Last October, I had the great pleasure of joining Jerry Webb for a long lunch at The Original Pancake House in Edina (one of his all-time favorite restaurants), shortly before he and his wife of 50 years, Doris, were heading south to Florida.

As many of you know, Jerry founded Webb Financial Group in 1981, and retired in the late 2000s. Now, at 94 years young and his 95th birthday approaching in May, he loves Florida’s warm winters where he spends time in the Naples area. He enjoys conversations and investment talk with his close group of friends and still holds his own while playing a game of pool.

At lunch, we talked about many of Jerry’s original clients. Though some have passed over the years, we still have many that led to second and third generation clients. Some of those family relationships go back to the late 1960s when he first started working in the investment business with First Investors. We have
been blessed to have so many long-term family relationships that started with Jerry, and continue today with Gary, Dave, Tim, Michelle, Taylor, Kristi, and myself.

Jerry hasn’t lost his comedic sense of humor. His jokes brought me back to the early days and meetings at WFG. He always told everyone that he was going to work until age 90 and live to 110. Another one of my favorite Jerry quotes is, “All you need is one or two good stock funds and hold them forever no matter what happens to the markets. Buy and hold the good managers.” Jerry always kept his client conversations uncomplicated so that everyone understood what was going on when it came to their investments. Our WFG team follows that same approach today.

I’m amazed when I think about how Jerry grew his client base to $100 million back in the 1990s when a $100,000 was worth nearly a quarter of million dollars by today’s measure. He started the KSTP radio show “Money Talk” on Sunday afternoons and hosted numerous WFG investment seminars to help the public become more investment-savvy. He always said the most rewarding part of this business was the time he spent answering listener questions during the radio show. He truly enjoyed helping people gain financial investment confidence and understanding. Thanks to Jerry’s initial hard work and by following his pragmatic
approach to advising, our clients entrust us to manage an investment portfolio that is quickly approaching the $400 million mark. And, as each year passes and the portfolio grows, our team’s experience deepens as we help more and more clients navigate through a wide range of life events, significant milestones, and many unique situations.

As Jerry and I traded stories over lunch, we agreed that neither of us envisioned this growth for WFG. It was a pleasure to catch up with him and I was so happy to see him in such great spirits and health. I want to thank Jerry for hiring me back in 1997, and giving me the opportunity to work at WFG. As always, our team is available to assist you with any financial or investment questions that you may have.