Dr. Scott D. Below, Ph.D. – Finance

Email:  sbelow@dev.thekielygroup.com

Dr. Scott Below Vita

Scott has served as Chief Investment Analyst for Kiely Wealthy Advisory Group since 2002 and is a Senior Wealth Manager based in our Greenville, NC office. His responsibilities include actively advising his clients on their personal portfolios, chairing the Kiely Group’s Investment Committee, choosing asset allocation strategies, analyzing market and economic conditions and writing regular economic updates, selecting money managers, coauthoring the quarterly newsletters, and guiding the firm’s investment strategies.

Scott is also currently the chairperson in the Department of Finance at East Carolina University, where he has been employed since 1993. He holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Kentucky and holds BS and MS degrees in Economics from South Dakota State University.

Prior to graduate school Scott worked as a retail stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and Piper, Jaffray and Hopwood. This allowed him to experience firsthand the serious conflict of interest problems inherent in the brokerage industry and see the serious consequences these conflicts can create for investors.  It also led him to investigate compensation alternatives for investment advisors that would help align the interests of the advisor with those of the client.  As a finance professor at East Carolina University he has continued his involvement in “real world” investing, serving as a research consultant and product development specialist for Rydex Global Advisors, a mutual fund company based in Rockville, Maryland, and as an expert witness in legal cases involving the suitability of investments, portfolio performance, and breach of fiduciary duty for several North Carolina law firms.

Scott’s primary teaching responsibilities are in graduate investments and portfolio management courses. He is widely published, with his research appearing in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including; The Journal of Investing, Journal of Asset Management, Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Real Estate Research, American Business Review, Journal of Financial and Strategic Decisions, Applied Financial Economics, and The International Review of Financial Analysis.

Scott and his wife Kristen reside in Greenville, NC and have two grown daughters, Kara and Chelsea. His hobbies include following University of Kentucky basketball, cooking, gardening, fishing, and reading.

“As a former broker in the investments industry, I am fully aware of the potential conflicts of interest that exist when giving investment advice. I have long felt the conflict of interest issue is the biggest obstacle confronting investors who simply want sound investment advice. As both Chief Investment Analyst and a college professor, I take great pleasure in educating and empowering people using evidence-based strategies derived from the most rigorously vetted academic research. As fee-only advisors, we’re free to use whatever products and strategies we feel best meet the needs of our clients, unhindered by the commission-based conflicts of interest that taint so much of the rest of the industry.”