A Wealth Manager's Personal Story

Dave Young, President of Paragon Wealth Management, understands how difficult it can be to find a wealth manager. He started managing his own money in 1986 after he sold the 12 businesses he owned. He wanted to invest the money from the sale, but wasn't impressed with the investment services available. He wasn’t willing to risk his life savings following the traditional buy and hold programs promoted by most investment firms. He wanted to do more with his money.

Later that year, Dave decided to form "The Center for Financial Excellence" where he built basic quantitative models that determined when to be in or out of the equity and bond markets, and he used no-load mutual funds as his investment vehicle.

He took care of his own accounts and soon began managing his friends' and family's money. When he avoided the 1987 stock market crash, his methods sparked a lot of interest.

In 1993, Dave formed Paragon Capital Management and registered with the SEC. He added staff and began attracting clients with larger amounts of money. He built more sophisticated and complex quantitative models to determine when to move between the various sectors, styles and markets. Portfolio allocations were based around short-term, intermediate, and long-term models.

In 1998, Dave established Paragon’s growth portfolio, Top Flight, which incorporated Paragon's most effective models and systems to date. In 2001, he established Paragon’s conservative portfolio, Managed Income, designed as a very conservative alternative for clients who wanted limited volatility.

Dave's investment management venture has not only benefited his family and friends, but has also helped many of his clients provide the best for their families.

Recognitions

The success of Paragon’s management style has attracted local and national attention. Paragon has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money magazine, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Business Week, Investment News, Dow Jones Newswire, Money Management Executive, Trader Monthly, Advising Boomers, Investment Management Weekly, and various Utah publications. Dave has also appeared on CNBC.

Best of State presented Paragon with the 2008 Utah Best of State Award in Financial Services. The Provo/Orem Chamber awarded Paragon with the Small Business of the Year Award in May, 2008. Wealth Manager Magazine named Paragon one of their “Top Dogs”--one of the top advisory firms in the United States in 2008.

Charitable Contributions

Over the past several years, Paragon has helped several Utah charities raise close to $30,000,000. These assets have been used to fund numerous scholarships and other programs. Several charities use Paragon to manage a portion of their assets.