Open Comments, hosted by The Open Group
Welcome to Open Comments hosted by The Open Group, where we’ll discuss things openly with our guests from a variety of backgrounds and from different walks of life. Through this podcast, we hope to give you an inside look into a variety of topics with an equal mix of humor and candor.
In this series so far, we have touched on the following topics: Healthcare, HR, Diversity + Access to Technology, Cybersecurity, and lots more. We hope you enjoy our show and look forward to bringing more topics into the fold. Let’s get started!
Disclaimer: The Open Comments Podcast (hosted by The Open Group*) is presented purely for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and the guests are their own and are not intended to harm or offend any group, organization, company, individual, anyone, or anything.
*The Open Group is a global, vendor- and technology-neutral consortium upon which organizations rely to lead the development of technology standards and certifications. With more than 900 member organizations around the globe, we have a diverse membership that spans all sectors of the technology community.
Hosts: Ash Patel (Marketing Specialist, The Open Group), Oliver David (Marketing Manager, The Open Group), and Irene Canizales (Events Planner, The Open Group).
Open Comments, hosted by The Open Group
Open Comments - Episode 18: Perseverance: In Conversation with Stephen Caton
Embark on a transformative journey with Stephen Caton, a former hotel and restaurant manager turned Chief Investment Officer at Patreon Partners, as he tells the tale of his unexpected pivot into the world of wealth management. With a candid openness, Stephen recounts the personal pivotal moments that launched him from hospitality into becoming a guiding financial light for many, reflecting on the profound influence of his father's untimely passing and the urge to ensure families are prepared for unforeseen challenges. Our conversation traverses the daunting hurdles and celebrated victories of starting his own firm amidst the tumult of a global pandemic and how the drive to remain a genuine fiduciary for his clients has become the cornerstone of his philosophy.
As we peel back the layers of Stephen's profession, we uncover the essence of patience, mentorship, and the incremental growth that defines a career in financial services. He illuminates the parallels between the discipline required for sports and the rigor needed to succeed in finance, underscoring the vital role of continuous education and personal development. Moreover, Stephen confronts the complexities of modern finance, from the psychology of investment behavior to grappling with the emergence of artificial intelligence in the sector. His narrative serves as a beacon for anyone in the industry seeking motivation to embrace risk, enforce discipline, and foster a lifelong commitment to learning, ensuring that Stephen's wealth of experience becomes your treasure trove of career wisdom.
Copyright © The Open Group 2023-2025. All rights reserved.
Welcome to Open Comments with myself, ash Me Oliver.
Speaker 2:And Yareen.
Speaker 1:A show that opens a conversation onto career advice, career journeys, lifelong learning and more. Through this innovative podcast, we'll be offering insightful dialogues with an equal mix of humour and candour. Join us as we embark on an engaging conversational journey with a diverse set of guests from different walks of life. We hope you enjoy our show and look forward to bringing more topics into the fold for you through each episode. Let's dive in.
Speaker 3:So thank you, ash. And at the time of recording, we're currently in the Open Group Summit in Houston, texas, and we have our special guest with us today, steve Katen. And Steve is the Chief Investment Officer and Partner at Patreon Partners. Over the last three and a half decades, steve has served as a reliable, service-minded resource to over 150 business owners where they're helping the small husband and wife team operating a beauty salon or large corporations with thousands of employees. He approaches each client with humble professionalism and servitude. Likewise, steve is active in his community, volunteering with the Houston Food Bank, st Vincent, the Pool Society, habitat for Humanity and Kiwanis Club, as well as hosting the CPA Continuing Education programs for over 30 years. A native Houstonian, steve graduated from the University of Houston with a BS in Hotel and Restaurant Management. He and his wife Shelley have two boys, kyle and Riley, and in his spare time enjoys travel, golf skiing, history and is an avid sports fan. So, steve, welcome to the podcast, thank you, and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 4:Glad to be here.
Speaker 2:So, Steve, tell us more about your journey from receiving your degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management to becoming a CPA in certain businesses.
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 4:Yeah and I'm not a CPA actually I'm a certified financial planner, cfp but we gave Continuing Education courses to CPAs as part of their continuing learning. I grew up in a very modest home. There was never a lack of love, but there was a lack of money. My parents did not make a lot when we were growing up and definitely didn't spend a lot. I can't even remember times when we would share one box of Kraft Milk, orenia and Cheese among the six of us if that's part of the meal, and we shared one bathroom. But growing up this way, I adopted some incredible values from my parents. They instilled patience and perseverance in all of us, and I'm so grateful.
Speaker 4:And so, years later, after I got into this industry, I was 26 years old and my dad died in a terrible accident. This was a devastating blow to our family in a very difficult time. But, aside from mourning the loss of our father, what made things even more difficult was the uncertainty of the future and the planning that could have been better, and someone had to help put the pieces together while we were all mourning the loss of our father. But if there was one great thing that came from my dad's passing was that I realized I needed to step up, take responsibility, take a stand for my family and for the families I served, and from that moment on, I was committed to making sure that any family we serve will be as prepared as possible for whatever curveball's life throws at them, and I believe every family deserves someone to take a stand for them, who assumes responsibility to be a leader and an anchor for them in times of chaos.
Speaker 4:Then, after working my way up in the industry for years, I started to believe more in the philosophy of being a true fiduciary to the client instead of owing loyalty to both the client and the corporate giant we represented. And so, in the 2020 COVID chaos, we realized we could do this work more efficiently and effectively on our own, more closely tied to what we believe in rather than what the large corporation was dictating to us. So that's how and why Patreon Partners exists today, because we believe being a patron is to be a supporter, an encourager, a steward, a leader. Wealth management is what we do, but bringing wealth to life with peace and purpose is who we are.
Speaker 3:Did COVID have any implications on starting the business? Did you I'm assuming you must have struggled to get clients at the start, or did you take some review?
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, certainly during that time there was a lot less communication in person, and so making that transition into using other technology and so forth to get in touch with folks was part of that equation, but we had already established quite a following up to that point, so quite a few of the folks came with us and made the transition a little bit easier. But still, it's a much different owning your own business than working for a large corporation, and so we're continuing now, three years in, to continue to learn how to adapt to that environment.
Speaker 1:And going back a little bit, when you spoke earlier about where you went to university, did you always know what you wanted to do? Was it a particular subject that you were really interested in at school and you thought, well, I want to go down this route. Or is it a conversation that you might have had with someone? Or did you always just have that at the back of your mind that I want to do something in this field?
Speaker 4:It really started with my parents. Early on, I think that I was encouraged to explore everything, and my father told me that by the time you're 30 years old, you're probably going to change jobs or careers three times anyway on average. So don't worry about it too much, just jump in there and you'll figure out the next step. But along that way, he really was instrumental in helping me get into the financial service industry. I was going to become a lawyer, like he was, but after further analysis of strengths and weaknesses and what might be more appealing to me in the long run, that's how I eventually found my way into the financial services industry.
Speaker 4:I remember early on high school, though before college I was seeing that on Time Magazine had a cover of how jobs were going to be scarce in a lot of industries, but the hotel and restaurant industry was going to be booming. So that appealed to me at first, and so that's where I started. But while I was doing that, that's where I became more interested in law or in finance.
Speaker 1:Did you have any teachers during that time that really inspired you, that you thought you liked what they were saying or how they carried themselves? Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And of course that's what appealed to me to go into the legal field, with my father's being a lawyer, and so that appealed to me at first, but then also he introduced me to a couple of folks that were in the financial service industry at the time. At the time we were called stockbrokers, and so the combination of finance, money management, the legal aspects of finance, the psychological impact of finance, which really appeals to me, that was what steered me towards going to starting at Maren Ledgeway back in the beginning.
Speaker 3:So I'm still staying on the topic of mentors, but have you had any advice from anyone in your life that is stuck with you in how you, I guess, operate or hold yourself when it comes to your professional life?
Speaker 4:Sure, I've been working with a different movie along the way, from Annunco to my parents, some teachers, some coaches, and then, I think, one that comes to mind when I was already starting to work for the Marriott Hotel Corporation, when I was 22,. I was the youngest catering service sales manager in the chain of Marriott hotels and I was working 12 or 14 hours a day, six days a week, and the matriot date told me about 2.30 in the morning when I was cleaning up, marrying the whiskey bottles together and getting everybody to clean up the the conference meeting of the day, and he said you'll never make it kid.
Speaker 4:And so I think sometimes a reverse psychology of a mentor pushed me in some ways, and so it just made me strive even harder, to work even harder. I think I adopted that work ethic from my father as well.
Speaker 3:That goes back to the two words you mentioned earlier with patience and perseverance. I mean you'd have to think about that, especially if someone's shouting at you and not wanting you to succeed. It can take you a long way if you persevere with it, I think so, and then there have been others that were more encouraging as well.
Speaker 4:that helped me when I might have been discouraged along the way, especially starting out in the financial services industry as a stock broker. You eat what you kill, right? I mean it's 100% commission situation. So there can be days when you're not eating, basically because you're not killing anything. So a couple of managers that would take me under their wing were mentors to me to encourage me, to say these are the things you need to do differently. Try to help you along the way.
Speaker 2:Well, now that you host your own education programs for folks that have their CPA coming in right and I know that's a continuing professional development how do you find yourself continuing to learn, to grow?
Speaker 4:Well, I've always enjoyed that. Again, for my parents I think my mom was an avid reader and loved history. My dad didn't go to law school until he was in his 30s and so I've always along the way, I have just certification or license along the way to get into the business and commodities license, futures real estate insurance, along with securities along the way, and then to become a certified financial planner. So I kind of, along the way, always have embraced the need to learn and the enjoyment and satisfaction of accomplishing the next certification or license to help me along my career. And I think I've been able to understand the CPA community and their specific needs for continuing education. Of course they're required to have a certain amount of hours and so I've developed a lot of friendships over the years from giving good, consistent education, bringing in outside speakers, attorneys and other CPAs and other professionals to come in and give them that education that they need, and so by doing that for them, it still inspires me to do it more so it's a lifelong journey.
Speaker 4:One of the things that you talk about mentors, holly, the golf. I find golf and business and life parallel to each other quite a bit. And Jack Burke, who won the Masters, has a golf club in Houston champion's golf club.
Speaker 1:And he's always out there and one of the things he talked about being a mentor.
Speaker 4:He's always helping people out there.
Speaker 1:So it's an example of.
Speaker 4:I aspire to do that for folks, but he would always say you know, golf is a lifelong journey, not something that you conquer. It's a lifelong learning experience, a body of knowledge, and I think that applies to business, to relationships, to sports of any kind.
Speaker 3:So I have embraced that philosophy from him quite a bit. Yeah, the art of giving back to the community or workspace or whatever you put. That was something we've discussed with quite a few of our the people we've had on our podcast is they get to a certain point where they've absorbed so much from their learning and now it's their turn to pass it on and that's still a learning point for them. It's learning how to give back.
Speaker 4:It is. It brings to mind, too, that everybody's different, but in my mind I don't ever intend not to do some sort of work. People retire at a certain age or want to retire early, let's say, but that doesn't mean that life stops either. So it can be another challenge, or the next phase is all, and it doesn't have to be work, it can be something that you have a passion for and so forth, and so that's another way to give back as well. That could be the next step. And, just like we talked about earlier, we've recently hired two very young associates, and that's my partner and I's effort to try to teach those folks and mentor them to come along. And what goes around comes around.
Speaker 2:And so, when you're mentoring those younger folks, what avenues would you recommend they use to continue being educated after they leave and graduate from university or college? What avenues should they use?
Speaker 4:Well, that will depend on different disciplines and industries and where they're working and so forth. But within each industry there's ways to get some continuing education that can further your career and for some people they might just be getting that next college degree, masters are beyond it and so forth. But I think that there's certainly ways to do some additional types of learning as well, not just a master's or another college degree. It would be industry specific and, in learning, finding out what people in leadership have done ahead of you and maybe following their footsteps.
Speaker 3:Does this the lifelong learning side of things? It would still apply to you. You said it's a lifelong thing and you're still learning now, and is there something Since you've Started your own business? Is there any? I'm assuming you're still learning things as you're going along now only a recent development.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's opened up some additional avenues of learning because we now own our own business, so there's a lot of learning curves in that, and so both of us my partner and I are going to either seminars or attending webinars and one kind or another. We have affiliations with other certifications. We have Kingdom advisors, the CFP certified financial planning organizations, so forth, that offer us additional ways to develop our young business, and so certainly, maybe more so than ever and maybe that's what's re-energized us to yeah you know, we may have gotten to a point where we had plateaued Some what, and now this has given us a springboard and an avenue to learn in some other ways.
Speaker 1:On the topic of this osmosis and you know, say, throughout anyone's career, you're obviously you can change jobs and you're managed by different people.
Speaker 1:All those managing styles can change and you know you learn a lot from each individual who's mentoring you and coaching you. Is there a point where you know when you switch managers or you maybe switch roles and how you're taught beforehand Can obviously change and you may feel that I preferred how I was taught before, or how much do I take from my previous role Into my new one would have to. Being that possibly Maybe a little bit stuck in the past of you know I should be evolving, of how I'm moving forward, how I'm going to be managed, so maybe I should be a bit more open to you know new ways of learning, but the ways which I learned before helped me in that way that it's actually keeping me more motivated. But I want to keep some of that. So I guess in a way, you know how do you keep it all together but also keep yourself open to learning from you know people along the way.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, what that makes me think of is all the different managers I've had throughout my career that we have I have worked for, and their styles some you like, some you didn't. Some were dictatorial, some were Very much hands-on and helpful. So I think that along the way I it probably prepared me for the leadership role that I'm in now as a manager and and helped me understand what works and what doesn't, and and how do you have to adapt to different personalities. Maybe you can't manage or lead the same way for everybody, but it's I think it's about Learning how somebody treats other people and and where success can come from and the different styles that make that happen. And so I think, more than anything, I think looking back is now I feel like I've Captured a lot of that along the way To help me develop my leadership style with the people I'm managing now.
Speaker 1:Would you say, as well it's, I guess, in a little bit, you know, like building your own armor, in a way of like what you have in your inventory. So it could be qualities, traits, skills from different people, keeping that in your own collection or library and then, certain moments, utilizing those. You know, traits and whatnot, and that can help you along the way. But it's never that you'll forget about these things, but you might need them more often, more so when you go further along. Or you might look back and say, actually I liked how they did that, I want to revisit that, but I want to build on it, I want to add to it. So, in a way, things always, you know, it's like a memory. It's always going to stick with you and it can adapt. You may look back at it. Yeah, so you're evolving in a sense all the time.
Speaker 4:I think that's accurate. I think that happens, and and and, and you know it's, it's a, again, a lifelong body of knowledge, isn't it Right? And so you do. You are able to think back on what has worked and what hasn't.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So earlier we mentioned that you know you have a family. You enjoy playing golf all the time. You help others continue their education, you continue your education. So how do you find a balance with all the demand in your day to day?
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, well, that's a challenge and and something that for me not everybody's the same, but for me it's routines and habits, and trying to develop better and good habits and reduce the bad habits, and and I've always been a a a, a student of time management as well so that's where I think the balance can come in. And then priorities right, you have to set priorities so that you're you do have some balance and in order to perform better at work, you have to have that balance of, I think, spiritually, health-wise, mentally, physically, all aspects of life in order to have that balance. So you have to create, you know, make sure you make time for all that stuff.
Speaker 2:And so when you were first starting out, did you always have that time management routine going on, or did you have to learn your way into building your routine?
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah Well, how about college? Right? That's the worst time management of all time For me. It was at least starting out. I learned my lesson fairly quickly when my dad cut me off from paying for the tuition and I had to pay for it all myself after I basically thunked out the first semester. So I learned my lesson pretty quick to get some time management. But I think that I think that I think it's more discipline, and I've always admired the discipline that my father had, and so I think I've just adopted that as part of my being.
Speaker 2:And you had to give yourself, you yelled yourself when you were first starting off advice from what you know. Now, what would that be?
Speaker 4:Take more risk, be more generous with other people rather than being too self-centered. And I think that I would tell myself that don't worry so much about what other people think of you. Think about what the creator thinks of you a little more, much more importantly, and I think that, yeah, don't be so scared and afraid, be more bold and confident. So I think those five or six things, if I had told myself that I was maybe 13, at least by 18, things would be a lot better In hindsight. I think you hear that from a lot of folks that are older.
Speaker 3:Right that they say I guess risk-taking is kind of a mindset you have to get yourself into. Some people are natural risk takers and others are much more scared to take that step. I guess there's something that I've always told by my partner of is this in your control, yes or no? If I say no and she goes well, why do you worry about it? Then there's nothing you can do. It would help with making more risky decisions, but is there any way you yourself can talk yourself into taking more risks, or do you just go for it? No thoughts, well you do it within reason.
Speaker 4:I'm like you know, jump off the cliff with wings or something like that kind of place, but no, I think that, well, as an example, taking the risk of working as a W-2 corporate employee and taking that leap and challenging yourself is so maybe not necessarily taking risk, but challenging yourself.
Speaker 2:Instead of saying I'm taking risk, I like to call it trading comfort for growth. So you know you're applying yourself to order to be a better version of yourself. So that way you don't think of the negative aspects that come with risk, you're thinking more how am I going to better myself for the future?
Speaker 4:Say that again for me. I'm learning from you.
Speaker 2:I'm trading comfort for growth. Trading comfort for growth, aren't I? Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:So you mentioned that, yeah, looking back, you'd like to have maybe taken more risks. But you also mentioned that you were a stock broker back in the day and the 100% commission, and how is that not risky?
Speaker 4:Yeah, how can I? Square that right yeah and especially since I'm basically conservative in it by nature as well. So don't my balance earlier. Here's another balancing act, right? I think that risk comes in different forms and I think that it was it not a situation where I would take my money or other people's money at risk. It was more of personally being at risk of being a 100% on commission and taking the risk of having that type of a job that requires so much trust and responsibility, so that doesn't mean I'm taking risk with people's money.
Speaker 4:I think that it reels me in quite a bit to make sure that I understand how much risk people want to take with their money or not and manage it accordingly. So that's a whole other topic, I think, when we talk about the financial and money management part of the equation.
Speaker 3:But you say that that may have helped with your leadership style to where you are now of understanding personalities and how much risk other people want to take. Oh yeah, I'm going to go. I've kind of never made it.
Speaker 2:We're going to have you out there, thank you Thank you.
Speaker 1:Okay, give it a few seconds, You're going Okay yeah, what were we saying?
Speaker 3:I forgot. I've got it for you so well. You did not edit this, but you were just talking about the clients you would have had when your stock broke and management broke, and we were talking about the psychology of it is what I was getting ready to talk about.
Speaker 4:Investment behavior psychology is really interesting to me, more than the math and computing part of the job that I do, because investment behavior psychology is really what drives the fear and greed. The supply and demand that buy, the sell is really intriguing to me, and how people's decision making can become either irrational or rational depending on their emotions, and so we've done a lot of study and continuing education on this subject to help clients get through the decision making process because of fear of losing money, and so that's really drives me. More than anything is trying to understand the human emotion and impact that it has on our decision making.
Speaker 3:And you just mentioned emotion, and human emotion is something. A topic that we talk a lot about is AI, and I know you're quite interested in AI. I guess can you see AI having any impact in the financial world that you belong in, and I guess it won't have these emotional decision making capabilities that humans have or hindrance that humans may have. What do you see AI doing?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it'll be helpful in the future. Financial technology and AI can lend a great impact on how maybe emotion can be taken out of the equation. However, you can't always trust what's coming from AI, as we've learned, and just because something is suggested from an AI large language model, that comes down to maybe deciding what to buy or sell or invest in the investment behavior. Psychology is completely different, because just because you're given that equation or that model to invest in doesn't mean somebody's going to stick with it when times are tough, or recently, when only seven companies are making all the money in AI in the stock market and everybody flocks to those, probably at the wrong time. So anyway, there's still a lot of emotion involved, even though AI will be helpful in the future to the financial service industry.
Speaker 3:That's interesting. So that's just about all we have for today. I'm conscious of your time. Is there anything you would like to leave us with, any advice for people that may be looking to get started in your area of expertise?
Speaker 4:Sure, I think that, again, I still like this idea of lifelong learning. The industry that I'm in offers that opportunity, so that's what attracted me to it. But for anybody in any industry, I think adopting that philosophy of I'm not finished, there's a lot more to learn, is very important.
Speaker 1:So I'd like to say thank you for joining our show today. It's been great not only learning more about you, I feel about lifelong learning, your career so far, and it's been nice just having that active dialogue with you. We hope to maybe have you again in the future on our show. So thank you for that. Thank you for our listeners, open comments community. We've been tuning into our podcast and until next time, stay safe and happy listening. Thank you, thank you.
