Polo Club resident sets example for the ages

When you put out a newspaper, you spend time trying to find ways to reach all age groups of readers.

Will a story capture the imagination of both seniors and youngsters? Is it possible to bridge the gap between the generations?

When I visit with the Polo Club's Tim Hornung, it raises my optimism that all things are possible when it comes to melding the ages.

Although he is 57, Hornung carries along a message that would pique the interest of those of any age.

He speaks a universal language.

Money.

But Hornung wasn't always the wise older guy.

In 1990, when he was 23 years old, Hornung started his own company, Wealth Management, in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was, obviously, a gamble.

To be successful, he had to gain the confidence of his clients, and they weren't 20-something aspiring CEOs. He had to pitch his expertise in wealth management to those who had spent a lifetime building a nest egg.

"Being so young was a realistic concern," said Hornung, who in October received the 2024 Five Star Wealth Manager Award from Five Star Professional, a third-party wealth management research firm. "All my clients were 60-year-old multimillionaires."

At the time, he knew he couldn't be equal to established and experienced wealth advisors. He had to gobble up every bit of information he could so he could make an impression of just being that much better than the next guy.

Today, his message for success is served in a sandwich that includes the somewhat boring layers of hard work, planning, personal fitness, confidence and family. It is a refrain you might have tuned out when delivered by your grandfather, or your principal or your local politician.

Work hard and the world will be your oyster, complete with lots of pearls.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah.

Resting on the top rail of a corral outside his Polo Club ranch earlier this month, Hornung smiled and was a picture of calm. The trappings of wealth — a multimillion dollar home, horses, land — were in the background. But when Hornung, an advisor for North South Wealth Management, is around, never are they shoved into your face.

They are byproducts of a system that Hornung put into place as a young man when he originally learned how to bridge that generation gap. He drew up a blueprint and it has been there for those who so desire to read it. It is the opposite of the solicitor who comes to your door. It's more like a treasure map left on your front lawn, and you can check it out when no one is looking.

It is all interesting to me, not because I plan on buying the ranch next door — wouldn't that be nice — but because I don't want to become the guy who walked five miles to school and back, uphill both ways. When Hornung talks about life, people of all ages listen.

I would readily admit that I know very little about wealth management, although I certainly know a lot about financial survival. I don't understand all Hornung's awards and certifications — he belongs to the Ameriprise Circle of Success (1994-2023), was inducted into the Ameriprise Hall of Fame in 2017, has been a Five Star Wealth Manager 2012-2024, is a CFP certified financial planner, and on and on — but I do understand 34 years of success.

I also understand hard work. He grew up with a grandfather who drove a meat wagon up and down the streets of Fairfield, Ohio peddling dinner. His dad, also a butcher, evolved the business into Horning Brothers Meats. Tim started boxing eggs for sale at the age of 6 and by 8 he was cutting meat for the family business.

"People were like, 'I can't believe that little boy has a knife,'" he said.

Those are the kind of stories that capture my attention as an old guy, but aren't particularly gripping to young adults. 

But after noting that his childhood years made him understand work ethic — "If you were tired or sick, you would hear, 'I don't care." — Hornung would talk about planning, and how he drew up a blueprint for his career, and how he followed it to a lifestyle of wealth, and how he chased education. Now that attracts the 20-somethings.

He talks about the importance of confidence, and how without it, you aren't going to relate to those of a different generation. Education and confidence are related in knowing your subject material, so Hornung went all out to educate himself.

He talk about the importance of relying on oneself to get ahead as on one of his first jobs he was handed a notebook and told, "There is your phone."

"I started calling everyone I knew (looking for clients)," he said. "It truly was ground zero."

He talks about being focused on the future and not being so worried about how hard you need to work today.

Sticking with his business plan helped him through the great recession years of 2008 and 2009, and through COVID.

"The biggest challenge through those times was the emotional part," he said. "(His competitors) were pulling the plug at our lowest point."

And no matter what business, he says it is important to make your clients feel like they are part of a family. "We will go to the ends of the Earth for them," he said.

While chatting with Hornung, his 20-year-old daughter Kaitlyn burst into the kitchen. In 2021, I did a feature on Kaitlyn, who was an aspiring songwriter who was headed to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee after she graduated from The Out-of-Door Academy in Lakewood Ranch.

Tim and Michelle Hornung never tried to talk their daughter out of a music career, but Kaitlyn kept thinking about the example set by her parents, and the professional example set by her dad. She now is a student at USF taking financial planning. It is likely she will join her dad when she graduates.

"I like the customer service aspect," she said of her father's occupation.

Tim Hornung was able to connect with the younger generation by setting an example.

"I like the way my dad has provided for the family," Kaitlyn said. "He is his own boss, he always is meeting new people, and he never meets a stranger."

Tim and Michelle's daughters Alexa (an 18 year old currently attending the University of Alabama) and Hanna, 16, have paid attention to their dad's example.

"He has raised three entrepreneurs," Kaitlyn said. "He says, 'Of course you can start your own business."

Interesting stuff, and hopefully a story that connects with everyone.