Lewiston High School senior all business about future
Joe Poirier knows what he wants to do with his life:
Carry on the
family business.
LEWISTON – Joe Poirier rises from behind a neat desk at Poirier Associates, extends a firm handshake to a visitor.
He is well-spoken and handsome. Wearing a necktie and pressed shirt, he looks something like Tom Cruise in “Risky Business.”
Poirier, though, is not one to gamble.
He favors hard work, persistence and an even temperament. This comes from nearly a decade learning the ropes of financial planning.
He often works more than 50 hours a week. And consider Poirier’s mutual fund choices: They’ve taken nosedives in the past three years, but they’re climbing again and his portfolio looks solid.
Did we mention that he’s 17?
“None of my friends are really into the financial stuff like I am,” said Poirier, who just graduated among the top 10 at Lewiston High School.
His father, Marc R. Poirier, owns the financial planning business bearing the family name, in a second-floor office on Lisbon Street.
The younger Poirier wants eventually to run the business when his father retires.
He started helping when he was 10, waiting until legal working age to call it a job, and draw a paycheck. He also works part time at Community Credit Union on Pine Street.
People at Lewiston High would “probably know me for the business aspect,” said Poirier, a National Honors Society member. “One teacher said I was most likely to become a millionaire.”
In the fall he will study – go figure – business and finance at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. But he’ll commute in his Lincoln Mark 8, so he can keep the office job. His father already trusts him with some major responsibilities: asset allocation programs, letter-drafting, account updates and terminations, just to name a few.
“He’s been here since the fifth grade at McMahon School,” Marc said. “Joe’s a great kid.”
Besides the business acumen, Poirier is unique for another reason: He wants to carry on the family business.
Until a few decades ago, that career track used to be widespread, both on the farms and in the cities.
Then the population soared, the national economy spread its branches and transportation allowed workers to travel distances from home. Young adults sought other options.
Marc Poirier is proud that his son is a throwback.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “I have to wait another four years, unless he decides to get a master’s.”
In his final semester at Lewiston, Poirier took Entrepreneurship and Business Law, taught by Wendy Russell at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center.
Students researched and developed plans for their own companies. Several local business groups, including the U.S. Small Business Administration, helped the class along the way.
Poirier created a financial planning firm, similar to his father’s, but based on a partnership rather than sole ownership.
“It’s one idea that we have talked about,” he said.
The local chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives presented a $100 U.S. savings bond to Poirier, whose plan was judged top in his class.
“Joe’s plan was a whole step above the others, from the type of paper he used to print it on, to the organization,” Russell said.
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