A Wealth Manager's Personal Story

Dave Young, President of Paragon Wealth Management, understands how difficult it can be to find an investment firm. He tried to find one in the mid 1980's, but was unable to find a firm to meet his needs.  He wanted to find a company that would invest the money he earned from selling over a dozen businesses he owned. 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.

Dave took the next year off to research various investment and money management strategies. In 1986 he started Paragon Wealth Management and began investing his life savings to test his methods.  In the early years of his business he built and test basic quantitative models that determined when to be in or out of the equity markets. He did this through trial and error and extensive research. The models measured, monitored, adjusted and changed the investments as market conditions changed.

At first he managed his own accounts and a few of his friends' and family members'. When he avoided the 1987 stock market crash, his methods sparked a lot of interest and attracted clients. In 1993, Dave registerd Paragon with the Securities Exchange Commission, added staff and began attracting new clients with larger portfolios. He built more sophisticated and complex quantitative models to determine when to move between various sectors, styles and markets. Portfolio allocations were based around short-term, intermediate and long-term models.

At the end of 1997, 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. Today, Dave continues to research and develop ways to improve his investment methods.

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.