Off the Clock: Philip Heyd -- financial adviser in New Orleans

New Orleans CityBusiness, Jun 22, 2009 by Greg LaRose

Age: 61

Family: wife, Sue

Education: bachelor's degree in business, University of New Orleans; master's degree in business administration, Loyola University

Hometown: New Orleans

The first job Phil Heyd held in the financial industry was part- time work at Kohlmeyer and Co., a regional brokerage house, while he was attending the University of New Orleans. He recalls manually sorting stock certificates so they could be mailed to shareholders, a task computers and automation have all but taken out of human hands.

At the time, investors were putting their money into safe-bet stocks such as old-line banks and auto manufacturers, Heyd said. Forty years later, those blue chips led Wall Street's nosedive.

Heyd, a senior financial adviser with Ameriprise-affiliated Goudeau, Heyd and Associates in Metairie, said the recession has created the worst market conditions he's seen.

"It's pretty amazing. If you would have told me even a year ago that this would happen, I wouldn't have believed it," Heyd said. "Fortunately, we work with clients to diversify. But the difference with this recession ... is that it took everything down."

What's the biggest difference between the current recession and Black Monday, the crash in October 1987?

No one knew what was going on then. Now, we have a lot of information. You can turn on CNBC or go on the Internet. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing because it doesn't lead an investor to think long term. Now, "long term" might mean two days.

Do you recommend a particular source for reliable information?

I'm fairly hesitant to recommend anybody. I think most commentators on financial channels tend to exaggerate. Things are never as bad or as good as they make them out to be.

Is there an upside for your profession when it comes to that information and the Internet?

The good thing about technology is that it gives you access to lots of information. The bad news is it's probably too much information for investors. In 1987, we had to go through investor files to see who exactly was affected. ... Now it just takes putting the ticker symbol into the computer and you find out how much someone is affected.

What was the first stock you purchased?

Probably General Electric. I sold it not too long ago. I sold it before it really dropped, but I probably got out a little too late.

Is there another animal besides a bear or bull that describes the current state of the market?

I'm not sure. I would say we're cautiously bullish. We're probably in one of these trading ranges with the run-up we've seen since March. Traditionally, there's some slowdown in the summer, and we've been telling our clients to expect that.