Daniel Mackle is an experienced financier, as well as the owner of Silver Edge Financial, a firm catering to high-end investors that manages two major financial funds; the Silver Edge pre-Initial Public Offering (pre-IPO) Fund, and the Silver Edge Venture Fund.
A veteran of Wall Street, Daniel Mackle has worked in the financial industry since graduating from Harrison, New York’s Manhattanville College in 1982. Over the course of his long career, he has assumed various roles in multiple financial firms before ultimately realizing his goal of becoming a successful serial entrepreneur. Although Silver Edge Financial is his flagship entrepreneurial venture, Daniel is also presently developing a company based around consumer debt consolidation with a specific focus on credit card debt. He believes this new project holds a great deal of promise both for profitability, but more importantly, for easing the financial suffering of many average Americans.
Outside of work, Daniel Mackle is an avid participant in martial arts. Having studied and engaged in this ancient practice for many years, he is currently on the precipice of earning a black belt. Daniel also enjoys fishing and traveling the country with his wife and five children.
What do you currently do at Silver Edge Financial? And how are you preparing for the launch of your debt consolidation company?
Though I spend a large amount of my time overseeing the daily operations and making the corporate decisions at Silver Edge Financial, I’m also currently in the midst of developing a new company focused on providing consumer debt relief. In many ways, much of my focus lies with that, these days.
In that respect, my team and I are currently building marketing platforms through different avenues such as Google AdWords and Facebook in order to help people who are struggling with credit card debt. COVID-19 hurt a lot of people in a medical sense, but also in an economic sense, as a huge number of businesses were shut down during the pandemic. As a result, many suffered enormous financial difficulties, and that caused a tremendous amount of people—small business owners and employees alike—to struggle with their credit card payments. That unfortunate effect has lingered to this day. Credit card debt is at an all-time high. Under the current system, if a person pays their minimum balance each month, it will take eighteen years to pay off an average credit card.
However, I see a positive opportunity to help people recover from the debts they accrued from the effects of the lockdowns. The programs we’ve developed can consolidate those payments, significantly reducing what people owe to their credit card companies. Following our plans, people can typically have these cards paid off in two-to-four years—depending on the person’s situation and their monthly payment, of course. We’re in the process of developing our marketing strategy for the new company right now, and it’s very exciting.
What was the inspiration behind going into the debt consolidation business?
I’ve been in the financial industry for many years. I can see an opportunity in debt consolidation. There’s a large market because of the state of credit card debt today. With the amount of debt that Americans are currently carrying, there’s a real opportunity to help a lot of people.
What defines your approach to doing business?
My approach to business is simple: I identify a problem and offer a solution to that problem. I consider what the keys are to being productive, especially when concerning a new business, and the most important component to productivity is time management. It’s easy to get distracted by the minutiae of day-to-day operations or by tending to the thousand small problems that inevitably arise when launching a new business, but the real trick is to concentrate on building a better company and focusing on the bigger picture.
Can you share a long-term goal for your debt consolidation business?
First and foremost, I want to help alleviate the debt woes of as many people as possible. Long-term, I would like the company to become a well-known name—one of the larger players in the space. I want to create a brand that people are familiar with and trust implicitly.
How do you measure success?
I measure success through a balance of financial success on the one hand, but also taking pride in what I do and helping as many people as I can on the other hand. I believe that making things better for others has to be part of the metric of how any businessperson measures their success. Obviously, we all want financial success, as well, but it has to be a combination of these factors.
What would you consider to be the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?
In this uncertain business environment, we all have to be nimble and adaptable to the changing times. That being the case, it’s important to keep informed of changes in the business landscape or in the larger economy. Or changes in the world, for that matter. Geopolitics can definitely affect business.
What advice would you give to others aspiring to join the debt consolidation sector?
My advice would be that you cannot go into this line of work just for the money. Becoming personally wealthy cannot be the end game. You have to enjoy what you do, and you have to genuinely want to help people. People out there are struggling, and you can help set them on a better path in life. The whole point to this business is providing some much-needed relief. If you’re focused only on making money for yourself, I don’t think you’ll ever truly be successful in debt consolidation.
How do you maintain a solid work/life balance?
The most important thing that you can give to anyone is your time. I have a lot of kids, and because of that, I realize I have to set aside some quality time to spend with them every day. Right now, it’s during the evening hours after I come home from work. That time is dedicated to my wife and children, and I try not to blur those lines by tending to work-related affairs. I make sure to give one hundred percent of my attention to my family. So, I suppose you could say I take a holistic approach to maintaining a work/life balance.
What’s a piece of technology that helps you the most in your daily routine?
The concept of digital marketing is relatively new to me. It’s been very interesting to learn about the breadth of its capabilities. Until recently, I didn’t quite grasp that you can reach a much greater number of people who are actually interested in your product through digital marketing than you ever could through traditional marketing. In short, there are numerous apps, programs, and digital tools that help me in my efforts to market my new business.
Who has been a role model to you and why?
My parents are my ultimate role models. They’re both immigrants to this country. I don’t think either of them even have a high school diploma, but they’ve worked extremely hard their whole life. They raised four children, each of whom are college graduates. Education was very important to them, and from an early age, they made sure the four of us studied hard and earned our degrees.
What is a piece of advice that you’ve never forgotten?
An author I enjoy once wrote, “The most valuable lessons learned are through suffering.” I think that’s a poetic way of saying that people who don’t encounter obstacles or suffer setbacks deny themselves the opportunity to grow and become better.
Read more:
Getting to Know You: Daniel Mackle, Founder of Silver Edge Financial