FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Financial adviser Eric Fujimoto turned to his career after he found that accounting wasn't lively enough for him.

Financial adviser promotes
sharing the wealth

Eric Fujimoto » At 32, Fujimoto is not only a senior financial adviser at American Express Financial Advisors; he has been ranked among the top 1 percent of advisors whose clients rated them highly in areas including satisfaction and financial knowledge. The company has named him a master adviser and a master leader as well as one of its top producers. » He was named a distinguished alumni of Honolulu's Chaminade University in 1997, after received his MBA from the university three years earlier. » He has a wife, Lori, and son Dylen.

Question: You've accomplished a lot for 32 years old.

A: In 1997 when I got the (Chaminade) award -- you don't mind doing public speaking, talking in front of people, but there's certain people you never want to share the stage with. I had to share the stage with (comedian) Frank DeLima. How do you follow him? And I had to follow up. I found out 5-6 hours before that I was following Frank DeLima. Right in front of him I just tore up the speech. But part of getting where you're at today is knowing when to defer to people.

Q: How have you accomplished so much at work while having a family?

A: It's because of the family and because of the son. All too often people use their family and their children as an excuse as to why. For me turning that into a positive, that was helpful. When you're in this business, you talk about money. You realize that -- and I know it's metaphoric -- money doesn't buy happiness. You realize you need to be happy with a finite level of wealth, and I don't think its vice versa.

Q: What do you tell someone who is overly concerned about their financial status?

A: I think that when you encounter those types of personalities you first need to have them acknowledge if the desire is to get more wealth, it will never be enough. I tell families controlling your wealth is to control the experience your dollars can provide. Instead of taking it with you and giving, it would be better sharing the wealth now when everybody's alive, so the generations can experience all the things grandma and grandpa and mom and dad can offer. Because I think success is experiences, not bank account values.

Q: You originally studied government and economics. What was your career plan back then?

A: The irony of being a local boy, you see how that's correlated where government and economics are pretty closely related. I wanted to be an accountant when I first went to school. I went to college and it was boring. The numbers weren't lively enough. Seeing somebody smile is when you know you're communicating to them. It's a warm feeling. This kind of business can accomplish this if you allow it to happen. We joke about this business as having a social worker heart with a capitalist mind. You get the best of both worlds.

Q: What are you advising clients to do in the current market?

A: I think that this year we're going to look for modest returns, mid- to upper single-digits. ... I think that the economy's healthy, corporate earnings are growing, valuations are high but not necessarily excessive. This is a 12-month educated guess. I think the issue of inflation is going to become more critical as the year moves forward. No one can control the Fed.

From a Hawaii perspective, we see international more attractive than U.S. stocks. There's talk of either Europe and Japan. In Japan, there's a little uncertainty, but that's where values lie.

Q: Do you have a wealth requirement for clients?

A: That was the biggest dilemma that I faced because the industry is moving that way. The industry is moving to the mass affluent market. How can you blame the industry? That's where the demographics lie. I think the success that I've had is really grounded in the values by which we were raised. Thus the answer is no. We want to work with individuals that have an open mind and are appreciative of good advice. We're equally as appreciative.

Q: Last word?

A: One of things we always strive for is customer satisfaction. ... That's where we want to be judged at the end of the day. In financial advice, that's the only thing that we can control. I tell the staff, the team, that every day. It has be a culture, especially in Hawaii. You can't fake it. It has to be genuine.