Michael George
Managing Director
MDGeorge@FPLCapital.com
Michael’s primary responsibility is designing and implementing the various model investment portfolios which are used by the clients of FPL Capital Management. Michael’s investment career started in 1991 as a research assistant for a large institutional money management firm who specialized in small cap stocks.
In 1992, he joined a boutique money management firm as an equity analyst. The firm’s specialty was managing large and mid-cap portfolios under the GARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price) style of management. In addition to his research responsibilities, he also oversaw investment performance and accounting for the firm. Under his direction, he implemented the software applications and internal policies necessary to ensure the firm’s portfolio performance figures were compliant with the standards established by the CFA Institute.
In 1995, he joined Morgan Stanley Dean Witter where he continued to manage large cap portfolios for his own group of individual clients. During this time, he began to realize that there was a high correlation between most managers and their comparative benchmark index. He also learned that the large investment firms were not providing their clients with appropriate portfolio performance reporting.
As a result of his findings, he then started to develop passive portfolios which focused on investing in the major constituents of the S&P 500 which met certain basic fundamental criteria. Today, this form of enhanced indexing is commonly referred to as Smart Beta investing.
In 1997, he started FPL Capital Management so he could provide enhanced indexed portfolios to individual investors and provide these clients with institutional level performance reporting.
In recent years, the evolution of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) has helped expand the universe of Smart Beta portfolios available to both individual and institutional investors. This has allowed Michael the ability to structure Smart Beta portfolios utilizing strategies from DFA, WisdomTree, and Research Affiliates for all other asset classes.
In addition to his extensive experience with the capital markets over the last 20 years, Michael has a tremendous amount of experience in the areas of affluent wealth management, private equity investing, and overseeing a family office. Michael received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.