Military to Financial Planner Podcast
Helping active duty, guard, reserves, and military spouses make a successful career transition into the world of financial planning. Welcome to the Military to Financial Planner podcast with your host, Daniel Kopp. Join him as he shares his unique perspectives and career transition advice, help you leverage your military experience, be intentional about each step of your career journey, and ultimately build the post-military life and career that you want.
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Leveraging Military Spouse Skillsets and the Scary, First 6 Months of Firm Launch with Stacy Miller
11/06/2024
Leveraging Military Spouse Skillsets and the Scary, First 6 Months of Firm Launch with Stacy Miller
I’m excited to welcome Stacy Miller on the podcast today. She is the founder of Bayview Financial Planning, a flat-fee RIA focused on serving women, widows, and military and veteran families. Stacy is a military spouse to a retired U.S. Army officer. Married for over 30-years to her husband, Jody, who served 28-years in the military, Stacy has experienced many positive and negative transitions. She has seen firsthand how those transitions can impact women, widows, and military/veteran families. Together, her military family moved 14 times during their service, and as a result, Stacy was often unemployed or underemployed. She therefore recognizes how important it is for women, especially, to feel confident in their own future financial security. We chat about her exposure to personal finance as her family CFO holding down the fort during her husband’s long and varied military career. Like most military spouses, Stacy found a way to make it all work and built up an incredible skillset during those years across her varied experiences. Stacy shares how her initial experiences with financial advisors made her wary of going down that career path before a colleague finally convinced her to join an RIA. While it was a great training ground and opportunity to do lots of things, she felt the pull of real financial planning for families and individuals that was different than the institutional money management that prior firm did. So, Stacy took the leap into launching her own firm earlier this year and we catch her at the 6 month point where she is fresh in the trenches of marketing and working to get those first 10 clients. I love how she shares about the real reasons why she had to do this for herself and how work and identity plays such a key role for her in this decision. Lastly, she shares some really interesting advice she gives to fellow military spouses also exploring careers in this profession.
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Finding the Right Culture Fit and Serving the Military Community with David Evetts
10/23/2024
Finding the Right Culture Fit and Serving the Military Community with David Evetts
In this episode, I’m joined by David Evetts, who serves as the President of the USAA Educational Foundation. Since 1986, The USAA Educational Foundation has served the military community by helping service members and their families become informed financial decision-makers through every life stage. USAA, the founder and sponsor of The USAA Educational Foundation, is a San Antonio, Texas-based financial services company that provides auto, homeowners, and life insurance products and, banking and investment services. While USAA is the sponsor, The USAA Educational Foundation does not endorse or promote any commercial supplier, products, or services. Before this current role, David served as the USAA CEO’s chief of staff/aide-de-camp with previous leadership roles in CEO Communications, Corporate Responsibility, External Affairs, and Enterprise Innovation. David joined USAA in 2011 through the Junior Military Officer Career Development Program after serving in the Army. Over the course of our interview we chat about these roles and more including David’s perspectives on how to balance the dual goals of serving the military community with education or support along with finding ways to have a career. David also shares some particularly relevant advice related to looking for a company that aligns with your values instead of the particulars of the job or even role. Lastly, we chat about the challenges of shedding the military identity when making a career transition and how to be known as a leader, not just a veteran. There are definitely some pearls of wisdom in there. Here’s my interview with David Evetts.
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Financial Education, Working for a Nonprofit, and Serving the Special Ops Community with Drew Stamp
10/09/2024
Financial Education, Working for a Nonprofit, and Serving the Special Ops Community with Drew Stamp
I’m excited to welcome a friend and colleague who has a little bit different career track today. Drew Stamp serves as the Chief Operations Office for the Donovan and Bank Foundation - a, nonprofit organization that focuses on helping special operators transition to a life of peace, balance, and contentment. We chat about Drew’s early personal finance experiences, how he learned he loved to teach and help other with financial literacy, what studying for the CFP exam was like even though he had never worked in a traditional job in financial planning before, and how he found his way to his current role. If you are interested in financial literacy and education, you might find some of his answers surprising. With his wide range of experiences, Drew shares some incredibly practical advice born out of personal experience and the hundreds of briefings and thousands of hours of conversation. We could all benefit from his advice on how to better deliver financial education as well as advice! Drew has the benefit of looking back over his many years of transition counseling and shares the common themes he sees including how important it is to have your own financial house in order and be prepared for the emotional, mental, and identity challenges that come with leaving the military experience. Lastly, we chat about the changes and perceptions of current military members, if BRS has changed things from where Drew sees it, and what it means to work with the military population as they approach their career transitions. So here’s my interview with Drew Stamp.
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Finding the Right Firm, Fit, and Focus with Matt Stephens
09/25/2024
Finding the Right Firm, Fit, and Focus with Matt Stephens
Today on the podcast I’m joined by Matt Stephens from Willow Chute Financial. Matt has had a winding career path that has taken him to a variety of roles, firms, structures, and responsibilities. During his career in financial services, he has also served as an officer in the Army Reserves since 2008. In our discussion, we chat about the pros and cons of a variety of financial services compensation and service structures and how that factored into his career decisions. Given the variety of structures as well as front and back office roles, I ask Matt about the traits he found for those that were successful in the variety of positions so you can better understand and find your best fit. Matt also shares about his special prospecting opportunities to network and receive referrals from CPAs as well as help clients solve very specific tax problems. Lastly, we chat about the lessons learned along the way for other people looking for their first position in this profession or looking to chart their best path. Matt’s grit and determination helped him persevere through lots of challenges before he ultimately found his way to his current broker dealer and the best fit for him and his clients. Be sure to listen for the pearls of wisdom about the things to watch out for when evaluating different job opportunities and structures. Securities offered through Avantax Investment Services Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC). Investment advisory services offered through Avantax Advisory Services Inc.
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Walking the Walk along with Talking the Talk of Military Transition with Heather Walrath
09/11/2024
Walking the Walk along with Talking the Talk of Military Transition with Heather Walrath
I’m so grateful to have Heather Walrath joining us on the podcast today. She currently serves as financial education and accredited financial counselor at the Navy Mutual Aid Association. As part of the Education Team, Heather speaks one-on-one with servicemembers and spouses and provides group presentations to servicemembers and families across the country to increase their knowledge and understanding of financial matters. Her areas of expertise include military and survivor benefits, including VA benefits and Survivor Benefit Plan. Heather talks about her early career interest in this profession after being an AFCPE FINRA Fellow. Her early volunteer experiences helped her build her skills and showed her how much she loved this work. Later on, she started out giving presentations on a part-time basis for Navy Mutual before that eventually grew into a full-time role. Over her career, Heather has given hundreds of presentations to thousands of servicemembers and their families about military transition. But as you will hear, she shares just as many lessons learned from her own experience going through military transition earlier this year when her active duty spouse retired. We spend a good deal of time talking through her experience and wisdom of the transition and retirement process, how to find good source material, and the advice that can help you make an even more successful military transition yourself. I know this will be a big benefit to all our listeners both getting ready for their own transition or working with others who are!
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Tax Preparation alongside Financial Planning, Teaching CFP Classes, and MQFP Update with Paul Allen
08/28/2024
Tax Preparation alongside Financial Planning, Teaching CFP Classes, and MQFP Update with Paul Allen
I’m excited to have Paul Allen on the podcast today. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss his first exposure to the financial services industry which rubbed him the wrong way and sparked an interest in doing his own financial planning work. Later on, Paul wanted to help educate fellow members of his military community so he got his CFP so he could teach financial literacy classes, all the while wondering if there was a way he could just get paid to give financial advice instead of selling financial products. Paul shares how he stumbled into the world of fee-only RIAs and tax practice around the same time with his tax practice, PIM Tax, rapidly taking off. He later merged with Sean Gillespie to form Redeployment Wealth Strategies to help him better divide his time and expertise. We spend time chatting about his tax training and expertise including getting the Enrolled Agent designation, the common challenges he sees in military tax returns, training and experiences you can get to learn more about tax preparation, and who might be a good fit for the tax side of the profession as opposed to the planning. We also talk about his experiences and passions to help advance the profession through his work as the Program Director of CFP Program in Regent University’s School of Law. Paul shares about their focus there the traits he sees teaching the capstone course that set people up for success on the CFP exam. Lastly, we round out the conversation around the Military Qualified Financial Planner (MQFP) designation including the goal of helping military and veteran families find great financial advice in a fee-only, fiduciary manner that is tailored to the military experience. I love Paul’s knowledge, passion, and depth of experiences and resources he shares in this episode. ?
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Learning About the Planning Profession and Building College Planning Expertise with Mike Hunsberger
08/14/2024
Learning About the Planning Profession and Building College Planning Expertise with Mike Hunsberger
In this podcast episode, I sit down with Mike Hunsberger to learn more about his career journey across an Air Force career and launching his own RIA, Next Mission Financial Planning. He shares about his early experiences with being sold permanent life insurance and high fee mutual funds which led him to get more interested in personal finance. Thanks to many years of his own good financial decisions, including building lots of spreadsheets to analyze his own military career analysis, gave him options to consider financial planning as a second career. As part of his exportary foray, Mike learned about XY Planning Network and came to their conference in 2019 where he met many other like-minded folks that ultimately started MFAA. It solidified his decision to make the leap and he finished his CFP coursework not long after from the American College thanks to their veteran scholarship program. When he passed the CFP exam and launched his firm, Mike shares how he felt like he had realistic expectations but even they were too lofty at first. I appreciate how he shared about the struggles to market to clients in those first few years. We also dive deeper into the world of college planning as Mike has expertise in that planning area including integrating military benefits into paying for college. Mike talks about his process for clients and the tools and techniques he uses to help them make the best decisions for their families. This is one of the most emotionally charged topics in financial planning so you won’t want to miss his expertise!
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Cross-border Planning and Military Spouse Careers with Stephanie Higgins
07/31/2024
Cross-border Planning and Military Spouse Careers with Stephanie Higgins
In this podcast episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Higgins to talk about her journey into the financial planning profession. As a military brat as well as military spouse, she has spent a great deal of time overseas so we talk about the challenges of employment and building a career while OCONUS. I love hearing about her personal journey of learning about finances as she took over her household money management and the blending of that with her prior career background and education in psychology. Stephanie shares how she pursued the AFC and MQFP as well as currently preparing for the CFP exam. Her persistence in networking and seeking opportunities has paid off throughout her career and I don’t want you to miss those parts of the story. We also chat about her current role as a paraplanner in a firm that specializes in expats with the parallels there from her own personal experiences. Lastly, she shares about her latest endeavors starting to do some financial coaching for expats and her career advice for other military spouses in similar positions of looking for work overseas. Her passion for this profession shines through and I know you will glean some helpful insights for your own career path!
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DoD Skillbridge Transition to Financial Planning with Omen Quelvog
07/10/2024
DoD Skillbridge Transition to Financial Planning with Omen Quelvog
I’m excited to welcome Omen Quelvog to the podcast today. If his name sounds familiar to you, it’s because we have talked about him on this podcast before when Sean Gillespie and I chatted about the DoD Skillbridge program and how Omen was the first MFAA Skillbridge intern. We cover a lot of ground in this episode including Omen’s own financial experiences and love of spreadsheets and personal finance. I love the personal anecdotes and stories that Omen weaves in including how his own personal financial plan set him and his family up for options post-military life. As the first Skillbridge intern for MFAA, Omen was willing to be that guinea pig and his feedback, flexibility, and adaptability ultimately set him and the firm he worked for up for success. We talk about the roles and responsibilities Omen had during those first few months working as an intern and how the challenges didn’t always line up with the expectations going in. Ultimately, Omen’s entire career trajectory changed as well with him staying on at Clear Insight Wealth Management in contrast to his initial plans. Be sure to listen towards the end for the self-examination and career advice that Omen shares about who is a likely good fit for an MFAA Skillbridge intern. Given the nature of most MFAA firms being small RIAs, it takes some adaptation and self-starting flexibility to succeed in these kinds of roles. Omen also wants to extend an offer to connect if you were interested in learning more about his story or getting some perspective on your own career journey. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. If you are specifically interested in being a Skillbridge intern for MFAA, I encourage you to take a closer look at all the member firms to determine which of them you might be interested in working with and network from there.
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Networking, Reframing, & Doing Your Own Financial Plan with Arcelia Wicker
06/05/2024
Networking, Reframing, & Doing Your Own Financial Plan with Arcelia Wicker
We continue the recent theme of podcast listeners becoming podcast guests as I’m joined by Arcelia Wicker on the episode today. He is a financial planner at Bay Capital Advisors in the Virginia Beach area. We chat about his personal experiences of personal finances and how going through Financial Peace University helped him and his wife get their own financial house in order before going on to help host and teach the program for many years. When he realized that he would do that kind of work for free, it sparked an exploration of how to break into the world of financial advice and become the financial planner that he had always wanted. Thanks to getting out of his comfort zone and networking with his local FPA and NAPFA groups, Arcelia built a support network that helped him find his own path. We talk about his educational experience through the American College CFP/ChFC program, how Hannah Moore’s externship gave practical and real-life examples of planning with clients, and how he balanced study time with active duty, family responsibilities, and prepping for the career transition. I love Arcelia’s transparency across the lessons learned including how he ultimately passed the CFP exam, how he overcame a rescinded job offer, and his reframing of these setbacks. One of the things that struck me the most was how having his own financial house in order including being prepared to make their family lifestyle work post-military without a second income gave him the financial and mental capacity to wait for the right position. I know you can also find inspiration from his lessons learned and career advice. Arcelia also wants to extend an offer to connect if you are interested in learning more about his story or getting some perspective on your own career journey. You can connect with him on LinkedIn by checking the show notes for his profile.
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Passion, Perseverance, & Pivoting to Career Success with Roland McIntyre
05/15/2024
Passion, Perseverance, & Pivoting to Career Success with Roland McIntyre
I’m grateful to have Roland McIntyre on the podcast for this episode. He is an XYPN member and founder of Mountaintop Wealth, his own fee-only RIA where he focuses on serving underrepresented and underserved communities including those in military or public service. We got connected awhile back and after meeting each other at XYPN Live last year, I knew I had to have him on the podcast to talk about his career journey. Roland shares about his origin story of money and his desire to be a financial advisor going back to 7th grade. After leaving active duty, he was first told he needed sales experience before he could get into the financial services industry … so he did just that, selling cable door to door. That theme of persistence comes up throughout our conversation and I love his passion and dedication to this profession. Roland ultimately went to work for AIG where he rapidly advanced through a variety of roles and positions, learning the ins and outs of the company products, how to communicate in plain language with clients and other professionals alike, and expanding his knowledge across many areas of financial planning. Although he admits he never considered himself an entrepreneur, Roland is building a great firm that meets clients where they are at with a desire to help close the racial wealth gap. We talk about his variety of service and fee options that help educate clients who have never worked with a fee-only advisor before and how his educational content and community networking are compounding the marketing impact. I know you will learn something from Roland’s career journey!
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From the Army to the Wirehouse World to RIA with Amy King
04/17/2024
From the Army to the Wirehouse World to RIA with Amy King
I’m excited to welcome Amy King on the podcast today. We start with her origin story that started with some fortuitous conversations about money and investing that ignited a passion for the subject and ultimately led her to the CFP while still on active duty. Through her personal network, she got a first job preparing taxes and doing paraplanning work for a small RIA while still on active duty that gave her a wealth of experience and knowledge. When Amy retired from the Army, she ultimately ended up at a major wirehouse and since that was different than many of our former guests, she shared about her experiences there including the training, culture, working on her team, and personal challenges she had in working with many of the wealthy clients there. Importantly, we also touch on some of the decision points she had to make when it came time to leave including the careful steps she took to leave in accordance with her company agreements. We catch her early in her own firm journey to get some of those lessons learned while they are still new, including how she has pivoted to capture more project, advice-only work for DIY clients. She also shares about the reason why she studied for many different designations to better gain the confidence she needed to work with clients, especially in her niche of federal government benefits. I loved Amy’s transparency and authenticity and I know you will too!
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Experimenting with Service Models & Niches with Erik Baskin
03/20/2024
Experimenting with Service Models & Niches with Erik Baskin
Today I chat with Erik Baskin of Baskin Financial Planning. I still remember some of my first conversations with him back in the very early days of this podcast so it’s a full circle moment for both of us in this episode. Since launching his own RIA in 2021, while still on active duty, Erik has further refined his niche focus to go beyond just the active duty focus to also work with veteran business owners. We chat about his educational progress, his entrepreneurial drive, and building a business to serve life goals as much as career ones. Given that Erik has tried lots of different marketing and client-service approaches, we talk about the pros and cons as well as lessons learned. At this stage of his business, Erik is really starting to see the hockey stick of growth take off thanks in part to his willingness to just keep doing the work over the past several years. Erik shares about his lessons learned from trying out different fee and service models including his attempt to build a membership community and serve junior servicemembers with a $19 subscription service. We also talk a little bit about his use of Elements and tech tools to serve clients still on their wealth accumulation journey. I know you will benefit from many aspects of this episode and Erik’s experiences.
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Enlisted Money Guy & Paraplanning with Brandon Lovingier
02/28/2024
Enlisted Money Guy & Paraplanning with Brandon Lovingier
Today we welcome Brandon Lovingier, the Enlisted Money Guy on the podcast. Brandon has created some really great content out there to serve his fellow servicemembers and shares his journey of financial successes and lessons learned. In addition to his prolific content creation, Brandon is also a virtual paraplanner - all while still being on active duty. We discuss Brandons’ personal finance experiences, his curiosity to learn more about money that led him to the CFP/ChFC program, and his relentless experimentation of creating content including doing paid ghostwriting for other planning firms. There are a lot of helpful resources mentioned in this podcast that will also be in the shownotes so be sure to check them out. I especially love how Brandon is still in the middle of his career journey and looking ahead to what comes next after active duty life and when he can do even more of this work he loves. Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn: Paraplanner resources: Start 100K: Enlisted Money:
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Jumpstarting Your Financial Planning Career with Matt Fizell
02/14/2024
Jumpstarting Your Financial Planning Career with Matt Fizell
I welcome Matt Fizell on the podcast today after admiring his work for quite awhile. Matt is the founder of his own RIA, Harmony Wealth based in Madison Wisconsin. But as we discuss in this interview, Matt took a circuitous route from his initial undergraduate training in financial planning, working in a broker dealer, finding out about fee-only financial planning, and networking across the breadth and depth of opportunities and careers. One of the main reasons I invited Matt on this podcast was to have him share about his experience helping new planners break into the financial planning profession. Matt has so much experience in this role with hundreds of conversations across the profession, especially in his past role as co-host of the You’re a Financial Planner Now What. Side note, if you haven’t added that one to your to-do list, I would encourage you to dive into their past archives of great conversations. Matt shares his extremely helpful career advice and how he helped create a course called the New Planner Collective. The goal of this course is to help teach new people to this profession how to build a career, not just the technical skills. I loved what he shared as it provides another helpful perspective. Be sure to check out the links in the show notes to learn more about these opportunities and where to learn more about this course and Matt. Follow Matt on Twitter: Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: Matt’s RIA: IAPD Website: New Planner Collective:
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Career Change Hiring Success with Caleb Brown
11/01/2023
Career Change Hiring Success with Caleb Brown
I’m honored to have Caleb Brown join us on the podcast today. Caleb is the co-founder of New Planner Recruiting, which we have mentioned several times on this podcast before. This recruiting firm specializes in sourcing, screening, and integrating financial planners in firms nationwide. He was named the Next Generation Influencer by Financial Planning Magazine, and one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Industry by Investment Advisor Magazine. In addition, Caleb was named to the prestigious 40 Under 40 list by Investment News. As a graduate of Texas Tech University’s Personal Financial Planning Program, Caleb has mentored, hired, managed, and coached thousands of career changers and college students seeking positions in financial planning, as well as the firm owners who hire them. For his outstanding accomplishments, he has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus for the Texas Tech University College of Human Sciences, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus for their Financial Planning Program. Caleb also has a special connection to the military community both through family members who have served but also because he has served as a military financial counselor before and also helped to stop predatory lending practices against military members. In this episode, we talk about Caleb’s fantastic new book, Finding your Path: The Roadmap from Student to Successful Financial Planner. We also explore the challenges of understanding the landscape of firms, realistic expectations for compensation, whether in-person vs virtual is the way to go, and how important intangibles are in the hiring process. As someone who sits on both sides of the hiring process, I know that Caleb’s insights will be extremely valuable.
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DoD Skillbridge, MFAA Updates, & MQFP with Sean Gillespie
10/18/2023
DoD Skillbridge, MFAA Updates, & MQFP with Sean Gillespie
Today I welcome back Sean Gillespie to talk about some of the exciting things going on within the MFAA community. Specifically we dive into the details of Skillbridge integration within MFAA, our very first intern going through the program, and the vision for what comes next. For those of you who might not be that familiar with Skillbridge, this is a DoD program that allows transitioning servicemembers to gain valuable civilian work experience during their last 180 days of military service. You still have full military pay and benefits during this program which can help ease the transition for both the hiring employer and the servicemember. Approval is subject to your chain of command. We also chat about the launch of an Ask Me Anything monthly session where MFAA invites members of our military community to come get their financial questions answered for free in a group coaching setting. Lastly, we dive into the details for the Military Qualified Financial Planner - the MQFP designation. This is a new follow-on certification for those serving the military community. Sean shares about the latest details with this project and how it came to be. We are excited to share some of these latest updates with you all and help advance the profession of financial advice in serving our military community! MFAA Ask Me Anything (AMA): DoD Skillbridge: Military Qualified Financial Planner (MQFP):
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Military Spouse Career Evolution and Impact with Liz Plot
10/04/2023
Military Spouse Career Evolution and Impact with Liz Plot
Today, we welcome Liz Plot, a fellow MFAA member to the podcast. She now runs her own RIA, Primas Financial Planning but as she shares in this episode, that was a long and winding journey to get there. And she certainly is surprised to be an entrepreneur. Liz talks about her learning growth over time, getting the professional education, volunteering thousands of hours that built her experience, and working in a small RIA. I was grateful for her sharing about how she knew it was time for the next act and the personal discovery process she used in that. We also talk about some of the ways in which she does financial planning for her younger clients, how she empowers them to graduate from financial planning if they want, and meeting clients where they are at. Liz shares a common theme of advice on this podcast about having realistic expectations and the challenge of being patient with some lessons only being learned over time. Whether you are a fellow military spouse, career changer, or wanting to make an impact in the world like Liz, this episode will have something for you!
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Advice Only While Still Serving with Sam Lewis
08/23/2023
Advice Only While Still Serving with Sam Lewis
In this episode, we welcome Sam Lewis to talk about his different career path than all of our prior guests so far. Sam is currently the Recruiting and Retention Senior Enlisted Leader for the Delaware National Guard as well as the founder of his own RIA, SJL Financial. He has served in the Delaware Guard for more than 23 years in a variety of roles. As he shares in our interview, he stumbled into the world of financial advice through the help of information and mentorship at the right times in his life. We talk about Sam’s educational journey and the reasons why he decided to start his own firm so he could meet the ethical boundaries he set for himself and control his schedule. Sam shares the nurturing he has done in his practice and the seminar marketing that has helped get his name out there. I love how intentionally Sam has deliberately structured his practice to focus on advice-only, project and hourly work. Sam shares how he structures his planning process to deliver the most value for the clients that fit in this advice model. I know you will benefit from hearing his career story!
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Breaking into the Planning Profession with Becky Noss
08/02/2023
Breaking into the Planning Profession with Becky Noss
I’m pleased to welcome Becky Noss in this episode. She is a Lead Planner at Redeployment Wealth Strategies where she analyzes client situations, builds financial plans, meets with clients to help review implementation, and integrates across the entire RWS team. We talk about her career journey including her bachelors and masters in math, her experiences as a teacher and tutor, and how her own journey as the household CFO led her to stumble into the world of financial planning. We also chat about her education experience pursuing the CFP at the American College including how her technical expertise was a strength while some of the terminology was so unfamiliar to her as a career changer. Lastly, we discuss the work-life balance considerations Becky has found her way to in the midst of challenges of military life as a military spouse and how the work she does now is the perfect fit for her life. This episode could be especially beneficial to military spouses considering a career helping people with their money.
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Both Sides of the ID Card and Building an Ideal Firm with Pam Bergeson
02/01/2023
Both Sides of the ID Card and Building an Ideal Firm with Pam Bergeson
In this episode, we welcome Pam Bergeson to the podcast as she shares about her varied military career and now second career as a financial planner. Pam is the founder of Tailwind Financial Planning where she specializes in serving dual military officers and senior military leaders in their career transition. Over her thirty-year military career, Pam learned the importance of setting goals and building a plan to achieve them, and her nearly 35 years as a military spouse reinforced the importance of flexibility and adapting to new challenges. Her story and experiences on both sides of the “ID Card” motivated her to combine a passion for helping people with a love of financial planning. In our conversation, Pam details the perseverance it took for her to finally achieve her goal of opening her own firm and the tradeoffs that military life took along the way. She also shares about her personal and professional experiences as a life planner and the Kinder and MoneyQuotient trainings she has undergone. We wrap up talking about her planning process and designing her ideal practice including the number of clients and what each engagement looks like. Pam has one of the most interesting and wide-ranging career stories that I know you will find helpful!
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Pivoting to Best Career Fit with Derek Merkler
01/18/2023
Pivoting to Best Career Fit with Derek Merkler
Derek Merkler joins us today to talk about his career journey. After his initial 8 years in Army aviation, Derek started out in financial planning working for a firm where he cut his teeth in the profession. He realized that there aren’t many financial advisors who work primarily with veterans to put together comprehensive and holistic plans and build long-term wealth. Rather, companies large and small have advisors whose job is to sell their own products, often with commissions and sales targets. For them, a veteran can become merely a number. Ultimately, Derek wanted some more control over the business model so he decided to launch his own firm, Trophy Point Financial Planning in late 2020. In our conversation, Derek talks about the challenges of starting from zero, what’s worked and hasn’t in his marketing and sales efforts, and the financial considerations for how long it can take to gain traction. I loved his career advice about planning for things to take time. In addition to his work in financial planning, we talk about the most interesting other business activity, or OBA, with his role in thoroughbred horse breeding that has some parallels to the work of financial planning. https://www.trophypointfp.com/
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Coaching, Counseling, & Mentoring with Andi Wrenn
12/14/2022
Coaching, Counseling, & Mentoring with Andi Wrenn
In this episode, I’m chatting with my friend and colleague, Andi Wrenn. She has been involved at the intersection of personal finance and military life for many years now. Andi is an AFC as well as having a masters in marriage and family therapy that helps inform her work with clients. It might surprise you to know that Andi is a career changer having previously been a coach. owning gymnastic clubs, and being a math teacher. After becoming a military spouse, Andi found herself heavily involved in helping other military families with money which led her to the Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) and officially becoming a personal financial counselor. We also chat about her work helping other people gain experience hours, meet their CE requirements through a program she developed which won the Outstanding Education Program of the year for AFCPE in 2021, and how her work with the AFCPE Board has profoundly shaped her career. Andi is the president elect of AFCPE and shares her excitement and vision for what’s next in that role. Be sure to listen to the end where Andi shares some career mentorship tips!
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CFP Study & Exam Success with Adam Scherer
11/30/2022
CFP Study & Exam Success with Adam Scherer
I’m excited to welcome Adam Scherer on the podcast. He is a CFP and EA as well as having two masters degrees including in personal financial planning. In addition to running his own RIA, Adam has been a professor teaching CFP curriculum for many years. One of his primary current roles is as Vice President of Product Development and Innovation at The Boston Institute of Finance or BIF, Bryant University CFP program. As we discuss, Adam is a career changer himself so he shares some lessons learned along his career path. You will find his exam and coursework tips helpful as well as busting some myths about the exam. We close out by talking about scholarship programs and the significant military discount that BIF offers so be sure to check it out!
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Discovering the World of Personal Finance with Adrienne Ross
11/16/2022
Discovering the World of Personal Finance with Adrienne Ross
I’m excited to welcome Adrienne Ross on the podcast. She is a CFP, ChFC, and AFC as well as the founder of Clear Insight Financial Planning based in Washington state. Adrienne shares her personal journey as a young military spouse discovering personal finance to de-mystify the whole process. As she learned she shared her knowledge with other military families as they navigated an endless series of significant life changes. There’s an adage, “A rising tide floats all boats.” She believes this to be true when it comes to financial planning. Over the past fifteen years, service to others became a passion, a mission, and a profession. Adrienne shares about her growth, personally and professionally, as well as how she deepened her technical expertise in student loan and special needs planning along with her love of life planning. There are lots of career nuggets of advice throughout that I know will be helpful! https://mycifp.com/
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Genuine Sales Success with Nancy Bleeke
11/02/2022
Genuine Sales Success with Nancy Bleeke
Nancy Bleeke joins the podcast to talk all about the power of sales in one of my favorite recent conversations! While she’s always been entrepreneurial, finding a passion in sales was never the plan. Who would ever want to be “in sales”? she thought. Yet, she found her calling helping people who also never saw themselves in sales, succeed in selling! With a focus on making conversations productive for everyone involved, her Genuine® branded training modules guide professionals to fill their funnel, convert prospects efficiently, and retain loyal clients with a comfortable, collaborative approach. Sales Pro Insider has guided many relationship-driven people in their selling efforts while encouraging them to remain genuine and service focused. She especially enjoys working alongside the “smaller guys” to ensure they receive a healthy ROI on their investment in equipping their businesses to succeed.
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Fighter Pilot Focus with Brian O'Neill
10/19/2022
Fighter Pilot Focus with Brian O'Neill
Today on the podcast we welcome Brian O’Neill; CFP, and founder of Winged Wealth Management and Financial Planning. Brian launched his firm in early 2021 after retiring from the Air Force with a specific focus on working with military pilots. Brian flew F-16s and F-35s while on active duty, served as Weapons School instructor, and commanded in various roles before finishing his career at Eglin AFB, FL. Winged Wealth Management and Financial Planning began many years ago with an idea that Brian had: In order to get sound financial advice, pilots and the military community shouldn’t have to use a giant financial services company that sells high-priced, high-commission, and often inappropriate financial products. Instead, they deserve sound, fiduciary advice and they should be able to choose how they get it. I love how his website and marketing are specifically designed to nurture and attract in this sub-niche. Be sure to listen as he shares how his content creation has become a powerful machine through consistency, technical expertise, and speaking the same language as his clients. Brian also talks about the head trash and confidence gap he overcame on both the entrepreneurial journey and household finances side as well as becoming the technical expert in the planning sides. I know you will learn from and be inspired by his story.
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Financial Coaching - Stacy Stacy Livingstone-Hoyte's Career
10/05/2022
Financial Coaching - Stacy Stacy Livingstone-Hoyte's Career
Today on the podcast we welcome Stacy Livingstone-Hoyte; personal finance counselor, coach and founder of Financial Care Today. Over her financial life and career she’s had a variety of experiences including understanding money as an immigrant to the US, working in a variety of wirehouses, broker dealers, and insurance companies. There was a lot to absorb and figure out as she started from scratch, with zero assets or savings, credit standing, insurance, inheritance or knowledge of how things worked.. On the family front, she is part of a military connected community so she shares how those challenges impacted her. She ultimately found her way to financial counseling and financial coaching. Stacy has her AFC and FFC certifications which we discuss how she uses that training in working with clients by providing guidance, support, accountability, tools and resources to improve her clients’ financial well-being. I loved the advice and encouragement that Stacy shares for our listeners about pursuing a career and working as a financial coach and counselor. I know you will be inspired to hear Stacy’s story!
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Advancing the Profession - Sean Gillespie's Career (Part 2)
09/21/2022
Advancing the Profession - Sean Gillespie's Career (Part 2)
This is the second part picking up from our last episode with Sean Gillespie of Redeployment Wealth Strategies so if you haven’t listened to that episode first, stop and go ahead to do that first. For everyone else, I love hearing Sean’s passion in this episode as he and Paul Allen decided to join forces, the evolution and growth in both clients and staff that their firm has had, and the broader vision for the profession that helped give birth to the Military Financial Advisors Association or MFAA. There are a lot of career ideas and advice about serving, the power of relationships and networking, and perspectives on what kind of firm you might want to build yourself. We are both looking forward to the feedback and ideas that will come from you after his episode!
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Winding Path to Success - Sean Gillespie's Career
09/07/2022
Winding Path to Success - Sean Gillespie's Career
In this first part of a two-part episode, I am talking with Sean Gillespie who is the co-founder and partner at Redeployment Wealth Strategies, an RIA based in VA Beach that specializes in serving military families. In this episode Sean shares his journey how he in many ways stumbled into the profession of financial planning and what his early experiences were like in the broker dealer and hybrid RIA world. I appreciated Sean’s candor in how hard the first years were and the valuable lessons learned along the way. Be sure to catch the books and resources that he mentions to help you along your career journey as well. Nick Murray:
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