At Guardian Group, we believe it is our job is to take care of all your financial needs so that you can relax and enjoy your life—we are your guardian angels for life.
Guardian Group has three distinct divisions—the first two focus on services. Guardian Capital Investment Advisors focuses exclusively on financial services for individuals and families. Guardian Consulting Services focuses on institutions and corporations. The basic gist of both divisions is—we are our clients’ single point of contact for all their financial needs.
On the products front, we offer a portfolio management service [PMS] called Guardian Asset Management. It is managed by Kartik Damodar, the founder of Guardian Group—to support him is the Guardian Advisory Committee that consists of independent, well experienced fund managers. We invest heavily on equity, some debt. Our portfolio is concentrated—we focus only 10 to 15 stocks. GAM aims to generate superior returns in comparison to other investment avenues.
Guardian Group’s biggest advantage is our overall structure—because we deal with individual services, institutional services, and investment products, our financial planners have a 360 degree view of client’s risk and cash flows. In terms of investing—this allows for optimal and opportune asset allocation. In other words, we are able to invest the right amount of money at exactly the right time so that the client is able to maximize returns. In-house accounting consultancy provides the additional advantage of working to minimize the client’s taxes.
Leadership Info
Guardian Values
Our core values are simple, but powerful
These values define our work ethic as well as how we live our lives.
Integrity – Live with pride
“Never do anything in life if you would be ashamed of seeing it printed on the front page of your hometown newspaper for your friends and family to see.” Warren Buffet.
a) Honesty—never lie to your client. One tiny lie is all it takes to lose complete trust in a reputation that you’ve taken years to build.
b) Commitment—when you commit something to a client, always deliver. Your reputation is as good as your word, do not lose it.
c) Pride—when you present something to your client, always make sure you can take pride in your work. If you can’t take pride in what you’ve produced, you cannot produce anything of great value for your client.
Thinking Clearly
“If we think long term we can accomplish things that we wouldn’t otherwise accomplish. Time horizons matter. They matter a lot.” Jeff Bezos.
a) Holistic approach to thinking—always think of the client using a ‘long term’ approach. When you sign up a client, treat the client as if s/he is your client for the duration of his/her life. Therefore, you must always use a holistic approach—focus on the long term instead of instant gratification.
b) Calm beneath the storm—be the shoulder that the client can lean on. The market is volatile in the short run—there will be a time when your client is afraid of losing his /her investments. At this point in time, you must be the rock for the client. You must be able to articulate why they should not be fearful.
c) Articulation—think of your clients like they are your students—they haven’t learned finance, their knowledge is limited. As such, you must delineate your thought process in a step by step manner. You must be able to think in a calm, rational manner and articulate your thought process, keeping the end result in mind.
d) Organization—take the saying ‘organization is the key to success’ very seriously—be extremely well planned and organized. Excellent customer service can only be achieved if you are on top of all things, especially your schedule.
Ownership
“Try holding yourself accountable to yourself. If you had to give yourself a daily, weekly, or monthly report, would you be proud to talk about what you had done, or would you need to be prettying up things, bullshitting, or lying to keep your job?” Loren Weisman.
a) Accountability—always hold yourself accountable for your actions, if you make a mistake, own up to it. Your client will appreciate it. Make it a point to never make the same mistake twice.
b) Guardian brand—you are a part of Guardian Group, and as such Guardian Group is a part of you—remember that each and every action is representative of the company.
c) Be proactive—practice proactive ownership—if you see a piece of trash lying on the office floor, pick it up and place it in the dust bin. ‘It is not my responsibility’ is never an excuse. Help your colleagues out whenever you can.
Passion – Love what you do
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs.
a) Motivation—be genuinely motivated in helping your client.
b) Inspiration—inspire your colleagues with your client servicing skills—inspire your colleagues by the high quality of your work—be someone they can count on.
c) Empathy—put yourself in the client’s shoes—ask yourself ‘what would I do, if I were in his/her shoes?’ The only way to achieve success at work, is to care deeply for the client’s needs.
d) Enjoyment—love what you do—your client can easily tell how much you enjoy your work by the quality of work you put out.
Perfection – Be the best
”The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.” Jeff Bezos.
a) Highest standards—provide a better quality of service than anything else out there. You must make sure that the quality of service you provide is something that the client cannot find anywhere else, at any price.
b) Learn constantly—you must learn something new every day. After every client interaction, you ask yourself : Is there anything I could have done better?
c) Urgency—the motto ‘get it done yesterday.’ Always be as quick as possible when responding to a client—make sure you put client needs first.