WHERE ARE THEY NOW?R
40 under 40 ANDREW HUNT, CO-OWNER/PARTNER, HILEY HUNT
Financial Partner
ANDREW HUNT ENJOYS LASTING CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS To understand just how immediate Andrew Hunt’s impact in the financial services industry was, consider he was recognized as a Midlands Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree in 2012 and nearly a decade later, he’s still well under the age cap for that award. But for as much of a 20-something-year old whiz as he was back then, cutting his teeth for Guiderock Capital Management, time has only ripened his expertise and effectiveness in his chosen field. Now a partner in his own firm, Hiley Hunt Wealth Management, he leverages that tenure into an ever-lengthening list of new and existing clients alike.
Out of Happenstance Not bad for a guy whose Plan A fizzled out mightily at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “I kind of fell into this industry,” Hunt said. “I was a chemistry major in college and was going to flunk out of chemistry, so I switched majors to accounting. My roommate’s dad was an accountant and I thought well, he seems to be successful.
“I went down the path of accounting and tax and took my first job working down at Gallup as a staff accountant. I had the opportunity there to start serving Gallup associates and their family members with their financial planning needs, really just out of happenstance. It was fortuitous how it got started because I really did fall in love with it.” Hunt’s unique mix of experience and youth – he’s currently 35 – makes him something of an industry unicorn. Long-time savers like his street cred, while younger (but no less-knowledgeable) clients relate to him generationally. His wellproven approach appeals to all comers. “When I first got into the business, it was a culture that financial planners were the knowledge gatekeepers,” he said. “With the rise in the internet, that’s no longer the case. The planner’s not the gatekeeper of knowledge and we’re not the gatekeeper of products anymore. “In our practice, we’re there to equip and coach and counsel rather than come down from the mountain with knowledge or some product they didn’t know about. I like to think I’ve always worked that way, but now you have to work that way for sure.”
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