Howard Weade, father of Davenport Financial Founder Ron Weade and grandfather of President Casey Weade, has been the greatest influence on our philosophy about investments and saving.
Howard was born November 17, 1925, in Noble County, Indiana, and passed on to a better place in 2005. He was a hard-working, blue-collar family man who went to great lengths to ensure the security of his wife and two children.
Between factory work, carpeting and park management, Howard was always juggling two jobs. He tucked away as many pennies as he could, eventually saving a reasonable amount of money for a lower-class family.
He put it in the local bank, where he thought it would be safe; as it turns out, he was wrong. An officer at the bank embezzled every penny for his own benefit, and many, including the Weade family, was left with nothing. So they started over, but with much more skepticism about saving and investing.
Howard never took a loan, opened a credit card, applied for a mortgage, or invested in stocks, bonds or mutual funds. He paid off his first home with cash. He was very conservative in his investing philosophy, and our firm has taken the same approach with increased sophistication, innovation, education and experience.