Pat Guinet is living the American Dream. After coming to the U.S. as a teen, he earned a degree in economics from UC Irvine in 1983, launched a successful career in financial planning, and today owns a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm that manages and consults on over $1 billion in assets. 

“I believe things happen for a reason. I believe everything is connected,” Guinet says. “And I very much believe you have to remember where you came from and who helped you.”

Guinet is bringing those beliefs to the forefront as he steps into a new role at UC Irvine: chair of the School of Social Sciences’ Dean’s Leadership Society, a network of alumni and community members committed to paying it forward to the next generation. Guinet succeeds chair Michelle Williams ’87, who has helped to grow the DLS to 120 members and played a pivotal role — with other key leaders —  in raising $1.6 million to support programs across the school, from student scholarships to faculty research. 

“My decision to come to UCI all those years ago has made a huge impact on my life – the industry I now work in, the friends I still have to this day, and all the new connections I’ve made through the DLS,” says Guinet. “I’m passionate about giving back to the university and building on the success of the DLS to make an even greater impact.”

‘A special place’ 

Guinet’s childhood had the makings of a Hollywood movie. Born in Singapore to a French father – a well-known horse racer – and British mother, he lived a “silver spoon” life early on. Everything changed when he was 9 years old. His father’s life was taken in the wee hours of the morning as he was leaving the restaurant that he managed, altering the family’s future and shaping much of Guinet’s perspective on life.

A visit from a friend attending boarding school in the U.S. changed everything.  Inspired by stories of life in America, he decided to apply to American boarding schools. A trustee at the prestigious Thacher School in Ojai, California, read Guinet’s story and offered him a life-changing scholarship. In the fall of 1975, he left Singapore and crossed the Pacific to start a new life in Ojai, CA.

After graduating from high school, Guinet was bound for UC Berkeley – until another fateful conversation with a friend, lounging under the sun in Newport Beach.

“We were lying on the sand, and I started thinking, this is heaven,” Guinet remembers. His friend mentioned there was a UC campus “just down the street,” and Guinet headed there to arrange his transfer. The same things that drew Guinet to UC Irvine back then still attract students today.

“UCI is a very special place – there’s a reason it’s one of the most popular campuses now,” he adds. “Who wouldn’t want to go to a UC in OC a few miles from the beach, that has so many academic programs ranked in the top 20 nationally?”

Investing in the future

At UC Irvine, Guinet gained more than an education. He made lifelong friends, including some who treated him like family – especially when he couldn’t afford to fly home to Singapore for school holidays. 

Because he had always been good with numbers, Guinet majored in economics, graduating in 1983 and pursued a career in investment advising. In 1986, just three years later, Guinet became a U.S. citizen. He soon bought a home, started a family, and brought his mom over from Singapore.

Over the next 30 years, he worked for Kidder Peabody, Prudential Secuties, Wachovia and Wells Fargo until he co-founded Guardian Financial Partners, LLC in 2017 with two long-time colleagues. Even though starting their own firm was a big risk, the tangible and intangible rewards are priceless – and since their launch in 2017 they have been fortunate to triple the size of the business in 8 years.

At Guardian, Guinet is the Certified Investment Management Analyst, and his two partners are Certified Financial Planners. Together, they offer financial planning, investment management and provide fiduciary advice for the clients they serve — along with managing employee benefit plans and assets of institutional clients. Even 40 years later, he credits his UCI education with shaping his success.

“Looking back on it now, I thank God I took Bob Newcom’s statistics class at UCI,” Guinet says. “I use that more than anything else. He had a big impact on my career.”

Giving and receiving

Guinet recently increased his annual giving to the university and made a significant pledge to support social sciences students participating in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Although the gift felt like a stretch at the time, he says, “I believe there is a direct connection between both financial and emotional success, and the conscious effort of giving back and helping those that follow after us. We can all afford a small donation, but the rewards that come are immeasurable…. AND they are not all monetary.”

Guinet believes it’s important not only for alumni but also for current Anteaters to embrace an ethos of paying it forward to future generations. In the 1980s, he supported a student initiative to enact a fee that would support the construction of the Bren Events Center. He later made an additional gift to the Bren after he graduated – even though the center would not open until years after he graduated. At that time, he had no idea his oldest son, Brennan Guinet ’22, would eventually attend UCI and enjoy the space he helped support. He made the gift simply to pay it forward.

Last basketball season, Guinet attended the Homecoming game at the Bren with a group of friends from the Dean’s Leadership Society. As luck would have it, he ended up seated next to the nameplate recognizing his decades-old gift – a small but powerful reminder of the lasting connections forged through giving.

As Guinet steps into his role as chair of the DLS, that sense of connection remains front and center.

“Everything is connected,” he says. “And UCI will always be part of who I am.”

-Christine Byrd for UCI Social Sciences
-photo by Luis Fonseca, UCI Social Sciences