The pile of groceries at Colin Barber’s office was meant to teach a lesson in more than just inflation.
Barber, the newly hired financial advisor for Edwards Jones’ Snoqualmie office, bought $80 worth of household goods from big-name brands like Kraft and Con-Agra. He used them as an icebreaker during Snoqualmie Railroad Days two weeks ago, asking visitors to the Edward Jones table outside to guess the cost of the goods in 1980 money. The winner got the groceries.
Guesses ranged from $7 to $85. The correct answer: $23 and change.
Some folks might be dismayed to learn that the value of the groceries, on average, has risen four times compared with 31 years ago. But then Barber explains what an investment in the companies that made the groceries might have done. He calculated that a $20,000 investment in 1980 would be worth more than $3 million today—60 times the value.
“I consider myself an educator,” said Barber, who keeps a white board and felt tip pens next to his desk for frequent ‘Investment 101’ lessons. His Railroad Days lesson was on the need to take the long view and understand market realities.
“Right now, there’s a lot of people chasing the exciting and the ridiculous,” Barber said. “The flip side to that is watching TV and seeing people losing all their money.”
There are always hard truths in the financial world. On average, there are dips at least yearly, and odds are that once every four years, a stock will be worth less at the end of the year than the beginning.
But in the long term, sound investing pays off.
“If you follow the concept of buying quality and holding it for the long term,” Barber said, your investment will prosper.
Earning trust
Barber may well have been born for this job. Born in Coos Bay, Ore., his father was an Edward Jones advisor. Young Colin got three bachelor’s degrees in international economics, Latin American studies in economics and finance from Brigham Young University, and worked as an analyst at U.S. Bank and overseas.
“I fought it,” Barber says, but fate was leading him on the same path as his father. He worked at the company’s headquarters in St. Louis, Mo., before taking over here.
Barber was hired to replace Mark Ghaly, Edward Jones’ Snoqualmie advisor for the past eight years. Barber lives in Snoqualmie with his wife Melanie, a violin teacher. He walks to work, and can see the trees shading his street from the office window.
“I really like the way Edward Jones runs their offices,” he said. “I like that we are downtown, working with people.”
His goal for the office is to grow his clientele while earning the trust of the people whose accounts he took over from Ghaly.
“It’s a personal relationship,” Barber said. “They have to trust me and work with me and get to know me.”
• Edwards Jones and Colin Barber are located at 8150 Railroad Ave., Suite A, in Snoqualmie. Call the office at (425) 831-5026 or email to colin.barber@edwardjones.com.
