James “Jim” Wallisch of Indiana Township left Pittsburgh as a teen to pursue an Ivy League education and learn the financial investing ropes.
With a keen interest in finance, he excelled at Princeton University, majoring in engineering and minoring in economics.
After graduating with honors from Princeton, he set his sights on the West Coast, where he earned an MBA in finance and accounting from UCLA in 1982.
He returned after living seven years on both the East and West Coast before boomeranging back to Pittsburgh.
“It was fun to get away and get some experience,” Wallisch said of his educational choices and first job post-college as a money manager.
Wallisch’s father owned the now-closed Latrobe Plastics, and a 25-year-old Wallisch worked at the family business for a year but left to pursue a career in the investment business.
“I’ve really been Pittsburgh ever since,” said Wallisch, who was raised from age 14 by his father after his mother died suddenly from an aneurysm.
Wallisch was recognized as a top adviser in Pennsylvania by Forbes Magazine in 2020.
“My dad was my mentor,” Wallisch said.
Wallisch opened FC Financial Services in 1990.
Wallisch lives in Indiana Township with his wife of 39 years, Patty Wallisch. They have four adult children.
He spent 15 years coaching Little League baseball and was president of the Fox Chapel Baseball Association. He also served as an elder at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church.
Today, Wallisch, 68, and his son, Andrew, 37, have successfully blended their professional and personal lives, and working together has been without drama.
“I can honestly say, in 13 years of working together, we’ve never had an argument. We get along really well. I have the experience, and he has the drive and the development and is better with technology,” Wallisch said.
The firm handles a lot of individual wealth portfolios, many of them second generation, and is licensed in more than a dozen states.
Both Wallisches are avid golfers and played high school golf at Fox Chapel.
“Both of us were on WPIAL championship golf teams,” Jim Wallisch said.
They’re both members of the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel, along with their families, and Andrew chose that location for his nuptials in 2020.
Living and working within minutes from the Field Club, the office and their homes is a major work benefit, they said.
“I can hit golf balls at lunch and being local is nice,” Jim Wallisch said. “We were both field club champions at PFC.”
Heath issues drive career decisions
Andrew Wallisch graduated from Fox Chapel Area High School and left Pittsburgh to major in business at Bucknell Universit. But he was undecided about what he would do professionally.
Sometimes, however, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and growing up around his father’s financial business left an impact.
“Math was always my favorite subject, and I knew what my father did and finance was always an interest of mine. Having my dad at home talking about it got me interested,” Andrew Wallisch said.
A golf trip to Florida two days before Christmas was going great, until he experienced a seizure on the course. His father, brother and cousin witnessed the event.
“I was trying to pick up the ball in the hole and then I couldn’t feel my right side,” he recalled.
The news of being diagnosed with a brain tumor a year after graduating college left the younger Wallisch shocked and seeking medical treatment.
He underwent two brain surgeries and is doing well now, but the health scare motivated him to return to Pittsburgh.
“It’s still there, but I go in for six-month checkups and scans — all that fun stuff — it came out of nowhere,” Andrew Wallisch said of being diagnosed with a juvenile oligodendroglioma tumor.
After about a year of taking time off to recover, Wallisch decided to join his father at FC Financial.
That decision, both men agreed, has been beneficial for everyone, despite the medical circumstances that precipitated the move.
“It was huge. I got my feet wet here in the professional world. I spent months watching and learning and studying for the (financial) exams. My father’s business style is very professional, by the book, and I really respected and appreciated that,” said Andrew Wallisch, also of Indiana Township. “I see that clients were more friends than clients.”
Manager Heather Golden of Harmar, who has worked at FC Financial for 35 years, first met Andrew when he was a toddler.
“It’s nice to see him grow up and start working with us,” Golden said. “They feel like family to me. It’s a nice, small office, and I couldn’t see myself working at a big firm.”
Both men noted Golden’s value to the firm, noting it “couldn’t run” without her.
Shaler resident Kelli Funfar rounds out the staff serving as administrative assistant.
Andrew Wallisch married his wife, Mollie, in a small covid-era ceremony in 2020 at the Pittsburgh Field Club. They have two young daughters.
His work perk is living so close to his home and the business, which he considers his second home.
“Working with family and picking up my two daughters after day care is great. I have clients that just pop in, and I can lunch close by. Being local is great,” he said.
Coaching the Fox Chapel Area High School junior varsity boys golf team for two seasons (fall of 2022 and 2023) also has been rewarding for him.
“Golf is a passion of mine, and JV golf is a great time to prepare kids for the varsity level, instilling etiquette, sportsmanship and reminders that they’re representing their school,” he said. “It was a great way to give back to a program that I love and that gave a lot to me.”
During Wallisch’s coaching stint, Fox Chapel won the JV cup championship in 2023 at Cedarbrook Golf Club in Belle Vernon.
Ask father and son who the best golfer is between them and the answer is swift.
“He is,” the elder Wallisch said.
Personalized client interaction
The firm manages about $425 million among about 250 clients and is accepting new clients. There is no minimum investment required.
Having the time to spend on clients and provide one-on-one meetings in person or via Zoom with out-of-state clients is all in a day’s work.
And treating each client equally, regardless of their portfolio investment size, is particularly essential.
Jim Wallisch recalled a client of a former partner who had invested $100,000. The client won $136 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery and took the lump sum — $52 million after taxes — and then invested with the same partner.
“You treat everyone the same,” Jim Wallisch said.
With no immediate plans to retire, he is happy that his son will one day head up the family business.
“And Andrew is my succession plan, which is really nice, although I’m not retiring for a while. But Andrew is poised to take over, and that makes me feel confident that he can carry on with no problem whatsoever. I know our clients are taken care of when I retire.”
FC Financial Services
1090 Freeport Road, Suite 150, O’Hara
412-967-9272