Despite a stock market that keeps yo-yoing and pogo-sticking across the financial landscape, Mike Beatty, president of Prescott Investor Services, says he has genuine confidence that carefully monitored investments will yield positive economic growth in the future.
Beatty believes that success in lucrative investment counseling is based on having a deep understanding of clients and their investment objectives.
“I make a point of really knowing who my clients are and what their risk tolerance is in investing. I think the most important thing I do is to know – to really understand – my clients’ goals and objectives when it comes to my advising them how to handle their money.”
For more than a quarter century, Beatty has been advising clients about managing their investments. And Beatty’s clients are not just local. They are scattered across the country. He even has some international clients.
“My youngest is in his 30s, and the oldest, in the mid-90s. I work so hard to help clients determine their short and long-range goals. And it’s a continual process. Younger investors shift objectives as they get older and face life changes. Factors like age, health conditions, lifestyle changes such as marriage or divorce, a death in the family, relocation to another community or state – all these play into my helping a customer decide the best strategy to protect and grow financial assets. I emphasize with them that they must have selective diversity in their investments that is tailored to their goal.
A registered investment counselor with enough professional certification characters after his name to make alphabet soup, Beatty mainly manages investments for high-worth individuals and small institutions or organizations. He regularly updates and maintains his certifications through exams administered by the National Assocation of Security Dealers and similar industry and state and federal organizations.
He also dedicates part of his expertise to advising local non-profit philanthropic groups such as the Education Scholarship Endowment-Yavapai County.
The assets Beatty manages amount to significantly more than $23 million.
Beatty’s administrative assistant, Vicki Starin, has been with the firm since its founding. “I can’t think of any other job that is as rewarding as being able to work with such a diverse group of appreciative clients,” she said.
Educational and Professional Experience in Management
Prior to founding his firm 1989, Beatty had been vice president of a regional investment banking firm. Before that, he had several years of hotel and restaurant management experience.
Beatty became an executive soon after earning a Bachelor of Science degree at Northern Arizona University in 1977. Even while at NAU, Beatty was enthralled with investing.
“I became a small-time investor with some of my own spare money – not much, but enough to get me started. I plotted the stock market and watched trends,” he explained. “I soon learned that investing involved risk, so I was fairly cautious – but successful.”
After graduating, Beatty accepted a management position at Little America Hotel and Resort in Flagstaff. He soon was moved to Salt Lake City and ultimately to corporate offices in Little America, Wyoming.
But Beatty still had roots in his native Arizona. A graduate of Arcadia High School in Phoenix, he longed for the more moderate weather of the Grand Canyon State. He returned in 1985 and soon was in Prescott, where he managed the Prescott Mining Company, at that time famed for being one of the “fine dining” restaurants in Prescott. It has since closed.
But, in 1989, the tug of being his own boss involved in investments compelled him into founding Prescott Investment Services, Inc., an international investment management firm. At one time, Beatty was co-owner of HB International in the Czech Republic. He and a friend co-founded that firm soon after the communist government lost control of the country. He sold it in 1999.
Giving Back to the Community
Beatty is adamant that being a resident in a community involves far more than just living there. “I can’t imagine living in a place where I was not involved in community organizations and service. I don’t want to sound trite, but I believe we have to give back to a city or region – and in some cases, we need to give back more than we get.”
Beatty’s record of involvement bears that out. He currently serves on the board of trustees at Yavapai Regional Medical Center. He also serves as vice president of the Desert Southwest Chapter-Alzheimer’s Association, which includes Arizona and southern Nevada.
Additionally, Beatty is past chair of the Northern Arizona University Foundation and continues to serve on that board.
Beyond that, he is involved with Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters. He also is a past president and Melvin Jones Fellow of the Prescott Sunrise Lions Club. Because of Beatty’s involvement with the community service organization, it took him in 1992 to Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) where he founded that country’s first Lion’s Club. He also initiated a student exchange program for Prescott High School students to visit that nation.
One of those exchange students is Prescott resident Christine Penner (now Schafer), a 2006 honors graduate from Prescott High School. She describes her exchange visit during the summer 2005 as “…more than a vacation. For a short while, I was able to experience a lifestyle different from what I was used to.”
Now married to Phil Schafer, who is a nurse, she is the mother of an eight-month old son. Christi (as she was known then) credits Beatty with introducing her to the concept of spending time in another country. “I learned about communism and the subsequent switch to democracy, which affected people in ways I didn’t expect. Small details that history books and travel brochures cannot express came alive to me because I was immersed in the culture.”
Prescott community leader Tim Carter has nothing but praise for Beatty. Carter, long-time principal at Prescott High School before being elected as Yavapai County Superintendent of Schools, said, “I’ve known Mike Beatty for decades. He is extremely conscientious and his follow-though is immediate. As a service provider, whether doing things for his financial clients or helping in the community as a member of several volunteer organizations, Mike’s heart is always in the right place. He is a professional with the highest integrity.” QCBN
Photo: Mike Beatty shares a chuckle with Vicki Starin, his administrative assistant since 1989, as they review data about the ups and downs of the stock market.
Photo by Ray Newton
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