- J.P. began the conversation by having everyone introduce themselves by stating their name, the company they work with, and their role within that company. He wanted to get a feel of their background and develop relatedness with each member.
- Mr. Dahdah next spoke about his career history. He interned with Merrill Lynch while at U of A and then progressed on to American Express Financial Advisors. He commented on the great training program they had. While he was there, J.P. was involved in a mentorship type program where he was matched up with a more seasoned professional at the firm. I think this is valuable because learning from someone with experience is better than reading it from a book. There is something to be said about absorbing information (osmosis) from first hand knowledge.
- J.P. then talked about ending ties with AEFA and going on his own with his mentor. He talked about having his own clients, his partner having his own clients, and the two of them having mutual clients. I found this to be an interesting concept. He had formed Dahdah Global Wealth Management with the idea that he could give his clients more opportunity than a selected list of preferred funds and limited breadth and depth. Learning to run a business on your own is a powerful skill to have. There are elements of each business that are universal and can be carried across industries.
- Mr. Dahdah was continuing to search for various investment opportunities for his clients. A client had talked with him about putting real estate into their IRA. J.P. did not have the capabilities at AmEx or thereafter locally to act on this matter. He went to various sources seeking the truth. He found a company that could do this on the East Coast and was able to bring a solution to the client instead of saying, "this is not possible". I like the idea that he may not have known the answer, but he was sure going to find out.
- J.P. talked about discovering The Entrust Group and then creating the opportunity to own the license for Arizona. He acted on this opportunity and has been building this business ever since. The business of self-directed IRA's is growing more popular everyday. Many people have no idea you can place real estate or other alternative assets into IRA's. They are led to believe by the Schwab's and Fidelity's of the world that stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are only what's available to invest in. There is nothing wrong with not offering this, it is their model of doing things. Entrust is out there to educate the general public and investing community that investor's have options when choosing investments for IRA's.
- With his position of President at Entrust Arizona, J.P. has figured that it is more important he work on his business rather than in his business. He mentioned the word scalability. This clicked with me as he used an analogy of a doctor/lawyer/financial planner. If you are not there, the company does not make money. How could he structure something so that if he wasn't there, the company would make money? I believe he found his answer.
