The firm made national news in 1987 when they moved from commission to fees to service customers
Published in the June 25-July 8, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Gerrie and Carl Reinhardt recently received a special Heritage Award from financial advisory firm Loring Ward. The firm they founded and sold now has $10 billion in assets.
Photo by Marty Cheek
Carl Reinhardt believes it’s easier being a success than it is being a person of significance. That’s what the Morgan Hill resident told an audience of his peers this month when he and his wife Gerrie Reinhardt received a special Heritage Award for founding a financial advisement company.
“What I said was, ‘Try to be a person of significance,’” he said, describing the event held June 2 and 3 at the Monterey Plaza Hotel. “And an example of being a significant person is working with the community, working on community fairs and events. And once you do that, you’re to give of your time, talent and treasure. And I think that’s an area of moving you to significance.”
Reinhardt is both a success and a person of significance.
In 1975, he and Gerrie founded a small financial service company based in Campbell while he was still a student at Fresno State University. Partner Allen Werba came on in 1976 and second partner John Bowen joined in 1978. The firm RWB Inc. made national news in 1987 when they moved from commission to fees to service its customers.
“For the time it was extremely innovative,” Reinhardt recalls. “It took us two years without income to actually get to that point.”
Over time the firm was built up to $2.5 billion in assets under the partners’ management. They also created their own mutual funds. In 1998, the partners sold their company to Canadian firm Loring Ward which is valued at about $10 billion in assets now.
Today, Reinhardt and Gerrie and their team at RNP Advisory Services still help local residents manage their money for retirement. RNP specializes in working with people who own their own business and help those business owners create a retirement plan. When their client is ready to retire, they create a special private pension plan.
“The one connection is Gerrie,” Reinhardt said. “She was the secretary when we started. I think Gerrie has always been kind of the glue behind me as secretary, as office manager, as human resource manager. We’ve always worked as a team ever since we were married. She use to type my term papers. Back in my day, you were taught how to hire a secretary and not to be a secretary and learn typing. That’s a big change in the industry now. Nobody takes shorthand any more or types letters for executives.”
The joy of helping people manage their future through sound financial management has enriched Reinhardt and Gerrie’s lives, Gerrie said. “It’s been a small business,” she said. “Our clients have become friends, and that part is really nice because you kind of grow with them.”
In developing into a person of significance, Reinhardt has been involved in various organizations in Morgan Hill to promote the quality of life in the community.
He is active in the board working on creating the South County Catholic High School on 40 acres of land purchased by the diocese in the South East Quadrant.
The project has gained considerable community support and the group is trying to build public awareness of it, he said.
“Right now we’re looking for people who can be major donors, people we call the pillars of the community,” he said. “We’re looking for people who want to sponsor a classroom.”
The project is a passion for Reinhardt.
“Deep down, I always like to help people be better off than when I first met them, I think that’s always there,” he said, describing the drive for the school. “I also believe in Catholic education. I was raised in Catholic education. I’m a strong proponent of Catholic education because it not only teaches a person well but it gives a person a foundation and a belief and how to work with the community.”
Gerrie and Reinhardt also are involved in helping Morgan Hill’s Learning and Loving Center which helps migrant women adapt to the community. And Reinhardt is in charge of the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill’s big golf tournament fundraiser Aug. 22. Recently, he took on the challenge of writing a book focusing on explaining his philosophy of going from where you are now to where you want to be in your future through being aware of your cross-over methodology.
“Carl is a very focused person,” Gerrie said. “He is talented, he is honest — it makes me cry because he really is honest beyond a doubt. He’s community oriented, family oriented, and he’s just a nice, very knowledgeable person … If you ask Carl when he plans on retiring, he’ll go, ‘Don’t you have to have a job before you can retire? I’m not doing a job. I’m doing something I love.’”
