It would be understandable if someone confused Charles J. McNamara III, LUTCF, CMFC, with the mayor of Doylestown. He seems to know everyone in the borough, after all, and people trust him with important decisions. McNamara, however, is no politician. As a well-respected partner with Doylestown-based McNamara Financial Group, he has built a thriving business by helping clients from all walks of life prepare for “what happens next,” whether it be retirement, creating a succession plan for a business or some other significant milestone.
“People spend their time planning their vacations, because it’s fun to do that, but most people don’t sit down to plan out their futures,” says McNamara. “If you don’t have the time or expertise to do it yourself, that’s what we’re here for. I’m a financial advisor, but I see myself as more of a life coach—putting the strategies in place and making sure we update those strategies every year to account for any changes in your life.”
McNamara Financial Group offers the full spectrum of financial products for individuals, families and business owners, ranging from individual insurance to managed money accounts to 401(k) plans. The firm works with clients in two distinct ways: comprehensive asset management, which involves a set fee; and individual transactions, such as setting up a 529 plan to provide for a child’s college education.
Regardless of their situation, each client is assured of prompt and personalized service. Every client relationship begins with a consultation, which enables McNamara and his team to complete a thorough analysis of the client’s current finances, risk tolerance and goals for the future.
“We then come back and say, ‘Here’s what it looks like, here’s where you can improve—maybe you have half a million dollars of insurance and you need $1.5 million—do you want to move forward?’” he says. “If we do move forward, from there we do a face-to-face meeting to make sure nothing has changed, or if it has—divorce, a child going to college, a child getting married—we make sure we adjust for any changes.”
The firm has committed to returning all calls within 24 hours, and all clients are treated “like we would treat our own family,” McNamara says. He’s not kidding; for one client who had been negatively affected by a stroke, for example, the firm spent dozens of hours contacting a client’s insurance company to make sure she received the appropriate disability benefits to which she was entitled, amounting to several thousand dollars per month.
“Our job is not to sell clients a product but to help them get to where they need to be, wherever that is,” McNamara says. “Another client came to me after he inherited money from a family member. When he said he wanted to work with me, I asked him why. He said, ‘You’re the only one who didn’t talk over me. You explained how a bond works, how aggressive I should be, why you make the decisions that you do.’ I love working in this business because, in a way, it’s like being a teacher, and I take that responsibility seriously.”
Most of McNamara Financial Group’s clients come from within a 15-mile radius of Doylestown. They include doctors, attorneys and other professionals, as well as a number of high-net-worth clients who have several million dollars of assets managed through the efforts of the firm. Many come to the firm because of its expertise and resources, but McNamara cites another, more intangible factor for the success in building and maintaining client relationships: chemistry, plain and simple.
“We want to work with clients we feel like we get along with, clients who feel like they can trust us,” he says. “We see clients as much as possible to make sure they are comfortable with us and vice-versa. What we do is keep them focused and help make sure we get them to where they need to be, not being focused on something they see in the media that isn’t going to change their 20-year outlook.”
After attaining his finance degree from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, McNamara began his career in 2001 with Prudential, quickly ascending the ranks and earning a management position. He ultimately realized, however, that he missed working directly with clients and decided to leave his management position and return to the Financial Professional role. In 2007, he opened his office in Doylestown and founded McNamara Financial Group. Ricardo J. Ferreira, a promising financial advisor McNamara had met at Prudential, joined him as junior partner.
“I think the thing that makes us most successful is the time we spend with clients,” says Ferreira. “We take the time to sit down with them and hear what their issues are, like whether they are thinking about buying a second home or if they have a child going off to college. What I like most about what we do is the educational aspect, but there’s not one advisor who knows everything, so we have a network of different professionals—CPAs, attorneys, real estate agents, mortgage advisors—that we can consult when needed.
“People call us all the time asking about all kinds of issues relating to their finances,” he continues. “It can be something as simple as helping with a budget, helping them decide whether to buy or lease a new car or whether they should pay off debt. These are the value-added things we’re happy to do that we don’t necessarily get paid for, but we do it because it is the right thing to do.”
In addition to Ferreira and McNamara, the firm’s client-management team includes office manager/marketing assistant Lori Carroll, as well as a third partner with a familiar name: Charles J. McNamara Jr., CLTC, who is McNamara’s father.
“Our goal is to treat every one of our clients like our own family,” says the younger McNamara. “My father was the person who trained me how to work with people; when I was young, he trained me in his business—a car wholesale business in town—and I guess you could say I returned the favor. When he was ready for a change in his career, I brought him in and helped him learn the business. Now, after a few years, he’s doing great with his business here.”
McNamara, who went to grade school at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School before moving on to Archbishop Wood High School, has made community involvement not only a priority but also a way of life. The firm supports locally based causes and organizations such as the Doylestown Car Show and the Chalfont Challenge 5K to ensure the strength of the surrounding community and the people living within it.
“A lot of people don’t have an actual financial strategy,” he says. “I’ve been told that we do a good job of expressing information in a simple and meaningful way so clients can be part of making decisions for their future. At the end of the day, we’re in this to help people—to do the right things—and that’s what I like most about this business.”
McNamara Financial Group
450 East Street, 2nd Floor
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-348-3176 | www.mcnamarafinancialgroup.com
0264390-0001-00
Photograph by Rob Hall
