Hmmm… I have thought very long and hard and looked over my years of experience as a wealth manager and life insurance agent to determine and define my philosophy.

The easiest way to describe me is that there are Wall Street Wealth Managers and Main Street Wealth Managers. I view the Wall Street Wealth Managers as fancy with fancy suits. I am a Main Street Wealth Manager. I am an everyday person and I own suits that I can no longer fit because it has been so long since I put one on.

So if you view yourself as an everyday person, then I might just be the right wealth manager for you…. And I am not referring to your bank account, I am referring to you as a person and how you see yourself.

I know there are many people who look at the everyday news and wonder if the world is coming to an end? I say yes.

Then there is another group that look at the news and wonder how they can participate in opportunities? I say yes.

I say yes, not because I am a yes man; I say yes because finances also has a component that focuses on how you see the future. It can be all doom and gloom or a world filled with wonderful possibilities.

So my philosophy is about enjoying life. It is all about cash flow management. Most people can care less about how much they spend at a fancy restaurant. What they care about is can they continue to eat at that fancy restaurant? 

My role is not to tell you that I know everything and neither is it to be a glorified paper pusher/transaction processor.

My role is to be apart of your team. My role is to listen to your concerns and your goals, to review your financial situation and statements, and to research and recommend products that help you accomplish those goals. 

I do discuss a bucket strategy. This is not a bucket withdrawal from accounts that you normally have heard about, this is about putting finances into buckets based on the goals that you want to accomplish. It would take too long to discuss here and each person’s priorities are different so you can call me if you want to discuss that item further.

But continuing on in the describing of my philosophy… It is all about building a personal balance sheet. I will tell you the formula. Assets -minus Liabilities = Net Worth. And your goal is to have a positive net worth. You can do a Google Search and drop your numbers into any of the online calculators to get a good idea of where you are.

I know there is alot of information in the news that says that you do not need a wealth manager, you can do it on your own. You have so much information available to you with charts and graphs and calculators and access to management teams, etc. And if that is how you want to spend your free time, then so be it.

Think of it like a gym membership. You really do not need a personal trainer, but those who do have one have the opportunity to stay on track to accomplish their goals. Notice I said opportunity. You have people who have had a trainer for years and still in the same spot, buuuuuut if they have a personal trainer that they are happy with, then they are likely always reviewing their performance and making adjustments on how to get better results.

And by the way, I do actually know alot. I am a knowledge junkie. lol… But I have learned that there is so much too know and clients know things to. This is the reason that my philosophy is that we communicate and brainstorm ideas to help you accomplish your goals instead of me just giving you a bunch of products to choose from.

As for life insurance… If your current wealth manager has never reviewed your life insurance policies or ever had a discussion with you about your life insurance policies, then you should question that relationship. Before you scream that I am trying to sell you life insurance, that was actually a lesson that I learned early in my career.

I was interviewing with a company and I was rambling on and on about learning about stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and the professional kindly informed me that those things are nice, but I would be doing my clients a disservice if I did not attend to or address their life insurance needs first. Much longer story…

And by the way, once we get through our first meeting, believe it or not, a part of our conversation will be about the health of your computer. lol… We live in a technology world and so we will be communicating alot via e-mail so I need to know that you have a reliable computer. And before you ask, yes, you can call me pretty much anytime. But we have to communicate via e-mail so you can receive documents and other financially related information and we can discuss those items. And oh, if I do not answer the phone just leave a message.

You may say… the above was alot of information. Actually, I did that on purpose because I believe transparency is  important and setting expectations is important. Knowing how we will communicate with your financial planner is important. You knowing that you can call me anytime is important. It may be a question about a financial strategy or it may be a question about life insurance or picking a college. In either case, I am available.

Sooooo…. if you read all of that, then you should review the vision for your life and how finances play a role in accomplishing those goals and if you feel you need to review your finances to see where you are, then gather your account statements for your retirement plans, life insurance polices, and also your tax return and then give me a call at 713-858-9131 to schedule an appointment.

Hope to hear from you soon.