Explore Our
“Off The Wall” Blog
Unique, straight-forward, unfiltered opinion on topics of concern for individuals with newfound wealth.
Cool Offices: Marine Turned Money Manager Keeps His History Alive (Video)
By Sara Gilgore, Digital Producer at Washington Business Journal
See the video and article on the Washington Business Journal website >
Walk into David Armstrong’s personal office and an explosion of color pulls your eyes to the opposing wall. Vibrant hues splattered over an orange backdrop mimic the drip-painting style Jackson Pollock made famous. Nearly illegible, the letters “CM” hide in the bottom-right corner of the abstraction. History hides in the art.
But look around, and the occupant’s backstory comes into focus.
The Monument Wealth Management co-founder and co-president served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps on active duty from 1990 to 1997. And his office is filled with photographs and mementos from his military days as well as colorful furniture perhaps uncharacteristic of a stereotypical financial services firm — and inspired by that painting.
The artist, Chris Morgan, was among the Marines that Armstrong led on a six-month deployment. Armstrong was a 26-year-old senior officer “in charge of these young knuckleheads,” he remembers affectionately. Morgan was one of his “discipline problems.”
Fast forward to the days of Facebook, and the two reconnected online. Then one day, a package arrives, with a marker-scribbled letter on the back of the canvas. The painting, it says, represents their time together, with meaning behind each color. It’s messy up close, but when you take a step back, it’s actually really cool, Armstrong explains.
“It’s one of my most prized possessions,” he says.
The painting became the catalyst for the office’s motif. Its bright orange and blue splashes seemingly spill off the wall and into the room, onto the electric blue seats beneath the painting and vivid orange chairs on both sides of Armstrong’s desk.
“I can’t put that on the wall in my house,” Armstrong says, gesturing to the painting. “This is not what my interior décor looks like, so I get to have a little bit of a different man-cave kind of place to come.”
Armstrong’s laptop isn’t hooked up to the monitors on the table behind him — he works on the big table in the open suite with his colleagues most of the time. He’ll prepare for client meetings in his office, for instance, but he’s only closed the door on a handful of occasions. The cheery design and lack of clutter make it functional for him.
“This is my personal, private creative space,” Armstrong says. “I do a lot of strategic thinking and brand messaging, and I write the blog, so I create a lot of content. This is my space where I can get away from the noise and think.”
On the fourth floor at 1701 Duke St. in Old Town Alexandria, about 5,800 square feet are home to a team of 12 people. The firm moved here three years ago from a smaller, more traditional office in the same building. Before that, the company lived across the street, in an even smaller 18-month sublet from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Armstrong began investing money with his dad’s guidance during his Marine Corps days, after which his first job was at Wall Street firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in New York. Its corporate merger with Credit Suisse moved him to the D.C. area, where he met his current business partner, Dean Catino. They eventually hatched a plan to go into business for themselves, which came to fruition in May 2008.
Monument Wealth Management opened for business right before the economy took a turn for the worst.
“I was scared out of my mind,” Armstrong says. “But what we didn’t realize was that it was actually a vehicle for growth. While all of the big firms were fighting a perception battle with Wall Street and Main Street, we were messaging, ‘We’re something different, so if the current financial crisis has caused you to reconsider who you’re doing business with, come talk to us.’ We kept growing the practice, and all of a sudden it just started taking off.”
The firm, which the Washington Business Journal named as one of its 2015 Best Places to Work, now has an open floor plan. Transitional areas, like the putting green and television corner, could be converted to additional workspace. Armstrong likens the work itself to that of a “creative design agency,” and says the office reflects that creativity. His personal office is likewise a far cry from those in the firm’s previous home, with big, heavy company furniture.
Tokens and gifts from Armstrong’s time in the military — his ribbons in a display box, an artillery shell replica, coins from his work as commanding officer, and a knife inscribed with the phrase, “Once a Marine, always a Marine” — sit on the windowsill that stretches across the back of the room.
Photographs from deployments are protected in frames propped against the glass. There he is a block away from where the events depicted in the movie “Black Hawk Down” took place, in Mogadishu, Somalia; on the border of the Western Sahara and Morocco; and on the border of Iraq and Kuwait.
A framed guidon, which represents a unit’s commanding officer, is mounted on the wall. The Marines Armstrong led for two-and-a-half years signed it for him. An engraved quote of his reads, “Being a marine isn’t something you do, it’s something you are.”
These pieces of Armstrong’s history double as conversation starters, he says, and will have a presence in his next office, should the firm move. Its existing lease would have to be renewed by the end of the year. Either way, Armstrong says they don’t plan to leave Old Town.
He says he hopes to have a similar personal office in the new space, and for the shared area to be both “a place where clients want to come” and “a destination for people who come to work everyday, too.”
See the video and article on the Washington Business Journal website >
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION
Please remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Monument Capital Management, LLC [“Monument”]), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this blog will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this blog serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Monument. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. No amount of prior experience or success should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if Monument is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. Monument is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the blog content should be construed as legal or accounting advice.
A copy of the Monument’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available for review upon request or at www.monumentwealthmanagement.com/disclosures. Please Note: Monument does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to Monument’s website or blog or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility for any such content. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.
Historical performance results for investment indices, benchmarks, and/or categories have been provided for general informational/comparison purposes only, and generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges, the deduction of an investment management fee, nor the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. It should not be assumed that your Monument account holdings correspond directly to any comparative indices or categories. Please Also Note: (1) performance results do not reflect the impact of taxes; (2) comparative benchmarks/indices may be more or less volatile than your Monument accounts; and, (3) a description of each comparative benchmark/index is available upon request.
Please Remember: If you are a Monument client, please contact Monument, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services, or if you would like to impose, add, or to modify any reasonable restrictions to our investment advisory services. Unless, and until, you notify us, in writing, to the contrary, we shall continue to provide services as we do currently. Please Also Remember to advise us if you have not been receiving account statements (at least quarterly) from the account custodian.