CANFIELD – Stephen VanSuch remembers a time early in his career when the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit the 4,000-point threshold and older people in his office celebrated.
Young and perhaps a little naïve, VanSuch says he did not realize how rare it was to cross a 1,000-point mark.
This July, the Dow reached the 40,000 milestone.
VanSuch is managing director/investments and branch manager of the Canfield office of Stifel. He has seen a lot during his nearly 30 years in the investment industry.
He has seen the advantage of the long-term approach to investing, and he knows it takes both time and hard work to build strong trust and confidence with new clients. Putting client interests first is not just a slogan or words to VanSuch.
“It can’t be something that’s made up,” he says. “Clients are too smart. They’re going to sense whether or not you have their best interests in mind.”
VanSuch says he is not shy about thanking clients for having trust and confidence in him and his team. As comprehensive financial advisers, his team provides “big picture planning,” he says, while guiding clients on their investment portfolios, retirement planning and estate planning strategies.
“You have to look at clients’ financial situation holistically. You have to to provide comprehensive guidance on both assets and liabilities,” VanSuch says.
He believes being affiliated with an organization and a team of financial advisers able to provide all aspects of planning helps clients better manage their financial lives.
Clients go through many stages of life – caregiver to their children, caregiver to their parents, early career, midcareer, nearing retirement, finalizing their estate. VanSuch points out not every person’s situation can easily be organized on a spreadsheet.
Financial advisers need to be voracious readers and researchers, consider historical data from the financial markets, draw from their own years of experience and network with other professionals. Knowing all aspects of their clients’ financial lives ensures that each portfolio is tailored for the specific client and their situation, he says.
“Too many investors may unknowingly fall into traps, where they’re just placed into various models that aren’t harmful, but they’re not strategically built around a person’s finances,” VanSuch says. “I don’t have one client after all these years that has the exact same investment portfolio as my next client.”
Coming to Stifel in the fall of 2023 after a long career, VanSuch brought his team with him and says it was a team decision to make the move. He had spent 25 years with one organization and admits it was a tough decision.
“We were only moving as a team, as a unit,” VanSuch says. “It wasn’t going to happen any other way … we made a team decision to transition. I felt good that I empowered my team to be very involved in that very big decision process,” he says.
“This truly is a wonderful, very helpful culture that has tremendous leadership here,” VanSuch says of Stifel.
Jim Zemlyak, co-president of Stifel, says he’s glad VanSuch and his team decided to build their business and strengthen client relationships at Stifel’s Canfield office.
Stifel is headquartered in St. Louis and has had a presence in the Mahoning Valley since 2008, when it acquired the Youngstown-based
Butler Wick & Company.
“Steve [VanSuch] is a client-focused adviser with an outstanding practice and a stellar reputation. We’re proud he’s made Stifel his firm of choice,” Zemlyak says. “We look forward to expanding our presence in the area under Steve’s leadership.”
A Struthers native, VanSuch studied accounting at Westminster College in 1992 and worked in accounting before using it as a stepping stone to becoming a financial adviser. After completing coursework through the University of Akron, he earned the certified financial planner certification in May 2003.
VanSuch says he’s always learning and his team is known for its willingness to try something new. For that reason, it is often asked to test pilot new initiatives and technology platforms.
“I want people on the team who are hungry and thirsty and always willing to learn,” VanSuch says.
He believes the global marketplace is in the early stages of some incredible new technological advances and the willingness to embrace technology will be a differentiator. What will not be replaced are the core values of his team and the desire to help people.
Relationships matter, and people in the Mahoning Valley are loyal, he says. Ten months after his move to Stifel, VanSuch has found that many of his clients followed him. He finds that humbling.
“It’s a tremendous testament to what we have done as a team and what we believe in and the loyalty that’s here in the Mahoning Valley,” VanSuch says.
He encourages his team to put people first and emphasizes the importance of building relationships.
“I truly love people,” VanSuch says. “I truly love their stories … I feel very blessed because I don’t just love what I do, but I love why I do it – because of the relationships with my immediate team and my clientele. They are family, and there’s nothing like it.”
Pictured at top: Stephen VanSuch and his team moved to the Canfield office of Stifel in 2023.