Why did I decide to help manage investments?

I’m often asked how or why did I become a financial advisor? Like most things I guess it all starts in my childhood. My father was a pharmacist and always had a passion around investing and money concepts. One of my earliest childhood memories was him and I getting in the car and driving around town to move money from one Savings and Loan company to another. In those days they would give away incentives like a teddy bear, flashlight, or a toaster when you opened a new account or added money. I remember the interest rates back in those days for savings accounts were paying over 10%. (That sounds great, but as I now know, inflation was around 15%...yikes)1

I learned early on how money could grow over time. I liked getting my statements to see the interest grow and compound. It was like a fun game. When the thick Sunday morning papers would arrive, he would pullout the investment section and teach me about the different kinds of investments he owned. I found that to be very interesting also. So much so, that I would start to check out books from the library about investing.

As I got older, I discovered that not everyone shared my same passion around investments and money concepts. People know it’s important, but not something they wanted to do themselves. I guess at some point it clicked that if I got good enough at this, I could help other people manage their investments. So that’s what I did. I went to University of Wisconsin-Madison and received my degree in Personal Finance. In 1995 I graduated and started helping people to properly structure their finances so they could reach goals such as helping to pay for their children’s education and retiring. I enjoyed it so much that I kept learning and earned my CFP which stands for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I’ve been helping people near me as their financial advisor for 28 years now. Some of those years have been easy, others kind of tough. But along the way I love seeing people make progress on their goals. The point has come and gone where I have helped clients with a newborn baby set up a college savings account, fund it, and now use it to educate their son or daughter. It makes me so happy to do the best I can and be a part of their lives like this. The same can be said for all the people who are now enjoying a comfortable retirement from the work we started together 20+ years ago. Honestly, I still get excited to think about what positive impact I can have on the next person who walks in the door.

1.Rouse, C. C., Zhang, J., & Tedeschi, E. (2021, November30). Historical parallels to today's inflationary episode. The White House. Retrieved March 29, 2023, fromhttps://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2021/07/06/historical-parallels-to-todays-inflationary-episode/