Mike Absher began his career in wealth management back in 1996, but how he developed his love of investing started long before then. Beginning when he was just six years old, his uncle Bill began teaching Mike about the stock market. The lessons that he learned were almost entirely driven by the teachings of Benjamin Graham and then later the annual letters from Warren Buffett. His uncle Bill loved a quality business when it happened to be out of favor, but was quick to dismiss anything trendy or any stock related to a business with poor fundamentals. Many of those investment themes resonate in the portfolio strategies that Absher Wealth Management provides today.

The other critical influence on Mike’s professional development—more specifically how he manages and leads the firm—was his dad. These lessons were not about the stock market, nor investments in general, but rather how a professional can operate a practice for the benefit of their clients and their employees with an emphasis on character and integrity. His dad practiced law in a small town, but spent the last forty years of his career avoiding courtrooms and conflicts. He focused on those areas of law that hard-working people needed to accomplish their goals, such as buying a home, or drafting a will, or settling the estate of a loved one. By doing so, his dad could walk to lunch every day in a small town and never drop his head. He also understood the value of his supporting cast, and the overwhelming majority of his employees stayed with him for decades.

These lessons helped Mike shape the type of investing that his firm provides, understanding that to prudently steward the hard-earned savings of others requires him to consider margin of safety when others might want to chase the high-flyers. Just as important, these lessons have directly impacted how he has grown his firm, focusing on the integrity of every employee along the way.