Firm: Parcion Private Wealth
Name: Terry Cook
Location: Bellevue, WA
Team Custodied Assets: $1.9 billion
Forbes Rankings: America’s Top RIA Firms, America’s Top Wealth Advisors, Best-In-State Wealth Advisors
Background: Terry Cook grew up in a small town in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, a region now known for its wines and expansive farmland. It was an economics teacher in high school that turned him onto the wealth management business, leading him to graduate with a major in economics and minor in business from the University of Oregon in 1991. Shortly after school, Cook spent two years selling computer systems and gaining sales experience before ending up at Merrill Lynch. After a nine year stint at Merrill, he moved to UBS, where he spent 17 years working exclusively with business owners and their families. In 2019, Cook decided to start Parcion Private Wealth to more purposefully build out the resources specifically for those families, he recalls.
Competitive Edge: “We’re known for helping business owners and their families unlock the true potential of their wealth, usually through a sale or transition,” says Cook. “We show them how to take care of the people they love for generations and help them think bigger about what comes next.” As he describes, his team’s singular focus and discipline revolves around helping business owners through a transaction. This approach often entails advanced planning for clients—not only advocating for the personal wealth side of things but also helping with asset protection and wealth transfers. “The vast majority of families will only go through this once so they don’t have a vast amount of experience—we help them navigate transitions with clarity and confidence.”
Investment Philosophy/Strategy: “We have around 80 families and that means roughly 80 different pie charts when it comes to client portfolios,” says Cook. “Our industry strives for scalability and fitting everyone into a pie chart—we go the opposite way.” He and his team first prioritize a family’s cash flow needs when coming up with bespoke portfolios for clients, though there are some commonalities, such as looking for steady income in the form of dividends. “If a company is consistently raising their dividend, that gives families confidence in the consistency of those returns,” says Cook. He also likes delving into private markets to “move the needle” for clients from an opportunistic standpoint, offering strategic access to private investments. Equities are usually a mix of domestic and international stocks, the latter of which Cook argues look attractive thanks to better valuations abroad, while in fixed income there is typically a lot of treasuries and a significant amount of private debt. “Every client’s liquid portfolio needs to provide them with peace of mind and be very understandable,” he adds.
Investment Outlook: “In our mind, it’s not if but when we get a recession,” says Cook. “The narrative has swung from definitely hitting a recession to a soft landing, but that’s kind of a unicorn and rarely ever occurs.” There’s still a lot of liquidity in markets which is making it hard to predict the timing of a recession, he adds. “The Federal Reserve is going to keep rates high or even continue to raise rates until something breaks—this is the way almost every cycle ends, with the Fed overshooting.” It’s better to be underweight equities—though there are still pockets of value, he argues, adding that it’s a good time to keep plenty of dry powder in order to be opportunistic when there is further volatility. He advises keeping plenty of cash and Treasuries for when the environment does eventually start to turn, which he expects might be when the Fed starts to lower interest rates in response to an overshoot.
Best Advice: “For families that are going through and planning for the biggest financial events of their lifetime, it’s a scary and emotional time—even for the toughest business owners,” says Cook. “Most business owners regret a sale just 12 months later, so how do we help them avoid that?” He and his team answer that question by doing all the prerequisite planning for clients, helping them deal with the psychological impact and then giving them the resources post-sale to support their lifestyle.
Favorite Book/Movie/Hobby: Cook loves any movie with Will Ferrell in it: “Life is too serious sometimes so I like to laugh.” He’s also a big fan of author Tom Clancy’s espionage thrillers. Having grown up hunting and fishing in the Northwest, Cook continues to love spending time outdoors. He has four children and is particularly excited that they’re at an age where they are increasingly starting to share his passions.
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