"Hippie" lender smiling all the way to the bank

Most banks wouldn't hire a guy who looks like Charles Ainslie, so it's a good thing he owns one.

Ainslie describes himself as a "longhaired hippie banker." He wears jeans and a T-shirt to work, plus a leather jacket if he's riding one of his motorcycles. The only thing missing is a "Born to Amortize" tattoo.

His political leanings and preferred social causes jibe with his appearance, but with his career? Not so much.

"I'm passionate about the financial freedom that comes with money," he explains.

Ainslie's success proves you don't have to wear pinstripes to do well in banking.

He founded what is now Golf Savings Bank — named after his favorite sport — in Mountlake Terrace. It specializes in lending to homebuilders and pays high CD rates to attract deposits. For its size, Golf Savings' profits are among the highest in the country.

How does Golf do it? It lends to small homebuilders in what for years has been a booming housing market. As the market cools, the bank's profit is more vulnerable. But because it lends primarily to builders who get smaller loans, its risk is more spread out and the bank is less likely to run into trouble.

The bank has brought Ainslie millions, and he gives much of it to liberal causes, including Ralph Nader, the National Organization for Women and Mother Jones magazine.

All this has made him carefree, happy — and rich.

"He was frisky" as a kid

Ainslie sort of fell into banking. He went to the University of Washington on a golf scholarship and was, he says, a mediocre student.

He figures that hurt his chances of finding work at any of the Fortune 500 companies where he interviewed.

"I was very good at bridge and hearts and poker and gin rummy, but I graduated with a 2.2 [GPA]," he said.

Ainslie finally landed at Seattle Mortgage, now Seattle Savings Bank, and he liked it.

"In the mortgage-banking business, I wasn't competing against a bunch of MBAs from Stanford," he said.

He eventually became a partner at another mortgage company and saved about $1 million for early retirement.

At 38, Ainslie kicked back in Seattle and Hawaii until the money ran out three years later. Rather than look for work, in 1981 he started Lynnwood Mortgage, which became Golf Savings Bank in 2000.

"I didn't think I was going to be able to get a job because of the way I looked," he said, and he was not willing to cut off the ponytail he has sported since 1970.

Early on, Ainslie said, he worried about approving even one bad loan because it could hurt such a small company. He brought prospective customers and their families home so his wife could meet them.

"We couldn't afford to make a mistake," he said.

He does a lot of his work — networking with homebuilders — on the golf course. Ainslie's U.S. Golf Association handicap is 0.1, meaning he typically shoots par or close to par.

A few years ago, he fell in love with motorcycles and began collecting them. In a gigantic guesthouse behind his home, Ainslie keeps seven Harley-Davidsons, an Arlen Ness chopper and a Ducati 999 that can go 200 mph.

He spent his 65th birthday in November cruising through Joshua Tree National Park on a Harley with his wife, Lynette.

Ainslie reminds his friends to enjoy life, said Marilyn Hurley Bimstein Conant, who grew up with him in Seattle.

As a kid, she said, "He was frisky."

As an adult, "He works hard, and he plays harder," said Conant, co-founder of the Institute for Motivating Reading, a Seattle nonprofit group that encourages people to read more. Ainslie and the bank contribute money to the group.

"I know how to play," she said, "but I couldn't touch him."

Liberal view of the world

If Ainslie's happiness is tinged, it is by George W. Bush's presidency.

Ainslie supported Ralph Nader in the most recent presidential election, and he is a major contributor to Mother Jones magazine.

He tries to sway friends and family to his liberal view of the world — including calling Nader and asking him to talk politics with his wife in a futile effort to swing her vote from John Kerry.

"Lynette said, 'It was nice talking with you, but I can't take a chance,' " Ainslie recalls. "Then I called Mother Jones because they weren't supporting Ralph Nader."

Steven Katz, associate publisher of Mother Jones, said the call prompted a conversation that was "really quite fun."

"He has strongly held political beliefs and thinks the country is going down the wrong track," Katz said. "He tells you what he thinks, but he doesn't beat you over the head with it."

Another Ainslie passion is women's causes. He has four daughters — including one named Charlie, after him — and no sons.

"Women have been discriminated against forever," he said. "Anything I can do to help women, especially since my legacy to this planet is my four daughters, I feel compelled to do."

He is the biggest contributor to the University of Washington women's golf team.

"He's probably the best friend we could have," coach Mary Lou Mulflur said. "He's great for my players to be around because he's such a genuine human being."

Ainslie also contributes to the National Organization for Women and sat on its Seattle board of directors in the mid-1990s.

Thalia Syracopoulos, former president of the Seattle NOW board, said Ainslie was a great mentor, particularly on business issues.

"One of his points with us was that an awful lot gets done on the golf course, and not a lot of women play golf, and they get left out," she said. "We fought very hard for Title IX, but we didn't recognize the importance in terms of the business world."

Ainslie's love of golf permeates his bank.

"Golf is a game of integrity, honor, character and honesty, and so should banking be," Ainslie said.

He has named several accounts after the game. There's the Birdie Minor Savings account for kids, the Pro Am Checking account and the Fairway Money Market Account.

And the bank does not hire golf cheaters.

Said Donn Costa, president of the bank's holding company: "If they cheat on the golf course, they will usually cheat in business."

Ainslie and fellow executives are doing something right. Golf Savings is twice as profitable as most banks. Its return on assets of 2.7 percent and return on equity of 26.3 percent — two important measures of banking success — are double the national average, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Golf Savings has only one retail branch, in Mountlake Terrace, but Ainslie hopes to open branches in Magnolia, Mercer Island and Woodinville in the next few months.

Bert Ely, a bank consultant in Alexandria, Va., said the bank's performance has been impressive but its rapid growth could be a concern. Assets grew 79 percent over the past year, to $435.7 million.

"That's a strain for any organization," Ely said.

Can't bank on appearances

Ainslie is looking for a way to finance more growth. He might take the company public or find investors with more money to pay for expansion. At the same time, monied investors could buy part of Ainslie's majority share in the bank, which would give him some cash, too.

"That would allow me to capture some of the wealth I have in the bank, and the plan is to give most of that away," he said.

Much would go to the Gratia Ainslie Foundation, which he created three years ago to honor his late mother. The foundation helps mothers and children in abusive situations.

Ainslie's long-haired hippie look doesn't suggest he has a lot of money. He's an example of why people shouldn't be judged based on appearance, Mulflur said.

"You'd never know he's a self-made multimillionaire," she said.

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com