What could have been a low point of Larry Miles’ career may ultimately turn out to be his greatest opportunity yet.
Last September, Citywire broke the news that AdvicePeriod – a $3.5bn Los Angeles RIA – had parted ways with Miles after about five years. The exit set him on the path to his latest role: chief executive of $6.4bn Freestone Capital Management in Seattle.
‘The best advice I got after I left AdvicePeriod was to take my time and try to figure out what was going to make me happy long term. Don’t rush into anything. Take your time. Look at this as an opportunity,’ Miles says. ‘That does not come naturally to me… but it was awesome advice.’
Stepping up to the plate
Miles entered the RIA world in 2000 as a student at Amherst, where he played first base on the college team. The son of a Legg Mason broker, Miles was looking for an internship close to home in Maryland, where he was playing summer league baseball. He found CMS Financial Services, which was acquired by Lydian Trust Company in 2001. The combined company later rebranded itself as Convergent Wealth Advisors.
Miles earned his master’s degree at the London School of Economics and soon landed a full-time job at CMS.
‘I was an English major at Amherst. I had never used Excel before,’ Miles says. ‘I read an Excel for Dummies book. I had never worked in finance or investments so I had to learn a lot, and I wound up realizing I really liked that; I really liked learning new…
