With the launch of Courage Korving Miller Partners, our businesses enter a promising new season. Today though, we wanted to reflect. Our excitement for the next chapter comes from the deep friendship our firms have cultivated over the last 15+ years.
Where We First Connected
The relationship began years ago, well before the establishment of Korving & Company or Courage Miller Partners. Ralph Courage and Arie Korving were colleagues and good friends at UBS. Arie recalled, “I admired the work he was doing. I invited him to manage a portfolio for one of my clients. We started working together.”
During this time, Ralph was joined by Jeffrey Miller, and Arie was joined by his son, Stephen. The four began working collaboratively, drawn by a similar approach to the business and shared values.
Launching Parallel Independent Advisory Firms
In 2008, Ralph, Jeff and their team launched their own independent registered advisory firm–Courage Miller Partners. Within the next year, Arie and Stephen found themselves asking questions about the independent space as well. In 2010, their team followed suit, launching their own independent Registered Investment Advisory firm, Korving & Company.
As each business grew, they frequently found themselves reaching out to one another for ideas, advice, and best practices. As partner Jeff Miller shared, “Our cultures, philosophies, and desire to serve our clients aligned beautifully.”
Arie Korving added, “There’s a good deal of camaraderie in the registered independent advisor industry. It’s more collaborative than competitive as we work to serve our clients.”
Ralph Courage agreed, sharing, “As we built the practice, Stephen and Arie were asking lots of questions, and we felt that the future had us all together.”
The Decision to Form Courage Korving Miller Partners
As each business grew and evolved, Courage Miller Partners and Korving & Company maintained parallel trajectories, upholding very friendly, close, and collaborative relationships.
Ralph commented that, “It was only natural as our companies had become successful that we would take it to the next level by forming this firm. We feel that we can better serve our clients and future generations.”
Ultimately, the decision to form a partnership was driven by a handful of priorities, each one centered on better serving you, our clients.
1. Building a Stronger Future
As you know, financial planning spends a great deal of time looking to the future. We’re constantly asking, “What will you need a few years from now?” Our desire is to look to our future to plan for our firm as it pertains to serving you.
Stephen Korving called it, “Financial planning for financial planners.” This partnership is an intentional decision designed to help strengthen the future of our two firms. By combining two multi-generational advisor teams, our clients are now better supported as we help you plan for 10, 20, 30 or more years into the future.
Our desire is to serve you through every season of life, and this new direction is a key part of our ability to protect our longevity.
This also protects you, our clients, should something happen to either one of our teams. We realize that we are small teams, and should something happen to any member of our teams, this provides immediate backup and support for our clients and their advisor’s remaining team members.
2. Strengthening Our Areas of Expertise
Your experience as a client will have little to no changes. You will still work with the same advisor and support team members you have come to know.
For our team though, we now are bringing together a highly complementary set of skills. As Stephen called it: “a strong knitting.” Now that our team is under one roof organizationally, it only improves the collaborative culture that began in our friendships. From investment strategies and financial planning to retirement plan management, we bring more value to the table together than apart.
We’ve seen in many cases where this would be helpful to our clients, and our new business allows us to deliver this deeper access to expertise.
3. A More Robust Support Team
Each of our advisors would be the first to tell you that the strength of our support team is what enables the level of service you’ve come to expect. For each firm, we are excited to provide more depth and overlap in this area.
Looking to the Future
To say we are excited is an understatement. Every part of this decision has been carefully crafted to strengthen our ability to serve you. We truly believe this 1+1=3 kind of math.
The process of joining together has been thoughtful and deliberate, charted out over the course of several years of conversations and planning. Our primary objective has been ensuring minimal impact on you, our clients, while maximizing the benefits for all.
“It’s been a long journey and process. There are many conversations and a long-standing friendship that has built to this point,” shared Jeff Miller. “You have two great companies with really similar cultures, philosophies, and a desire to help our clients.”
You will see a few changes as we launch this new business together–a new website, a new logo, some new communications–but know that our commitment to you is stronger than ever. You, your families, and your future are our why.