Fast 15: Stephen Spicer

Stephen Spicer has always had a no-nonsense attitude about his career.

While his classmates wanted to be astronauts and cowboys when they grew up, elementary-age Spicer said he’d like to become a businessman.

“Anything business interests me,” he said. “I enjoy seeing the fruits of my labor — not necessarily material things. I enjoy building things and then watching them produce.”

Inspired by a business-minded father and grandfather, Spicer got an early start in commerce by selling Pixy Stix candy on the school bus. Later, he upgraded to candy bars, and by high school he started his own video game business.

He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2010 and worked as an adviser at Northwestern Mutual for six years, before striking out on his own in January to found Spicer Capital, where he manages hedge funds for accredited investors.

Spicer did well at Northwestern. He became a Certified Financial Planner at age 26 and was recognized that same year by Million Dollar Round Table as being in the top 1 percent of the U.S. financial services industry.

However, Spicer’s personal portfolio consistently outperformed that of his clients because of controlled investment options, he said.

Now on his own, he has free rein to invest his clients’ money how he sees fit.

“That’s what I enjoy, treasure hunting and finding those opportunities that are going to make my clients, and myself, money. Finding that diamond in the rough, things that have been looked over by other people,” he said. 

If the first few months are indicative of the future, Spicer is well on his way. He has averaged roughly 15 percent return on funds, he said.

When he’s not at work, Spicer enjoys spending time with his family — wife Jessica, his high school sweetheart, and two sons, Grey, 3, and Lyle, 1.

He is also into real estate, owning 65 rental units in his home town of Neosho, Missouri.

Fluent in Spanish, Spicer was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina from 2006 to 2008.

Spicer is an Eagle Scout and a Paul Harris Fellow for Rotary International and a member of the current Leadership Fayetteville class.