Morningstar - Q2 2021 - 70

Investors

Young Blood
Andrew Miller infuses youth into building
a firm poised for the long run.

USER PROFILE

Charles Keenan

Andrew Miller is comfortable with bucking
convention, especially when it comes to the notion
that age equates to experience.
The founder and chief executive officer of OLIO
Financial Planning, based in Virginia, staffs his firm
with advisors in their 20s and 30s. Miller, 38,
is the oldest. Bright, young, ambitious financial
planners can more than compensate for
their lack of experience, Miller says, and they'll be
around for clients for years to come. " If you're
10 years from retirement, we're in a position to see
you through it, " he says.
This focus on youth is certainly not holding
back the firm's growth; if anything, it's
propelling it. Miller launched OLIO in 2016 and
has rapidly expanded his business to nine
employees, including four other Certified Financial
Planners, with $225 million in assets
under management. The firm caters to a wide
range of clients in 27 states, from young
professionals and entrepreneurs to Fortune
500 executives.
An Engineer Pivots to Financial Services

Like many advisors, Miller never thought he would
go into financial planning. As a kid growing
up in Dublin, Virginia, Miller built cities in the dirt
for his Matchbox cars and played baseball. His dad
was a general contractor; his mom taught
communications to electrical engineers at Virginia
Tech in nearby Blacksburg.
The family lived modestly, and Miller learned how
to stretch a dollar, tagging along with his

102
70

Morningstar Q2 2021

parents to thrift stores and outlet malls. He also
learned early to manage money. His mom would
give him a few dollars each day for lunch
and a snack, but Miller would make his own meal
and pocket the proceeds. By the end of the
week, he had enough saved to buy a cassette or
compact disc. " It was more expensive to
buy a school lunch than to pack one, " he says.
After graduating from high school, where he
learned drafting and how to use design software,
Miller applied to a local civil engineering firm to
help finance his education at a community college.
He called three times to make sure the firm
received his application. At the interview, he told
the owner, " I promise, you will not regret
hiring me. " He got the job. By his early 20s, he was
helping project engineers develop a wastewater
treatment business and he eventually designed
small-scale systems to clean sewage that became
a valuable contributor to the firm's revenue.
While he worked for the firm, a visit from a
401(k) advisor set Miller on a new career path. The
advisor suggested he move money from
one mutual fund to another, but Miller did his own
research. He learned that the fund he owned
charged a load for exiting and that the
recommended fund did the same on the front
end. The advisor would collect both fees, but there
was no solid rationale for switching funds.
Miller took an interest in learning what he calls
the " good, bad, and ugly " of the financial-services
industry. After graduating from Virginia Tech
with a degree in engineering in 2007, he went
back to get a finance degree with a concentration
in financial planning while working for
a small firm, Joel S. Williams & Associates, in
Blacksburg. After graduating in 2009 with his

second bachelor's degree, he moved to the
Washington, D.C., area to join D'Orazio
& Associates, serving high-net-worth clients.
Flat-Fee Appeal
Miller started OLIO in 2016 in part to structure

pricing differently from the traditional assets under
management model. " I've strived to build a
company that only charges fees that are easy to
understand-the kind that create wealth,
rather than drag. " A flat fee is also a structure
to which millennials are accustomed, he says.
" As your investments grow, you shouldn't pay
more, since the time involved is nearly the same, "
he says. " It allows us to avoid discriminating
against those with money, versus those who are
just getting started. "
Miller was able to build his book of business
quickly through referrals and started hiring CFPs.
Christine Damico, Miller's study partner at
Virginia Tech in the 2000s, officially joined in 2017
but had already been instrumental in helping
Miller get the firm off the ground. " We spent many
nights hashing out ideas, business plans, and how
to set this up prior to her joining OLIO, " he says.
They chose the name OLIO because it's easy
to say and doesn't carry Miller's name; it's a brand
designed to outlast his own tenure. The capital
letters OLIO form the shape of eyes and a nose,
a nod to the people-focused approach of the
firm. The word olio, meaning hodgepodge, also
captures the firm's aspirations. " Our goal is
to bring all the little things and different pieces of
someone's financial life together to form an
absolute masterpiece, " Miller says.
A major acquisition helped fuel growth. Miller,
strategizing with Damico, bought the book of
business of his old boss at Joel S. Williams in 2017,
adding $80 million in assets under management
and bringing OLIO's total to $120 million.
A staff of almost all women also sets the firm apart.
Among its CFPs, Miller hired Amanda Ansell in
2018; Amy Moore, also a former civil engineer, in
2020; and Grace Rogan, another Virginia Tech grad,
in 2020. Vickie Damico, Christine's mother, runs
branding and community advocacy for the firm.
Morningstar - Q2 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Morningstar - Q2 2021
