About Us

Our Values

Active

Risk Management. For many clients, limiting volatility is our first priority in money management. Our active strategies continually monitor market risk and systematically adjust investments to stay within each client’s comfort level of risk and volatility.


Discretionary. We establish discretionary authority with nearly all our clients. This simply means we will buy and sell on your behalf in a strategy that is aligned with your specific circumstances.


Diversification. We use mutual funds and ETFs that are well diversified, which eliminates many risks associated with owning individual stocks. In addition, we are strong believers in strategy diversification. Just as an investor can benefit from owning several different investments, implementing several low-correlated strategies can also be beneficial. We use this approach in many of our active models.


Holistic. We believe in advising our clients in a holistic way, not just on the portion of investments that we manage directly. For instance, our financial advisors regularly give advice to our clients regarding how and when they should take social security benefits, how to allocate investments in their 401k and much more. Whatever the financial question or concern, we want to be a valuable resource for our clients to make informed decisions.

Aligned

Aligned interests. Our compensation for portfolio management is based on assets under management, which ties together our success and your success. When your portfolio goes up in value, we make more money and when it goes down, we make less.


Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Our accounts are managed primarily with ETFs. This allows us to keep the costs of your investments low and gives us the flexibility to implement the time-sensitive decisions we make without having to wait until the end of the day.

Fiduciary duty. As investment advisors, we are held to a high standard. By law, we have a fiduciary duty, which means we are obligated to do what is in the best interest of our clients no matter what. And if conflicts of interest do exist, we must disclose them to our clients.


Independent. Many financial advisors and brokers are influenced by a large insurance or brokerage companies, who often forces the advisor into a limited set of products which may or may not be the best investment choice for their clients. Because we are independent, that gives us the freedom to recommend the most suitable investments from the entire breadth of the market and give objective advice without the controlling influence of larger entity.


Transparency. We use Interactive Brokers, Schwab, Betterment, American Funds or Human Interest as our custodian depending on the client’s circumstances. Our clients have their own login to each custodian’s website and can view their account balance and activity at any time.

Caring

Attention. Personal attention and care are given to every client because cultivating long-term relationships with each client is a priority to us. We contact each client regularly to review performance and wealth management, and in addition, will contact clients when there is important market news or when we are making significant changes to the investments.

Consideration. We believe it is important for people to actively consider the kinds of causes and charities they want to support. For that reason, we take client suggestions are into consideration whenever we make charitable distributions.
Character. Our advisors are actively involved in their churches and community. See the Advisors page for more details.

Giving Back. Every month we set aside over 15% of our revenues are to be given back to support local, national, and international charitable organizations. This has been a priority to our business since the very beginning. We believe giving back is not only the key to building a stronger community, but it is also the key to keeping greed from wrecking our attitude toward money.

Personalized. Every client is unique, and our investment strategies are customized to match each client’s individual goals and risk preferences. We make no distinction between large and small clients. Our goal is to help each person regardless of where they are financially and to give them the time and advice they need to better themselves.

Expertise

Experience. Our financial advisors have significant experience and expertise. See the bios and resumes on the Advisors page for more details.


Track Record. Our advisors have been managing money consistently for many years. We don’t always beat the market, but the approach we take is designed to reduce the potential downside risk of a major market crisis, like those that happened during the tech bubble of 2000-2002 and the financial crisis of 2008.


Breadth of Knowledge. Each financial advisor has a different area of expertise and we regularly draw from each other’s knowledge to give advice to a client’s situation. These areas of expertise includes:
– Derek: ETFs & Mutual Funds
– Paul: Bonds, Individual Stocks & Banking
– Dwight: Financial Planning & Income Investing
– Tim: Retirement Planning and Advice
– Jim: Real Estate


Teaching. Our principal advisor, Derek Schmidly, is an adjunct professor at Evangel University and teaches advanced investment strategy classes on equities, derivatives, and fixed income portfolio management.

Our Advisors

Paul Ebisch
President & Founder Member

With over two decades in the finance sector, Paul brings extensive investment experience to the table as the founder of Auxan Capital Advisors, launched in 2004. Before establishing Auxan, Paul’s pivotal role as Director of Retirement Planning at AG Financial successfully steered the growth of retirement accounts for Assemblies of God employees and ministers, doubling their size even amidst the turbulent years from 2000 to 2005.

Inspired by the belief that everyone deserves the same active wealth management usually reserved for large-scale institutions, Auxan was created. With experience serving thousands of clients nationwide, Paul identified the need for an investment firm truly invested in its clients’ financial wellbeing, carefully managing their life savings and being motivated by a management fee that keeps the advisor’s attention in fluctuating market conditions.

From 2005, Paul also led the Assemblies of God Credit Union as CFO, becoming its president in 2011. Under his management, the credit union tripled in size by 2014, ranking among the strongest nationwide with investment performance in the 95th percentile.

Paul’s diverse investment portfolio includes partnerships in businesses like Paul Mitchell Schools, Boundless Creative, Churchlink, and a software startup, equipping him with a unique viewpoint uncommon among financial advisors.

Passionate about helping people meet their retirement goals, Paul finds immense satisfaction in witnessing families reach their financial objectives.

His current board memberships include North Point Church (Treasurer), American Indian College (Executive Committee), Cross Trail Outfitters Missouri (Chairman), Classy Llama LLC (Board of Advisors), and Verein Deutsch Drahthaar – Group North America (Business Manager).

Previously, he served on the boards of Filene Research Council and Midwest Financial Network, and was recognized in Springfield Business Journal’s 2009 “40 under 40”.

Derek Schmidly
Chief Investment Officer

Derek, the Chief Investment Officer at Auxan Capital Advisors, LLC, brings eighteen years of investment management and market research expertise. He’s tasked with creating investment strategies and fostering client relationships at Auxan. With successful completion of the Finra Series 65, Series 3, and Series 34 Exams, plus the Missouri Life and Health Exam, he’s been a trusted investment advisor representative since 2006. Derek earned his MBA, focusing on finance and management, from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

While at Mizzou, he worked with the Missouri Innovation Center, a startup incubator, and had the opportunity to meet Warren Buffett.

For 11 years, Derek served as an adjunct professor at Evangel University, delivering advanced investment courses in Fixed Income, Equities, and Derivatives. He also mentored the Student Investment Group, overseeing a portfolio exceeding $1,000,000 that offers practical experiences and scholarships to business students. In 2012, the Springfield Business Journal included Derek in their “40 under 40” accolade.

Dwight Fay
Investment Advisor Representative

With 27 years of experience as a financial advisor, Dwight has been a steadfast guide for clients navigating life’s financial ups and downs. From saving for future family needs to optimizing investments for a comfortable retirement, Dwight’s expertise supports clients in meeting their goals. He holds a Series 7, Series 63, and Missouri Health and Life licenses, and is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC). He graduated from William Jewell College with a BS in Business Administration.

When not advising clients, Dwight cherishes time with his wife of 30 years, their children and grandchildren. His commitment to service extends to his church and participation in mission trips.

Timothy L. Baker
Investment Advisor Representative

Tim has 24 years of banking experience with primary focus being commercial lending and financial analysis of company financial statements and tax returns. He has a business degree in Management/Marketing with a minor in Accounting from Union University in Jackson, TN. At Auxan Capital Advisors, he is responsible for developing and managing client relationships. He has passed the FINRA Series 65 exam and the Missouri Life, Health and Accident exam. He was previously on the Board of the Center for Financial Training for 11 years and is currently on the Finance Committee at Second Baptist Church and an active volunteer with Cross Trail Outfitters. He has been married for 27 years to Trudy, and they have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. He enjoys hunting, fishing and training his spaniels for hunting.

Jim Schmidly
Investment Advisor Representative

Jim, for over 30 years, has been a results-focused, quality-driven professional entrepreneur with extensive and successful experience in every facet of business management and many areas of finance. These include banking, lending, estate planning, insurance, real estate, new business development, marketing, sales, supervising, and customer service. After being the president of several companies, Jim worked for 7 years at AG Financial as a financial planning consultant. Now he serves as the Vice President of the Assemblies of God Credit Union. Jim and his wife, Sandy, have been married since 1974.



Jeff Reeb
Investment Advisor Representative

Jeff has a knack for making financial planning accessible for those unsure where to start or overwhelmed by the myriad of options. His welcoming personality and knack for simplifying complex concepts help clients feel comfortable and understood.

Jeff has been married for over 10 years to his wife, Charity, a fellow small business owner. They are proud parents to two sons adopted from Ethiopia and a baby gir


Travis Lathrop
Investment Advisor Representative

Travis attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he was highly involved in the College of Agriculture. After college, he was selected by Caterpillar INC, to be a part of their Global Market Talent division and spent five years moving across the country in various roles. Following his desire to live closer to his family, Travis moved back to the Ozarks and accepted a position with Fabick Cat as a regional manager for several years. Since then, he’s also worked for Universal Technical Institute as a regional director, Keller Williams Greater Springfield as CEO and currently works at Classy Llama as their Chief Revenue Officer.

Travis is a student of business and leadership, is a certified John Maxwell instructor, Investment Advisor with Auxan Capital, and holds an MBA from the Jack Welch management institute. When he’s not working or spending time with his family, you can find him spending time in the great outdoors hunting, fishing and loving everyday.

Blaise Ebisch
Investment Advisor Representative

With 4 years experience in policy research, 5 years following stock trends, and on his 4th year studying economics and computer science at Mizzou, Blaise is our newest (and youngest) advisor. He has a passion for civic education and effective community investment. He started an ecommerce company in high school, Adlerdog Leashes. Today, he’s the founder and executive director of IndependUS Co-op, a worker-owned civic technology startup, and has experience with a variety of technologies and coding languages. Aside from school, investments, and software development he manages 6 lofts on Commercial Street in Springfield.

Our History