Kansas Profile - Now That's Rural - Jean Meyer - First Trust Company of Onaga

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Dollars and cents.  Managing our money is very important, both now and for the future. Today we’ll go to a rural community with an innovative company that enables individuals all across the country to manage their own retirement funds. 

Meet Jean Meyer, President of First Trust Company of Onaga, Kansas. First Trust Company is a limited purpose trust company with a specialty in serving as custodian for self-directed individual retirement accounts, or IRAs.

Jean explains that this innovative business began back in 1978 on a golf course. She says, “The owner of a local bank and another guy were talking about IRAs, which were relatively new at the time, and the possibilities of using non-traditional investments as part of those.” In other words, it would be possible to purchase in the IRA, special assets such as an investment in a private business, loan, or something else, rather than a money market account or public stocks and bonds.

The bank set up a service to serve as a custodian for such accounts. A key factor was that these accounts were self-directed by the customer. Jean says, “The customer is the decision maker on these accounts. We don’t sell investments. We don’t offer investment advice, and we don’t guarantee the investments. We do the back office work to support the customer.”

This service began with one or two people working at the bank, and the account records were kept in a drawer. As the business grew, the trust company was organized into a separate entity.    In 2006, First Trust Company moved into its own building – fittingly, it is located near the community’s nine-hole golf course. In 2008, First Trust Company of Onaga moved under new ownership.

Today, First Trust Company of Onaga employs 34 full time and three part-time employees. It provides custodial services for some 27,000 accounts with two billion dollars under custody.  Wow. Yes, I said two billion – with a B as in “Boy, that’s a lot of money.”

This business has successfully found its niche.  There are only a handful of businesses across the nation that specialize in custodial services for self-directed IRAs using non-traditional investments. The business is regulated by the state banking commissioner.

Jean Meyer is especially proud of the company’s customer service. In contrast to the days when those records were stuck in a drawer, the company is now imaging its documents and customers have access to their accounts through a secure website.

In addition, the company operates a call center to serve customers. Jean says, “Depending on what’s happening in the markets, we may get 250 to 600 phone calls in a day.” While the company uses modern technology, Jean emphasizes the importance of customer service. In other words, you don’t have to press one or press two twenty times to reach a real person.

Modern technology has made it possible to serve customers virtually anywhere in the nation.  Jean says, “It’s very rare that a customer would walk in our front door.” In effect, if I can access my account information online and by phone, it doesn’t matter whether I am physically located across the street or across the country.

Sure enough, customers from all across the country are using this service. First Trust Company of Onaga has customers in every state in the nation, serving them from the rural community of Onaga, Kansas, population 697 people. Now, that’s rural.

First Trust Company also emphasizes giving back to the community of Onaga. The employees are involved in community activities and donate funds to support local worthy causes.

For more information, go to www.ftconaga.com.

Dollars and cents. Today we’ve learned about a company which is providing custodial services for customers to manage their self-directed investments in an innovative way.  We salute all the people of First Trust Company of Onaga for making a difference by finding this niche in financial services.  For helping customers keep track of those dollars, this business makes a lot of sense.

And there’s more. Next week we’ll learn about amazing volunteers in Onaga.

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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Unit. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at  http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm.  Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/huckboyd/.