by Kyla Hurt
Clients or potential clients will now visit Dave Heitbrink, CFP, at his office on the second floor of the Bank of Springfield (BOS) building on West College Avenue in Jacksonville.
It’s literally within one block from his previous office in Jacksonville — a small adjustment. Beyond that, it’s business as usual. Heitbrink concentrates on his clients and works to best handle each client’s investments.
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Heitbrink attended the University of Iowa and was hired by Edward Jones in Plainfield. In 1995, he married Jodi (Bramel) Heitbrink and the two made the decision to move back to Jacksonville in 1996. She is a fifth-grade teacher at North Elementary School and the two have a daughter, Megan, who resides in Kansas City and plans to start graduate school in the fall.
Once back in his hometown, Dave Heitbrink started his own firm with LPL on Morton Avenue, running traditional investment management at that location from 1996-2013.
“In 2013, I decided to start my own registered investment advisor (RIA), Heitbrink Asset Management. At that time, I wanted to be a completely independent, fee-only fiduciary 100% of the time … being in a position where there were no conflicts of interests that are inevitable in a commission environment,” tells Heitbrink.
He continues, “It was a big leap. Thankfully, most all of my clients stayed with me. The practice has really grown … tremendously really with that business model and continues to grow today. The one drawback to having your own RIA is there’s a tremendous amount of regulatory tasks that take a lot of time that’s nearly the same for a firm with ten people or a firm with one — and I was one.”
Of course, there is the normal day-to-day work that goes along with owning any business or corporation as well. Essentially, it’s a lot of work. “So, this past year [2021], I started looking for a way to offload that extra non-client work. I was looking for a way to focus my time and effort on the part of the business that I actually enjoy, which is clients. I started looking for a partner situation where I could offload some of those tasks and focus on client matters.”
Heitbrink has been friends with Mike Halsne since the two were kids. Halsne is with Bank of Springfield and when Heitbrink found out that BOS was running part of their business as an RIA, Heitbrink says, “I asked him about that and had subsequent meetings with the people at BOS Asset Management — and lightning struck. It was a perfect situation.”
Adds Heitbrink, “The more I looked … the people at BOS Asset Management are just exemplary at their job. This situation will afford me the ability to focus 100% on clients and planning for their financial goals.”
Heitbrink Asset Management clients were officially moved over to Bank of Springfield Asset Management with Heitbrink at the beginning of March. Heitbrink’s primary custodian is TD Ameritrade. In fact, for Heitbrink’s clients, the only material thing that’s changing is the location of his desk.
Outside of work, Heitbrink is involved with the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Contact Club and was a past chairman of the chamber as well. He enjoys golfing, traveling, visiting St. Louis, symphony and live music of all kinds.
Heitbrink’s office number remains the same at 217-245-5580. His new office at Bank of Springfield is located at 303 W. College Ave. in Jacksonville, on the second floor.
