Cooper/Haims Advisors, LLC dates back to 1981 when 2 young(er) advisors at a financial firm decided to begin working together as a planning team. Shortly thereafter, Howard Haims and Carole Cooper (soon to become Cooper-Haims) created Cooper/Haims Financial Services, Inc., and established their first office in Midtown Tower in 1984. Their vision was (and still is) to create an organization that prides itself on exceptional service and solid advice. The emphasis at their previous financial firm had been on insurance sales, and Carole and Howard endeavored to assist their clients to solve their financial problems with more than insurance products.
Their timing was perfect. The 1980s saw the start of the financial planning movement, as financial products became more and more confusing and Americans became more and more responsible for their own financial well-being. In 1988, Howard was awarded the Certified Financial Planner® (CFP) designation. A course in taxation was required, and it was taught by Robert Yawman, one of a handful of CPAs who had also completed his CFP® training. Howard and Carole recognized the need for Bob’s technical and tax expertise, and after a few years of working on an ad hoc basis together, Bob joined Cooper/Haims as a full partner in 1992. By then, Cooper/Haims had left Midtown for offices in Union Place, a newly rehabbed building still in the city of Rochester, but with convenient, free parking for clients.
The financial planning “movement” continued strong in the 1990s. The partners at Cooper/Haims had the foresight to stay in the forefront of the movement, ensuring that their clients received focused tax services and advice. In 1996, they began to transition from selling commissionable products to managing fee-based portfolios. All of the clients became “clients of the firm”—the model that exists today as Cooper/Haims’ trademark.
In 2001, the Client Advisory Board was created in an effort to elicit feedback and involve clients in decisions that directly affect them and the firm. The first years of the new millennium also saw the bursting of the “tech bubble,” which created the biggest growth spurt in Cooper/Haims’ history. New clients were seeking veteran planning professionals who were client-focused. The firm doubled its office space, and William Rice, CFP®, joined as an advisor after a successful career as CFO at Birds Eye Foods. In 2003, the firm changed its name to Cooper/Haims Advisors, LLC, and registered as a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC.
The Client Advisory Board strongly urged the 3 partners to create a succession plan so that clients would continue to feel that they and their families would be served into the next generation. The Board’s advice was for the partners to “clone themselves.” In 2003, with a new MBA and 7 years in Dallas marketing to large manufacturing companies with IBM, Jared Haims joined the family office to begin the succession plan. Jared successfully completed his CFP® training in 2007, and he is chiefly responsible for Cooper/Haims having the most up-to-date technology in the industry.
Jared was joined in 2008 by Richard Bentley, CPA, CFP.® Rich had completed 8 years as a lead advisor at Nixon Peabody Financial Advisors and brought a solid background in investment management and tax and estate planning to the firm. Rich is the firm’s chief investment strategist. Jared and Rich were named full partners in 2010.
The succession plan demonstrated success when, in 2008, founding partner Carole Cooper-Haims retired. Clients with whom she worked for 30+ years still miss her, but they continue to be well served as clients of the firm.
Our operations team was further developed with the hiring of Barbara Wallace in 2003 and Tobey Sweezy in 2005. Xian Wong joined the firm in 2010. In May 2010, the firm moved to a new space in a new building on the Route 96 corridor in Victor.