Firm Overview
Holcombe & McGrath started out as simply Harold Holcombe, Ph.D. Financial Advisor, in 1985.
After working in academia, Harold entered the business world, working a few years in real estate and life insurance. Wanting a career that allowed him to read and think, and be his own boss, Harold started to research the basics of the financial world and found that this new kind of professional — the financial planner — promised a broader and more comprehensive level of expertise, and one that might be of genuine and rare service to clients. And, as a new profession without a history, it permitted Harold to create his business in a way that would focus on clients rather than commissions.
He earned his certification as a financial planner from the College for Financial Planning and, rather than act as a salesperson of financial products, Harold chose to be a totally independent, fee-only financial advisor. At the time, he was one of less than one thousand in the United States.
Harold grew his business one client at a time, mostly through referrals. He found that providing sensible advice was not always easy because the financial world was inextricably caught in the complex evolution of a global market, and in the continuing and accelerating technological revolution — both of which were starting in earnest about the time he declared himself an independent financial planner.
Clients seemed comfortable with Harold. There were no glossy brochures, no 20-page reports to wade through and no sales pitch. Harold simply told them what their realities were — even if those seemed grim at the time. But he also gave them hope that, based on his evaluation of what was happening in this new, expanding global market, there was a path — one that could lead them to sensible growth.
At first, he picked stocks for clients with relative success. It was while he was researching socially conscious stocks for clients that he met Susan McGrath, who held a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and was teaching at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. He asked for her help in researching those types of investments and, over time, she became interested in financial planning as a career. She joined Harold in 1998, received her Financial Planner certification in 2000, and became a partner in 2002.
Their continuous research into the best investment options for clients led them to low-cost, well-diversified index-based mutual funds. That philosophy has held since 2000 and continues to be the cornerstone of investment advice at Holcombe & McGrath.