How did you get started? How did the firm get started?
I started by trading my own account at the San Diego branch of Conti-Commodity in 1979 when I was 20 years old. Those were wild and woolly days! About 20 traders came in to the office on a daily basis to hang out and watch the big quote board on the front wall in the office. With the noise from the mechanical numbers revolving with each price change and the board lighting up either green or red for new highs and lows along with the squawk boxes blaring and brokers furiously calling in orders (no computers back then) it was quite an electric atmosphere. I traded my own account for years and in 1990 became a broker at a former Heinold office that was owned and operated by its former branch manager. Just a month later the owner announced that he was getting out of the business – so with virtually no experience I bought out the operations and re-opened as Heritage West Financial. I was now responsible for running the entire office and an employer of a group of brokers all more experienced than me – it was quite a learning curve.
Does the firm provide additional services besides brokerage?
Full service brokerage is our core business. However, we recently formed Heritage West Capital Management, LLC as a CTA.
What are the biggest challenges your clients face today? What does the firm do to help meet those challenges?
The biggest challenge facing our clients today is protecting their account from large moves in the markets that can happen nearly 24 hours a day. We attempt to construct strategies and employ money management techniques that will keep our clients in the market and with reasonable risk protection. Another thing we have to do is protect clients from themselves. Clients nowadays pretty much have the same access to information as a broker does but they don’t necessarily have the experience and respect for the market that a seasoned broker does.
How has the futures and options industry evolved since you first started in business?
Well, I’ve been a participant in the markets for 33 years and in the business for 22 so I’ve seen all the changes that the advancements in technology and growth in the markets have had on the industry that many of you have also witnessed. The advancements in technology and communication, has like all other aspects of our daily lives, broken down many barriers to information and access to the markets. I remember years ago taking road trips across the country and always on the lookout for a payphone to call the toll-free number back at the office for a quote. I just returned a few weeks ago from the Balkans and in the middle of nowhere in the high windswept mountains of Montenegro I had four bars on my cellphone and access to my live quotes. Today, as a broker or trader, the market is always with us except for that brief period between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening.
(left to right: Doug McKay, John Jensen, Ralph Preston, and Damien Czar)
What do you believe to be the keys to the firm’s success?
In this industry of very high attrition numbers we are never content to sit still but are always looking to improve every aspect of our business no matter how small in the belief it all adds pieces to the puzzle which allows us to more effectively and efficiently serve our clients.
What trends are you most excited about?
The increased awareness of futures as an asset class and the acceptance of manage futures products as a vehicle to take advantage of these profit opportunities across the economic spectrum.
What trends are you most worried about?
An increasingly unstable political and economic world that could create highly volatile markets with dire consequences.
Why did you become a member of the NIBA?
My primary motivation for becoming a member of the NIBA was to become more connected to the industry. Out here in San Diego we are about as far as you can get from the centers of the futures markets in Chicago and New York. Even though San Diego is a major city there are just a few firms here – you really have to go north 75 miles to Irvine and then on to LA for any sizable retail brokerage activity. I felt isolated and as if I was operating in a vacuum. So NIBA has become a ‘portal’ if you will, to the industry for me. By becoming a member and attending the conferences over the years it has proved to me the value of the adage “activity begets activity”. The relationships, contacts, and insights made through the NIBA have been instruments to the growth of my business.
CONTACT
John C. Jensen
jjensen@hwfi.com
858-560-2646
www.heritagewestfinancial.com