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Take a tip from Poppy
By ROSE-ROBIN PEDONE
Take a tip from Poppy,” David Lerner begins in his famous news radio commercials promoting the Syosset-based David Lerner Associates. Using the nickname his three granddaughters gave him, Lerner is the wise grandfather figure, recommending zero-coupon bonds and REITs. Lerner and his marketing director, Susan Lipsig, write the commercials heard on 880 and other stations. “We decided we are closer to the products and can express it better than anyone else,” he said.
Assuming that people are looking for safety and an alternative to the stock market, Lerner’s firm is very conservatively run. “It’s my position that the market is way over bought,” he said. “It’s been pushed up by a lot of hot air. Price doesn’t warrant the earnings.” Further reflecting his notion, Lerner rolled out The Spirit of America Mutual Fund in the beginning of April. About $6 million is invested in the fund, a diversified portfolio of REIT stocks. It cost about $250,000 to start up the fund, which is not expected to break even for several years — until it has about $50 million invested in it. Lerner started as a social studies teacher at Junior High School 55 in the South Bronx. In the early 60s he moved to Bayside High School in Queens where he remained until 1976, when he left the profession and started his current business in his home.
“I started the company with nothing,” Lerner said. “We now have 300 employees and tens of thousands of investors.” Through his wife, Lois, Lerner was introduced to an investment salesman, who suggested he drop by the office. Initially, he looked upon the notion of selling investments with contempt. When shown the various investments the company marketed, Lerner became very enthused. He began selling mutual funds part-time to make ends meet. In 1968, he began selling securities and insurance on his own while teaching full time. "I jumped out of the shower and told my wife my idea (of starting my own firm),” Lerner said. He stood before her, enthusiastic, soaking wet and dripping on the carpet. She responded, “Get back in the shower, you’re soaking the floor!” Lerner left teaching as he was approaching his 40th birthday. “They began to use affirmative action and busing,” he said. “They did away with competitive exams to be promoted. It was time for a change.”
He borrowed $2,700 from his pension plan and started David Lerner Associates. “I believed I could apply the skills I used as a teacher, like communication and organization, to educate clients,” he said.
David Lerner Associates continues to support the community. It sponsored the Annual Long Island Police Appreciation Run on June 4, as well as the Memorial Day Parade in Syosset. Having spent over a year convalescing from polio as a charity patient at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y., Lerner continues to support the hospital today.
Long Island Business News 7/98 Back to David Lerner News
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