Destry Witt, of Vancouver, Washington, is the President and Chief Investment Officer for RELiANCE Investing, an independent, state registered investment advisor. From aspirations that begun as a child watching his father make real estate deals on the dining room table, then as a business student at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, Destry has built himself into a successful financial services entrepreneur over the last 30 years.

Beginning with his undergraduate studies in Business Administration, at SOU, Destry joined the Stock Market team and started an internship with US Bank that evolved into a position as a marketing assistant that provided him the experience necessary to land a job at then one of the largest brokerage firms on Wall Street, Dean Witter Reynolds. At Dean Witter, Destry learned the business the hard way, competing for a position in the firm without the benefit of the firms elite training program.

During this time Destry recognized the demand from the investing public to participate in Initial Public Offers, a market which was previously limited to primarily institutional brokers and their institutional clients such as hedge funds and mutual funds. An opportunity came to light to become involved in the pending Starbucks deal in 1992. A regional brokerage firm from Florida reached out to Destry with the offer of stock in the Starbucks deal should he join their firm. From there, Destry realized that he would be able to turn his career into an independent state and has never looked back.

During his MBA graduate program at Washington State University, Destry began to further expand on his career. He began to think how companies would differentiate themselves from their competition and he decided that his companies would be based on how individuals make their decisions.

With the financial services industry becoming more and more supported with technology, Destry Witt understands the importance of being able to compete on price. The increased evolvement of technology and the Internet has nearly phased out the commission aspect of the financial services industry. Destry believes that if you’re not competing on cost, you’re simply not competing.

Increased government regulations have encouraged lower fees and prices for different services as well as a mandate that took away incentive for companies to provide liquidity. Where a company lacks in liquidity, they see a spike in volatility. In 2018, there were two 20% corrections that occurred within a few weeks of each other compared to 20 years ago where those corrections would have taken months to happen. This increase in government regulations combined with ever-evolving technology leads the future of financial services to be nearly all AI driven with computers buying and selling at indiscriminate prices.

As a result, Destry created products through his businesses that solve a very specific problem that investors encounter. Essentially, potential clients and customers are able to search for the problem that they’re trying to solve, similar to a Google search. This helps keep the personal touch of an investment advisor thriving without phasing out the inevitable technology that is seemingly required in the daily operations of the financial services industry.

To learn more about Destry Witt’s entrepreneurial spirit, insights, perspectives, and views on the future of the financial services industry, be sure to check back often for the latest news and updates!