Robert K. Steinberg
Founder & CEO
Get To Know Robert
Robert is the Founder and CEO of Blue Chip Partners. He is an attorney (JD), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. He is the visionary of the firm and also leads the team’s hiring efforts taking special care to make sure that each new employee is a match for our positive culture.
Robert began his career specializing in tax preparation and planning at Deloitte and went on to practice as an estate-planning attorney for Honigman, Detroit’s largest law firm. Robert’s rare combination of tax, legal, and over 35 years of planning and investment management experience is extremely valuable in advising clients and building a team of outstanding advisors.
Robert graduated with an BA in accounting from Michigan State University and is an honors graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.
Robert enjoys golf, the Detroit Lions resurgence, exercising, and spending time with his wife and two daughters.
What was your first job?
I started caddying when I was 12 years old. I learned many valuable life lessons, including how to interact with a wide variety of personalities, the benefits of positive reinforcement, and how everyone has their own interpretation of the rules of the game. While it has been many years since my last loop, my wife, Cynthia, still laughs about how many times we have been out and an older woman will approach us smiling and say I was her favorite caddy.
What is your favorite Holiday?
We live on Main Street in downtown Northville and the city takes Halloween very seriously. The streets are blocked off and, depending on the weather, we get between 1,500 – 2,000 trick-or-treaters. We always recruit helpers and joke when passing out candy that “we are busier than a cashier at Costco.”
What is the greatest lesson you learned from a client?
Very early in my career, during a portfolio review with a client, I highlighted that while the client’s portfolio was down, the overall market had performed much worse. To my chagrin, instead of recognizing how his account had declined by a lower percentage than the market, he proceeded to let me know that he had lost $25,000. When I pointed out the relative performance of his account, he said never take credit when a client has lost money. The lesson I learned was that while advisors focus on percentage returns, clients focus on the actual dollar amount of the gain or loss.
