Rich!

That’s the answer I would always give my friends in high school when asked what I planned to be after we all graduated high school.

Back then, that definition meant being a millionaire. It didn’t bother me in the least that I had absolutely no idea how I would accomplish my dream of being rich. The one thing I understood, however, was that for me, college was not the answer.

Deep down inside I always knew I would own a business…

To this day I remember my father’s words; “Be the best at whatever you do. If you do that, you’ll always be well paid.” I could hardly wait until the day when I could join my father in the family business until the unthinkable happened…

When I was 16 years old my father suddenly passed away at the young age of 42. One week later my mother went from being a “full-time mom” and part-time bookkeeper, to a full-time business owner with all the responsibility that goes with owning and operating a business.

Mom had no choice! There were not sufficient assets that would give her the freedom to decide what to do with the business, and she had to keep the company going to take care of her two boys.

I look back now and realize this is one of the main reasons I do what I do. My mother should have had choices. She should have been able to decide what she wanted to do with her life, without money influencing her decision.

At 18 years old, I got my real estate license and started my career in residential real estate sales. It didn’t take much time for me to learn that hauling strangers around in my car was not a job I would enjoy.

I was working with an investor who bought and sold rental homes, when I noticed his profits far exceeded my commissions even though I did the majority of the work. Soon after, I found myself buying and selling over 30 rental properties.

Then a funny thing started to happen – People started approaching me, and asking me how to become financially successful. It was at this point when my financial planning future was born. I had created something here, and the people around me wanted it for themselves.

I interviewed with any and every company in town that said they did financial planning. I was very disappointed and disillusioned to find that these companies fell into two groups. One group was insurance agents, interested only in selling life insurance and the occasional disability policy. The other group only wanted to sell investments.

I knew there had to be something better…

I remember coming home one evening announcing with great enthusiasm to my wife, that I would be starting my own financial planning company the following week. We had $20,000 in the bank, with an understanding that when that money was gone I’d go back and get a “real job”. We also had a three-month-old infant, and my wife had recently quit her well paying job to be a full time mom.

I was on top of the world. I actually owned my own company! It didn’t matter that there were no clients or income. My wife had absolute trust and confidence in me, and because of her encouragement, I obtained the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.

I remember vividly the afternoon we sat down together on our living room sofa to review our finances. This was a pretty quick process. We had no money in the bank, $30,000 of credit card debt, both cars and the house. It’s also, the day she announced we would be having our second child. Clearly time for me to go get “a real job”..

But somehow we both knew our circumstances would change for the better and they did. Today we are totally debt free, including our company. We now have two wonderful boys on their way to being outstanding young men.

In the beginning I would work with anyone. This made for long days and time away from my family. As time went on and the company grew I started to realize that it was time for a change and restructured the way we conduct business. Now we serve no more than 100 top clients, who leave the details of their finances to us. Therefore, they are able to do in life what’s important to them.

Along the way, I have found my definition of rich has changed. Now it’s not so much about how much money I have. It is about having the freedom and security to do what I want, when I want, and where I want. This, I truly believe, is what our company is all about:

• Watching a client walk away from millions of dollars in stock options, knowing they already “have enough.”
• Willing to create the time to do those things important to them by sacrificing what some would consider significant wealth.
•  The corporate executive who takes early retirement. Not because he’s asked to, but because we wants to. So he can pursue other opportunities that are more important to him, like managing the business side of his church or organizing missions throughout the world.
• The couple experiencing the freedom and joy they get from traveling the world

None of our clients will show up on some wealthiest in America list. However, I suspect they are truly “richer” than many of this nation’s wealthiest families.

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