Though I wear several hats, my primary role is assessing, diagnosing, and prescribing solutions for our clients and their families’ financial lives. Far more than just building a plan for retirement, I help them identify transitions and goals, and find purpose in the space between.
My objective is to put the person at the center of the plan. I want to hear their stories. I want to know where they grew up and what money was like at that time. I need to understand someone’s perspective on money and what drives their financial decisions and behaviors. I want to know what is on their bucket list. We build this all into the plan and do our best to provide accountability for making sure folks are living their best lives while also making sound and wise financial decisions.
I am so thankful to be in this role. I feel that I was created for it. I love getting to know people. I love hearing their stories and helping them navigate the bumps, bruises, and ultimate successes of their lives.
I earned a BBA in Accounting from Lamar University in 1990 and became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) shortly thereafter. For the next dozen or so years I accumulated fun and exciting experiences in the accounting departments of large publicly traded companies including a fresh start from bankruptcy, several mergers and acquisitions, and an initial public offering (IPO).
At the end of these years, in 2003, I transitioned to financial planning. Along the way, I completed the AICPA Personal Financial Planning Section’s experience, education, and exam requirements to become a CPA/PFS, the most distinguished designation in the personal financial planning profession.
Most recently, Greg and I received the Certificate of Life Centered Planning from the Texas Tech University Department of Personal Financial Planning. This graduate-level certificate program taught personal skills and discovery methodologies as well as financial behavior and counseling approaches that will allow us to offer support and strategies that place the person, not the assets, as the most important aspect of our process.
After having developed my sole practice for about ten years, I was recruited by MetLife to participate in their workplace financial literacy program. I met Greg at the program’s orientation and after a juicy Smashburger together in the Newark Airport, we decided to co-teach the courses. The result was a joint client base that dwarfed our individual practices.
We decided that we could offer a higher level of advice if we split the work and became more functionally aligned. It’s sort of like going to your brain surgeon and asking her what is wrong with your heart. She would know quite a bit but when it comes time for cutting, you will want someone who is wholly focused on hearts.
With my experience in tax and accounting, it made the most sense for me to focus on strategy and planning while Greg, who is a self-proclaimed researcher and hedger of bets, would begin focusing on asset allocation and investment management.
My wife Jennifer and I met on a church youth trip while we were in junior high school. We began dating when we were 15 and married in our early 20s. Our son, Jedediah, arrived when we were 30. We settled in a small farmhouse in the Cat Hollow Creek Valley, sandwiched between Willie Nelson’s golf course and Lake Travis.
The passing of years accelerated but no other children came. Finally, one day, Jed told my mother-in-law, “Mimi, only is lonely.” Jennifer erupted into a blur of activity and the next thing I knew, we were a licensed foster home labelled as ‘wanting to adopt’.
We received a call from our agency that a little girl had been born in South Austin Hospital. The parents were undocumented and had fled. And so we drove to the hospital and went up to the nursery, and there she was, Olive-Anne. Nine months later her adoption was complete.
We maintained our foster license for some time after that, though I thought we were done. But one day Child Protective Services called because they were going to have to do an emergency removal of a little girl that was the same age as Olive-Anne, and thought we might be willing to keep her for a bit. The next day they arrived at our door and plopped a little girl on our floor. Jed, who by this time was slightly regretting his comments to his grandmother, said, “She’s beautiful, I hope we get to keep her.” And we did. Nearly two years later, we were able to adopt Lottie.
Now we have been in our little house for twenty years. Jed is 23 and living on his own. Olive-Anne and Lottie are 13 and attend Lake Travis Middle School. Jennifer has been masterful at shifting and arranging so that five of us could fit in our small space. There are still several years left in this chapter but we are beginning to see the end. We are thankful that we were able to remain content. There will be no need to downsize and, hopefully, our children will always visit and enjoy the comfort of their childhood home.
I have a passion for wild places and self-propelled journeying. I enjoy canoeing/kayaking, endurance trail running, and cycling. Most recently, I spent a week exploring the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness that lies between Minnesota and Ontario covering about 60 miles across 16 lakes with 19 portages.
Immersing myself in quiet beauty where my thoughts are centrally focused on the next simple thing that must be done, paddling, navigating, filtering water, packing, making shelter, and eating – allows my mind to rest and my spirit to be renewed. I always come home a better dad and husband and advisor.
I also love to read stories written with rich and interesting dialogue. My favorite authors include Larry McMurtry, Cormac McCarthy, and Flannery O’Connor.
