few weeks.
In 2000, Reby “reinvented” the company, shifting from a commission-based model to fee-based. The reason, he said, was a more sophisticated consumer seeking lower-pressure, but consistent, financial advice.
“We love bringing in new families,” he said. “But most of our efforts go toward keeping existing clients happy. This involves more time in advising for a fee.” The equation, he said, has always come down to: Does the value of the advice outweigh the value of the fee?
“I feel comfortable saying we care more than most,” he said. “If you work here ”” and I cannot say enough in praise of our team ””you care about people and advise them like you would your own parents. My one-liner is: We deliver sophisticated financial strategies in simple, easy-to-understand ways.”
Reby, 52, maintains the physique of a lifelong competitive tennis player, which he is. He took up golf at 30 and plays to a six handicap. “Athletics features a refuse-to-lose mentality that for me carries over,” he said. “It also provides lessons in integrity and ethics ”” no bad line calls allowed. They say in business it takes one round of golf to really get to know someone. For tennis it is probably two or three times.”
Reby, who lives in Ridgefield, has for years spent time in Florida. This year he rented space in West Palm Beach to assist his Florida clients. The company staffs the office on an as-needed basis.
Reby Advisors moved to Danbury in 1988, just months after the crash of October 1987. Reby, who is a certified financial planner, ticked off a number of financial storms his company has weathered since then, from the savings-and-loan crisis of the early ’90s to the recent recession, saying Reby Advisors has remained steady in growth throughout. He admitted, however, “That October ’87 crash was an eye-awakener.”
