Staff Profiles
Susan McGrath, CFP®
Susan’s financial planning career followed a very unconventional path, beginning with a BS in biology from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, then a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The Middletown, Ohio native then worked with the water quality group at the Research Triangle near Durham, North Carolina. There, she wrote technical guidance documents as a consultant for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She and her team were also instrumental in formulating the online National Listing of Fish Advisories, which serves as the country’s guidelines for contaminant levels in fish.In 1994, Susan and her husband moved to Asheville following his job transfer with the Wildlife Resources Commission. She became an adjunct professor in the University of North Carolina at Asheville’s environmental studies department, teaching various classes, including solid waste management.
She and Harold met in an informal setting, and, because of her background in environmental studies, he asked her to assist in sorting through environmentally conscious mutual funds, in which some clients expressed interest. She enjoyed the financial planning part of Harold’s business, and after several months of testing out the world of finances and investments, Susan joined him in 1998.
She noted that many clients, and people in general, were focused on trying to make enough money to achieve their goals — which caused them much stress. What she wanted to do was to work with clients to achieve their life’s goals with the financial resources they had available.
She received her financial planner certification in 2000, and became a full partner in 2002. In 2008, when Harold Holcombe decided to start the journey toward retirement, Susan became the owner, carrying on the company philosophy of superior, individualized customer service — from investment counseling to research and advice in all aspects of a client’s financial decisions.
Susan and her husband live in Leicester with their two children.
Harold Holcombe, Ph.D.
Harold grew up in Alabama and in Southeast Missouri, son of itinerant farmers and sharecroppers — not a particularly unusual situation in that time and place.
The experience of working with his hands and his back taught Harold quickly that working with the head is better, and he used the GI bill to go to college, following a three-year stint as an electronics technician in the Navy.
After earning a BA in English and history from the University of North Alabama, Harold worked in the security clearance office for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, followed by a year as a public relations officer in the office of Wernher von Braun, who was director of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and generally regarded as the founder of the U.S. space program.
Returning to school, Harold earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Alabama, and went on to teach history at several colleges and universities, including Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina.
Harold left academia and moved into the business sector in 1978, working as a real estate and insurance agent. Both experiences reaffirmed his conviction that he was not suited for a career in a structured environment. Independence was what he valued, along with the freedom to research and arrive at his own conclusions.
So, in 1984, he decided that he would be better fitted to advising people on how to use the financial system to achieve their personal goals rather than trying to sell them products of that system. He earned his certificate as a Certified Financial Planner in 1985 and started doing business as a fee-only, independent financial advisor — which he felt was the only way to maintain objectivity in the investment arena.
Harold grew his business by giving his clients personal attention, and focusing on their needs and goals. He still has the first client who was so courageous as to hire him in 1985.
Bob Baschnagel
Bob’s path to becoming a financial planner wound around the world — from Buffalo, NY, where he was born, through Tanzania, East Africa, and finally arriving in Asheville in 1999.
Throughout this journey, Bob’s duties always included handling finances — something he felt was vitally important, not only for the organizations where he worked, but for himself personally. It would eventually lead him to find his place in the financial world.
Bob graduated from State University of New York at Buffalo, with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a goal to develop and manufacture more environmentally conscious products. He first worked for the Newman Oil Company (NOCO) after hearing about their waste-oil recycling activities. Later, he became a project leader with Waste Management, helping companies properly dispose of their waste and stay in compliance with environmental regulations.
Bob changed his path in 1994 when he became a Peace Corps volunteer, and later was hired by Peace Corps as a trainer and administrator. He met and married his wife in Tanzania, and they both worked for a conservation fund leading projects and anti-poaching patrols in some of Tanzania’s remote game reserves.
Upon returning to the U.S., Bob worked as an administrator and campaign organizer for a regional coalition of conservation groups. His duties included managing the organization’s finances.
Later, after completing his Certified Financial Planner coursework, Bob joined a large financial services company. It was during this time that he met Harold, and they immediately connected over their shared philosophy of low-cost, client-based financial planning. He was asked to join Holcombe & McGrath in 2007.
Bob, his wife, and two children live in East Asheville.