Forty Years of Inspiration

It was an era marked by war, where no family was untouched by its horrors. Surviving loss and scarcity, a strengthened sense of community held the country together. When he was a young boy, Robert "Bob" Schnitman sold ice with his father and observed the way his father interacted with and spoke of the world. Perhaps he learned it early, or maybe it was part of his genetic disposition to care about the needs of the people and what kept them ticking. Nevertheless, it was passed down and encoded on young Bob.

Later, as a young soldier, Bob met Sally. She was a fiery nurse in the war who, even having suffered severe loss and family devastation, maintained a romantic view of life and held to its whimsy. She often dreamed of the river she grew up on. After living through multiple house fires and losing all worldly possessions (including the last remaining memorabilia of her brother, who died in the war), she abandoned the desire for "things," deeming only people and memories to be treasured.

Bob and Sally, unified by their shared love for people, married and moved from their beloved New York to create opportunity. They moved often, chasing one great opportunity after the next to create their dreams. Whether in business or personal life, Bob never convinced anyone of anything that he didn't fully support and only pursued what he believed in (though he might not always have excelled at preemptively communicating his intentions). Well-matched, Sally was a strong, unstoppable woman capable of anything, and apparently, Bob knew it. There is a rumor that he once left Sally in their Florida home with their four kids and one on the way to hold a meeting in Texas and then telephoned Sally to pack up the house because he had just sold it, and they were moving to Texas. Every decision he made was to ensure his family was well taken care of, and if you did business with Bob, you might as well have been family. Sally knew this about Bob and loved him for it.

Bob found that he had a great way of building relationships with people, and though it did not often turn into an immediate business deal, he created long-lasting connections, and everyone leaving his presence felt a little lighter on their feet. One evening, Bob returned home from work gushing about an excellent meeting with a prospective client. Sally eagerly said, "Wonderful! Did you get the business?" to which Bob replied, "No, but man, was it a great conversation." Bob had a way of listening to people and inviting rich conversation. He enjoyed understanding people's needs and how they viewed the world and found that it was his golden ticket to knowing how to serve better and better.

While working in the "OG" (the original) of retirement plans, pensions, there was talk of a new kid coming to town: the 401(k). When his current employer seemed to want to steer clear of this new phenomenon and stick to the conservative products that were understood and "working just fine," he decided it was time to seize yet another opportunity. Bob opened Schnitman & Associates with his two sons in their 20s. Like their father, both boys had a bent for entrepreneurship and a savvy eye for business. Together they hit boots to the ground and met with companies to share how this 401(k) could benefit the success of the company and their people.

Forty years later, many of those original clients are still in business and still in business with Schnitman & Associates, now known as Leverage Retirement, a name later adopted when Bob's granddaughter started her first tech company and merged with the old boys' club.

Today, along with Bob's grandchildren and growth-minded cohorts employed with Leverage, his great-grandchildren have begun dabbling in supportive roles in the still family-owned business. Regardless of whether the legacy will pass to another generation in the bloodline, his legacy of building real relationships and listening to people for inspiration to serve better continues.

For more about Leverage Retirement, please explore leverageretirement.io

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