In a new episode of Head to Head, Co-Heads of Distribution Kirsten Pickens and Ryan Robertson share their conversation with Scott Highmark, President and Principal of Mosaic Family Wealth. Scott shares how he went from being a college basketball athlete to becoming a financial advisor and eventually opening his own firm.
About Scott Highmark
As the President of Mosaic Family Wealth, Scott leads the strategic direction of the firm to ensure that the firm is adequately positioned to anticipate and serve the needs of our clients. A Certified Financial Planner©, Scott also works closely with our clients to define a long-term vision of success in their financial lives and beyond. He brings more than two decades of experience to the firm, with additional tenures as Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Vice President–Wealth Management at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. He is proud to have created a team of like-minded, like-hearted, talented people to help execute his dream of building Mosaic Family Wealth.
Transcript excerpt:
Scott Highmark: I think our industry is morphing from IQ to EQ. You got to have both. You got to have to have the analytical side. But if you can’t connect with people, if you can’t connect with them and tease that out and help them down the path and be a guide with them. They don’t care how smart you are.
Kirsten Pickens: Welcome to Head to Head a podcast by FS Investments, where we get personal with the people of financial services. I’m Kirsten Pickens.
Ryan Robertson: And I’m Ryan Robertson. We are the co-heads of distribution at FS Investments, and together we sit down with some of the brightest minds, innovative thinkers and thought leaders in the financial services industry. Our guest this episode is Scott Highmark. Scott is the president of Mosaic Family Wealth.
Kirsten Pickens: In this episode, we sit down with Scott and discuss how he went from being a college basketball athlete to becoming a financial advisor and eventually opening up his own firm.
Ryan Robertson: We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Scott, welcome to head to Head. Thank you so much for being on.
Scott Highmark: Well, Ryan, it’s good to be with you guys. Thanks for asking me.
Kirsten Pickens: Thanks for being here, Scott. We’re excited for this conversation today.
Ryan Robertson: So, in full disclosure, Scott and I have known each other for 30 years. He and I both live in St. Louis. We grew up together playing basketball. Before Scott was the president of Mosaic Family Wealth, and before I was the co-head of distribution at FS Investments. As I said, we both played basketball against each other. Scott was a prolific scorer in high school and college. He’s on the all-century team at St. Louis University. I grew up watching him play at St. Louis University. They were some of the best and most fun teams to watch and just a thrill to have him on our show today. I think, Scott, where we want to start is I think a lot of people in our industry, but even athletes, struggle with the transition from athletics or the court to a real job. So how did you handle that? How did you handle transitioning from being a college student athlete, to becoming a financial advisor?
Scott Highmark: It’s a great question. And Kirsten, by the way, Ryan was kind of like my little brother in the basketball circles. He’s the much better little brother. So, he was kind of the rising McDonald’s All-American stud, and when I was in college, we got to know each other. And so it’s been a blessing to know him for a long time. So it’s great to be with you guys. You know the deal, Ryan, you spend your whole life trying to chase the round ball and put the ball in the basket for 20-some odd years. And then just briefly, I did not have as prolific a professional career as you Ryan, but I kind of had, I call my basketball vagabond year. My first year out of college, I played in the CBA, I played in Australia, New Zealand.
I played for athletes in action. I kind of traveled the world and realized that I probably wasn’t good enough to really make a living a sustainable living doing it. But it was super fun and then came back and as I would say, as the Lord would have it, or fate would intervene, I grew up going to church with the Edwards family of A.G. Edwards. So Tad and Ben Edwards literally sat in the pew in front of me for 20 years as I was growing up. Todd Edwards asked me one day, he said, what are you doing? I’m like, I’m trying to play basketball for a living. And he said, well, when you’re done with doing that, he’s like, and if you’re interested in financial services you should call me. So again, I waited about six or nine months and kept trying to chase the basketball dream. Then long story short, when I came back and kind of figured out I was done, my wife, my girlfriend then was soon to be my wife, now 27 years we’ve been married, had a lot to do with that is why I came back and wanted to get started in my career and just was very blessed. I mean, just my story of my life has just been blessed throughout, blessed with great parents, blessed with great timing, blessed with great community and friends like Ryan. Honestly, just kind of stumbled into it. That’s literally how I stumbled into the business.
