History

Tom Rapko has always had a passion for investing. He entered the workforce at age 10 with a paper route in Woonsocket, R.I. Many lessons were learned from that paper route. In fact, Tom enjoyed reading stock quotes in the newspaper. He made mock portfolios of companies to learn ticker symbols and price movements.. In his early teens, Tom began buying and selling stocks. He opened his first IRA at 16. But Wall Street could wait.

Drawn to a family history of military service, upon graduation from Woonsocket High School Tom accepted an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. He graduated in 1998 and served 6 years on Active Duty in the Air Force, earning his MBA part-time while stationed at Kirtland AFB, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lifelong bonds of friendship were forged in the military.

Tom officially began his career on Wall Street in 2004 with Merrill Lynch in Boston (the day after he separated from the Air Force!) He spent 4 years learning the ropes with Merrill Lynch and then joined Smith Barney in 2008. Smith Barney was purchased by Morgan Stanley in 2009. After 4 years with Morgan Stanley, Tom started his own firm in 2012 to help individuals, families, and businesses create legacy wealth.

The history of T. H. RAPKO & COMPANY, LLC is the story of dream of a hard-working entrepreneur who loves his country, what he does, and his goal of some day becoming a business owner. What differentiates T. H. RAPKO & COMPANY, LLC from traditional providers of financial services, especially “the big firms,” is how nimble and passionate THR is in helping clients achieve their goals. We go the extra mile for you by applying a deep bench of experience in both Bull and Bear Markets via a spectrum of equity investments. We play the long game, but also look for opportunities daily.

Investment Philosophy

Although each client's portfolio is uniquely designed and tailored around his or her needs, the Firm has an established investment philosophy it applies to every relationship. Our five principles have been hard-earned through nearly three decades of investing in the stock market. They are as follows:

1. Growth is paramount.

2. We prefer companies that pay US to own THEM.

3. Of the four possible outcomes; high margin, high volume is the best.

4. A steadily moving higher and higher left to right stock chart is a good thing; the inverse is not.

5. Inevitably, and by definition, more time is spent holding a losing position than is necessary. Cut losses early.

Detailed discussions of THR’s investment philosophy as well as other trending investment topics can be found on the blog: InvestLikeAFarmer.com