NAOI President, Leland Hevner, is a leading figure in the world of investor education, investing research and financial consulting. He founded the National Association of Online Investors (NAOI) in 1997 with the mission of empowering individuals to become confident and successful investors via comprehensive, objective and actionable education combined with the use of online resources.

Thousands of people have taken NAOI online courses, read Hevner’s published books and/or attended his college classes on personal investing. His profile, accomplishments and experience are presented on this page.

Founder / President of the NAOI

Taking early retirement from a successful business career in 1992, Hevner became a full-time investor. These were the "wild west" days of personal investing when all of a sudden individuals had the power to trade stocks from their home computer. While Hevner achieved a degree of success with his online trading activities, he saw that many individuals, tempted by the siren call of day-trading riches, were losing money hand over fist.  He also saw that financial literacy and personal investing, both critical life-skills, were not being taught with any degree of rigor at virtually any level of academia.

In 1997 Hevner founded the NAOI in 1997 to address this problem via education and the use of online resources. Currently the NAOI is the market’s leading provider of comprehensive, unbiased and actionable investing education to the public.

Educator

Beginning in 2001 Hevner taught college courses on the art and science of personal investing in the Washington D.C. area. His classes are always filled to capacity and student reviews are consistently outstanding. While he teaches the public, they also teach him. As a result Hevner has an unmatched knowledge of how individuals view the market and how they select advisors to work with. He uses this knowledge to continually refresh the content of NAOI investing courses to meet the demands of changing markets. He also makes this highly valuable knowledge available to financial advisors and financial organizations via consulting agreements in order to enable them to create and offer investing products that the NAOI knows the public will buy. 

A Prolific Writer

In addition to teaching investing in the classroom, Hevner has also written multiple books on the subject. Just below on this page is a sampling of these publications. The books shown make up the NAOI Individual Certification Program discussed below.

Each book consists of approximately 150 pages and, in addition to education material, presents Web links that enable readers to take action based on what they learn. These Web links make NAOI books far more valuable than the hundreds of financial “education” offerings found on bookshelves today. For example, the “Investing Basics and Creating Your Unique Plan” book, shown below at upper left, provides links to Financial Planning Calculators that can be accessed at: www.naoi.org/calchome.

Shown below at bottom right is the NAOI Individual Investor Certification diploma awarded to students who have read all of these books and answered approximately 200 questions on the NAOI’s online testing site.

This is the investing education program that should be offered as an elective by every college in America - but is not.

Author of The Perfect Portfolio Book

One of Hevner’s most popular publications is The Perfect Portfolio, shown at right, that was published by John Wiley & Sons. This book details a new and uniquely effective approach to portfolio design and management that can be used by individuals of all experience levels to take more personal control of their investments and to profit in virtually any market condition.

More than simply a book, The Perfect Portfolio is a multi-media publication that closely resembles a college course in investing. Within the book’s content are Web links that enable readers to take action based on the knowledge they gain by reading the book.

Thousands of individuals have read this book.

Investment Researcher and Innovator

When the stock market crashed in 2008-2009 Hevner realized that more than education was required to empower individuals to invest with confidence, also needed was innovation. Teaching decades-old investing methods in the form of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) was not giving knowledge and tools that individuals need to meet the challenges of modern markets.

With this realization, Hevner directed the NAOI Research and Development Division to search for an alternative to, or a supplement for, MPT. Needed was a new approach to investing that could not only better cope with today’s volatile markets but also more effectively meet the wants and needs of investors. Following a multi-year effort the NAOI found the approach needed in the form of Dynamic Investment Theory (DIT) and the innovative investment type it creates called Dynamic Investments.

Dynamic Investment Theory and Dynamic Investments are being introduced to the market via an NAOI Research Report shown above.

Hevner currently teaches this new approach, in addition to MPT. Students tell him that this is finally the approach to investing that will enable them to enter the market with confidence, with success and without fear. And they will search for advisors that offer it.

Nationally Recognized Advocate for the Individual Investor

The national media has recognized Hevner’s status as an expert at understanding what the investing public wants and needs from financial advisors that they are not receiving today.

Hevner has appeared on the three major commercial TV networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as multiple times on the CNBC business channel and the Fox Business channel as an expert commentator on new and more effective approaches to investing.

He has also been interviewed extensively on radio stations across the country and is often quoted in the national press including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, U.S. News World Report and the New York Times among others.

Education Content Provider

Hevner and the NAOI have provided multiple financial Web sites with an education component; a valuable asset that the NAOI knows will attract far more visitors than competing Web sites that don’t. As examples, Hevner is a contributing author to the site at nasdaq.com where his articles can be read. Click here for an example. He has also supplied education content to J.K. Lasser and Investor Place, to name just a few.

A Leading Investing “Futurist” and Strategic Advisor

Hevner is seen by the media as one of the market’s leading futurists and is often called upon to describe his unique vision of how investing must, and will, evolve in the near future to better meet the challenges of modern markets. He has also served as a strategic advisor to financial organizations; showing them how to design investment products that more effectively meet the wants and needs of both individual and institutional investors.

Hevner has spoken at multiple conferences around the world as well as participated in a variety of round-table discussions and debates. His presentations center on “thinking differently” about how portfolios could / should be designed and managed today. He also challenges many fundamental concepts used by the financial industry today including a new and more effective way of measuring investment risk.

Hevner has positioned and structured the NAOI to develop a better future of investing, one in which both investors and investment professionals can take better advantage of the wealth generation potential of equity markets. It is for this reason that Hevner owns the trademark “The Future of Investing Starts Here”.

Financial Consultant

Based on his experience working with the investing public and his research efforts Hevner has provided consulting services to governments, academic institutions and financial organizations around the world. Following is one example.

The Government of Dubai

In 2006 Hevner was engaged to participate in the development of an Investor Education Program for the citizens of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Among the project goals was the empowerment of average citizens of this rising Middle East financial center to invest in Dubai Markets.

For this purpose Hevner spent considerable time in-country studying the market, the local stock exchange, Dubai financial regulatory bodies and the state of public investor education. Based on this research Hevner presented a comprehensive Investor Education Program to the Government of Dubai that was accepted and implemented.

Certified Investment Advisor

By passing a series of rigorous tests, Hevner has been certified by the North American Securities Administrators Association as a qualified Investment Advisor. While not currently active in this role, the knowledge he gained from the certification process has given him an in-depth understanding of how the financial services industry works today along with a clear vision of how it must change to better meet the needs of the investing public. He uses this knowledge to teach individuals how to more effectively interact with financial advisors.

Previous Work Experience

Prior to founding the NAOI Hevner used his Computer Science and MBA degrees to install advanced computer systems for both industrial and government organizations across the globe. In this capacity he traveled to 50+ countries on 6 continents during a 20 year period.

Education

Hevner holds an MBA from Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business with a concentration on data analysis and systems modeling. He has a B.S. degree is in Computer Science from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with minor degrees in Psychology and Russian. 

Contact Information

Email at LHevner@naoi.org  
Phone: 813-847-2121
Web Site: www.naoi.org

Connect with Leland on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lelandhevner