Harry, the elder Ratliff, has taken pride in watching families achieve their own pieces of the American Dream
Harry and Geoff Ratliff are a father-son team that runs the Ratliff Wealth Management Group at Merrill Lynch in St. Louis. The pair says it works because they work in tandem.
The pair’s thriving business bucks the trend of family-owned businesses failing, as only 30% of those arrangements survive the transition from first-generation to second-generation.
Harry got his start through an advertising and sales promotion firm. He began serving corporations and educational institutions. By 1979, he had become a sales rep for Bristol Labs in St. Louis, and as he told the paper, he had begun to notice trends of a “changing business landscape,” which, he said, “provided people with a wide range of services through one network.”
In 1983, Harry, who had observed enough of the trends in the American economy by this point to plot his next steps, joined Merrill Lynch, citing their training programs and commitment to supporting diversity as significant reasons for his choice.
“The number one reason I joined Merrill was because they had the best general training program on Wall Street. So, I knew I’d get great training. Merrill was small then, but it was very diverse and has grown to be even more so in accepting everyone no matter their (ethnic) background. It’s a good place for exceptional talent to be recruited because the firm looks for excellence.”
Geoff, who was around seven or eight years old when his father joined the Merrill Lynch office, told The St. Louis American that his father essentially taught his children financial literacy at an early age.
“This was in the mid-80s when we didn’t have all the technology we have today,” Geoff recalled. “He (Harry) talked frankly to me and my sister about what he did – and not from just from a fiscally responsible, budgeting standpoint – but about the importance of finance and investing and how that helps over the long term. (He preached) the simple principles of compounding interests and getting involved in those things early and how it was all an equalizer if people could get a level of financial independence.”
Initially, Geoff resisted joining his father in business, in part because his father never pressured him to follow in his footsteps, instead opting to go into non-profit and entrepreneurial spaces. Geoff told the paper that he took a second look at how his father’s industry had evolved and believed that it also aligned well with his own personal desires to help people and provide comprehensive planning advice.
As a result, Geoff moved back to St. Louis with his family and joined Merrill Lynch in 2015; in 2018, Geoff created a partnership with his father.
Harry, the elder Ratliff, has taken pride in watching families achieve their own pieces of the American Dream, telling the paper, “We’ve seen people who’ve been able to achieve the American Dream; sending their kids to college, put themselves in a position where they could enjoy a fruitful retirement. We don’t just manage people’s money; we help them manage their lives. We try to be part of the fabric of our client’s lives.”
Geoff, meanwhile, also pointed out that the family-driven aspect of their business appeals to their customers, and they complement each other well, which also has helped their business expand to 18 states over the years.
“We are both good communicators with our clients. I get more into putting the plan together whereas he (Harry) is really sharp as far as the specifics around the investment management portion of it … figuring out the best products we use to help solidify people’s plans.”
Geoff continued, “Quite frankly, a lot of working families don’t work well together. We (he and Harry) don’t have any of the issues or nightmare stories you may hear of families that break apart because of failed business relationships. For us, the business has only brought us closer together, and it’s been a joy.”
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