In a nearly 30-year career as a local investment adviser, Santa Barbara native Ken Partch has seen plenty of ups and downs in the local economy. And while the seemingly idyllic seaside community may be a haven for wealth, he’s quick to refute a common misconception.
“Santa Barbara is not the boy in the bubble,” said the founder and principal of Santa Barbara Wealth Management.
“Santa Barbara is insulated to a degree, but only to a degree,” he said. “It is not immune to the jostlings and vicissitudes that occur in a national economy. Just as everyone on a cruise ship will get seasick if the storm goes on long enough, no one is immune.”
Partch would know. As an investment adviser during the past 28 years, he has heard doomsday predictions and projections of unfounded optimism. Partch began his career with Wall Street giant Dean Witter in 1984. Since 1992, he has been the owner and portfolio manager at Santa Barbara Wealth Management, 3433 State St., Suite C.
As of Sunday, he will be a weekly financial columnist for Noozhawk. It’s not an unfamiliar role for Partch, who previously wrote a weekly column for the then-New York Times-owned daily newspaper in Santa Barbara and had a weekly radio show, as well.
The best part about his current position? The competition.
“I love the competitiveness of my job,” he said. “You’re competitive with yourself and other people. Just like a golf course, there’s always a certain score you have to meet. I love the beginning of the year, the first quarter especially. It’s very humbling.”
The economy will improve next year, according to Partch, with unemployment leveling off and consumer confidence growing.
“I guess I’m a little like a pilot,” he said. “I’d rather speculate that there’s going to be some turbulence and to keep your seat belt on. Things will go up and down, but I think things will be better by the end of 2011.”
According to Partch, the biggest mistakes people make with money are not where they invest or do not invest, but how they feel about the work they do, forgetting how hard they have worked to make their money and disregarding the value of their work.
“When you become proficient at something, raise your rates,” he said. “Everybody at a race looks alike when you’re driving at 200 mph. You have to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack.”
What should you do to stay afloat in the current economy? Partch says it’s important to find a financial adviser willing to spend some time with you to make good decisions.
“Too often in good times, we get so busy we forget to ask for directions,” he said. “But if you really need to get where you want to go and it’s important to get there on time, make sure you ask really smart people. Watch someone else do it. Do it yourself. Teach others.”
Partch spent five years as an instructor at SBCC’s Adult-Ed Program teaching economics and investing.
“I had been in the investment banking world for about eight years when I started teaching at SBCC,” he said. “Only through teaching did I find out what I didn’t know. Teaching was what probably made me a good investment banker.”
Whether teaching a business reporter or an SBCC student, Partch simplifies complicated financial and economic concepts with analogies and metaphors, and boils these ideas down to broader life philosophies.
“I want to to tell a story and have everyone remember, have it stick with them,” he explained. “I believe that as a writer, you have to do that. Over the course of life, you should leave people with the feeling that they need to do something with what they know. They need to be inspired.”
Click here for Ken Partch’s debut Noozhawk financial column.
— Noozhawk business writer Taylor Orr can be reached at torr@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkBiz, @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.