About Us

Robert Guild: In his own words

After growing up in Edmonds, Washington, and putting myself through college at Washington State University, I entered the grocery industry with Associated Grocers in the late 1970s. Using my love for math and numbers, I began and managed a market research department using statistics and consumer surveys to improve grocery store décor, hiring practices, and offerings. Many of the store owners used our services for their long-range strategic planning. An opportunity came calling in the way of Procter & Gamble, so for five years I was tutored by working in one of the best business models in the country. From the Bar Soap Division to Military Sales, I traveled all over the Northwest and Alaska, but a small voice within me began to speak louder with regard to career paths and planning.

In 1985, my financial services career began with Northwestern Mutual. Within months, I learned how very personal and important proper financial tools can be to families. First, my brother-in-law Burke was killed in an auto accident, leaving my sister alone with an 18-month-old son. Shortly thereafter, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and died within a couple of months. Neither Burke nor my dad had a financial plan in place. Bottom line, my sister and mother were left with a lot of great memories but very little for their financial future. Right then I committed myself to a four-step "Client First" approach: protection, accumulation, distribution, and conservation.

As the 1990s approached, I took an opportunity to work the corporate side of risk management with Chubb Companies, servicing their affluent client base. After Chubb was acquired by Jefferson-Pilot, it became very apparent that the new owners were looking to redesign the company into 12 regions. Before our office was closed, I worked with two partners to open an independent wholesale brokerage company, offering investment products and tools to representatives throughout the western United States.

During the mid-1990s, the securities markets began to gain momentum and soon dominated the financial services profession. My specialties grew with the market, and during that time I gained both my securities licenses in addition to my professional designations: Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and the Certified Fund Specialist designation (CFS).

Looking to work more closely with clients themselves, I chose to leave the back room world of the brokerage industry and accepted a position with Allstate. For five years I worked as a financial services specialist and worked to educate and provide support expertise to their regional representatives. One hundred percent of my time was devoted to mutual funds and asset allocation, matching a client’s risk profile with the appropriate mix of mutual funds. I frequently found myself at the top of Allstate’s performance reports.

For all the success I was having, I began to experience an internal struggle that acknowledged that what was right for the client wasn’t necessarily what we had to offer—which was loaded mutual funds.

I invested a great deal of time researching securities and I developed a review of mutual funds available to our representatives using a statistical model comparing standard deviations, expenses, and performance among the universe of mutual funds. The more information I gathered, the more I saw that the loaded funds our company had to offer were getting beat by no-load, low-fee, index funds.

Over the years I further became educated by the work of Ed Ward and Paul Merriman. Ed had repeatedly pushed for me to join him and Paul at Merriman Capital. The timing never seemed to be right, but we kept in touch regularly and actually shared clients in our respective specialties. When I heard that Ed opened a new firm offering the same type of services as Merriman, but at a discount, the advantages to clients was overwhelming and I didn’t need any convincing as to where my next move was going to be: Robinswood Financial at Carillon Point.

A client-first focus, no-load indexed mutual funds, and long-term relationship goals combine my love of the industry with my commitment to my clients.

On a personal note, my journey hasn’t been alone. My spare time is most often filled with family activities. My wife Susan and I have been blessed with two great kids. While one is off at college, both have enjoyed success in the classroom and athletic fields. Through coaching their early teams and being in the stands as they’ve grown, we’ve had the opportunity to visit many parts of the country via their exploits on the ball fields.

In addition to family time, I am committed to my community. I have served and continue to serve or volunteer with many local charities: as a former Board Member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA)-Seattle/Eastside and Help-A-Life Foundation; as a Board Member of our local high school’s Booster Club; and as a volunteer at Matt Talbot Center in Seattle and in our church. In my spare time, I enjoy golf and reading military history. I am in the process of documenting as many veteran accounts as possible of what Tom Brokaw describes as "The Greatest Generation."

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