Faust opens doors to financial advising in Saratoga

Will Faust celebrated the New Year by opening his own Edward Jones office in downtown Saratoga. Faust is excited to be building his own business serving the financial and wealth management needs of Carbon County.

"To have the third largest financial advising, wealth management company in the country embedded in a town like Saratoga ... serving rural Carbon County was a unique opportunity for me to start putting some of my degree to work, building a real business that's mine and providing a service here in Saratoga that, I think, is necessary and building a better life for my family," Faust said.

Faust's family includes his wife Melissa, whom he met at the University of Wyoming (UW) and their two children Edgar and Martha.

Faust became familiar with the Upper North Platte Valley and its needs during a senior project for a rural community economic development class where he helped research and assess public opinion during the planning of the Platte Valley Community Center.

After obtaining his degree in Agriculture Business and Economics from UW in 2003, Faust took a job with Pedersen Planning Consultants in Encampment. At Pedersen, he worked mainly in the community planning aspect of the business, similar to the Saratoga Master Plan process that is occurring now. His specialties included geographic information systems, economic statistical models and project planning.

He supplemented his time at Pedersen by working as a fishing guide, something he had done since he was 15, starting with an outfitter in the Pinedale area. In his family you got a summer job when you were 15 or 16. "My dad didn't really care what we did so long as we had some sort of gainful employment," Faust said, adding, "They hired me on for $20 a day and I had a tipi to live in."

An interest in finance goes back to Faust's family timber business in Tennessee. When the opportunity to sign on with Edward Jones came up, he took it. He said several of his friends work for the company, also in small towns in Wyoming, and had great things to say about Edward Jones. After his initial training Faust worked out of the Rawlins office for about two years.

Faust is not one to give generalized financial advice. "There is no situation that is the same, so there is no solution that is the same," Faust said, following with, "I'm not comfortable giving any advice unless I know who you are." He noted that with many young people it makes sense to just get something going. Someone who has been investing may come in for a review to make sure their investments are aligned for serious long-term goals. "A lot of that has to do with getting to know people. Getting to understand what their needs are, what their goals are," Faust said.

Even though the office is in Saratoga, Faust hopes to serve the larger rural area. "There is the greater Upper North Platte Valley, Baggs, Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow. All of these are areas I have identified and focused on as far as serving those communities," Faust said.

Acknowledging that serving a small community means wearing many hats, Faust's Edward Jones office provides an array of services with a national network of back office support.

The company provides investment services that include annuities, certificates of deposit, equities, insurance, money market funds and mutual funds. Other services include retirement planning, education savings plans, income management and banking services.

"Our goal is to provide the serious long-term investor the financial advice to reach their goals realistically," Faust said, adding, "Those are the things we can control for in this business. The market goes up and down but at the end of the day we can control whether we have the highest quality investments that are aligned for your long-term goals."

If you want his advice, Faust suggests coming down to the Saratoga office. "We're in a small town. Give us a call or stop by. We are in a really neat office that is historical. We are certainly excited to a be a fixture downtown."

The Saratoga Edward Jones office is located at 122 E. Bridge Ave. and their phone number is 307-326-3300.