I’m celebrating Kindness Financial Planning, LLC’s birthday on December 9! The business turns three this year.
The best word I can come up to describe this year is surreal.
Like I’ve reflected in year 1 and year 2, building a business is still hard. I still ask myself, “Am I doing the right thing to grow? Will this work?” Growth comes in waves, and those waves are one of the hardest parts of building a financial planning and investment management business.
I want to share how I’ve felt about this year and express my gratitude for you being a part of my business, whether as a client, reader, YouTube subscriber, or newsletter subscriber.
The Year of Less
I had shiny object syndrome in year 1, and I tried my best to reduce it in year 2. As Kindness Financial Planning turns 3, my goal was to do less — and simply see what happened. I even labeled it “The Year of Less” when I talked with other financial planners.
That’s a scary proposition. When your business is small, it feels like you have to try many things to figure out what works.
I didn’t attend a conference, I said no to a bunch of things, and I became more focused on picking a few activities I wanted to do. Mainly, I wanted to stick with serving my clients really well, blogging, and making more of an effort of producing one YouTube video per month.
It wasn’t perfect. I still said yes to a few “off-the-wall” things that weren’t in my original plan, but they sounded cool.
Because I said no to many things, either internally or externally, I had more space and time to say yes to unique opportunities when they popped up.
For example, Kevin Mahoney, a fellow financial planner, connected me with a doctor in Emory’s Integrated Memory Care Clinic to do consulting work. I contributed to their online course for dementia family caregivers. They had multiple professionals consult to help educate caregivers on the financial, legal, and healthcare systems to help families avoid crises. I can now say I’ve consulted with Emory about financial issues that dementia family caregivers face. How cool is that?
I also had a conversation with Ryan Frailich about caregiving after he saw my name on Meg Bartelt’s blog (these posts are an idea I stole from her). Shortly after, he wondered if I would be up for hosting a webinar for his clients about how to protect their parents as they age.
I’ve never loved speaking to larger audiences (i.e. more than one or two people), but I was intrigued. We had a phenomenal event. I felt fortunate to share, have an engaged audience, and felt jazzed the rest of the night. There may be more speaking in my future.
Was it a perfect year of less? No, but I chased far fewer shiny objects and was more intentional about saying yes to things that I considered would either have more impact on educating others or growing my business.
Why It Feels Surreal
To understand why this last year felt surreal, you need to understand where I came from.
I was at a large firm in Seattle when I left to launch Kindness Financial Planning. I was serving about 115 families that had about $200 million in assets as part of a multi-billion dollar firm. I was making really good money, particularly for someone my age who had been offered partnership, but hadn’t bought in yet; however, I was running around while constantly stressed, feeling like I was falling behind, and my health was suffering as a part of that stress. It was not uncommon for me to have three to five meetings in a day on most days.
It was not uncommon to work a 60 hour week and be thinking about the work most of the other hours.
I was stressed constantly. I got tension headaches a few times a week. I woke up many days thinking over my prior day trying to remember if I missed anything.
Did I move all the money I said I would? Did I send the paperwork for that new client? Did I get back to one of the associate advisors about training? Where were we with that life insurance application? Did I communicate with the broker who made a referral about how the meeting went?
I was constantly being pulled in many directions. To this day, I’m still amazed I didn’t make many mistakes. My chest tightens simply reflecting on it.
I didn’t have much of a life outside of work.
Life looks completely different now. I’m working with 19 (soon to be 21 after recent meetings) wonderful ongoing clients (with the hope to get to 30 to 50) and doing a few one-time plans each year. I have plenty of time to be responsive, proactive, and enjoy my personal life.
I’m back to playing tennis one to four times a week, depending on the time of year, which is something I had given up for about a decade at my old job.
I’m volunteering throughout the year for Savvy Ladies and Wings for Widows.
It doesn’t feel like I’m trying to fit my personal life around work or my work life around my person life. It feels like the puzzle is fitting together nicely.
And that’s a surreal, amazing feeling.
Personal and Business Successes
In past years, I’ve separated these into different categories, but in the spirit of them feeling like they are coexisting the best they have in years, I’m putting them together
- I’m working with 19 families to connect their money to their ideal life. My goal since starting has been to work with 30 to 50 families, which means I’m hopefully not far away from reaching that goal.
- I published one video a month on YouTube spanning taxes, retirement planning, and more.
- My wife and bought a house in Madison, WI. We don’t intend to stay long-term, but I was exhausted from apartment living and the constant noise. I hopefully will never live next to a train track again!
- I’m still incorporating life planning into the beginning parts of relationships, and I love when I can see people go, “Wow, that’s the value of financial planning!” and they start to get it.
- Matt and I started a podcast together called ME and Money.
- I hired Arielle, from Sphynx Automation, to help me automate my back end processes to cut down administrative work.
- I survived an abysmally slow start to the year. I had 11 introductory calls the first two and a half months of the year before someone decided to move forward in March. The year ended fine, but the waves can be brutal.
- Depending on the season, I’m playing tennis one to four times a week.
- A few clients reached out from the prior firm I worked at about working together again. It feels good when people circle back with you without asking them.
- I had a journalist from the Wall Street Journal reach out to me directly about an article. The editors ended up cutting a lot of the article, so I wasn’t quoted, but it felt good to have someone from a well known newspaper reach out to me directly.
- I’m still hosting my Community Discussion Hours to give current and aspiring financial planners the opportunity to pick my brain.
- I contributed to my Solo 401(k) again. I feel good about being able to save again after two years of not contributing while I started my firm.
Volunteer Work
I’m still a volunteer for Wings for Widows and Savvy Ladies.
I worked with five widows/widowers through Wings for Widows this year. They have a great process to help widows/widowers feel more secure and financially aware after losing a spouse. I’m grateful people will show up to a meeting with a complete stranger, share about loss, and allow me to be a temporary part of their life during one of the hardest times.
I am frequently reminded that our current health and circumstances are temporary. Almost everything in our lives is borrowed and can be taken from us without notice. It’s a good reminder to do the things you want to do with the people you want to do them with while you have the energy and health to do it.
I also worked with 13 women through Savvy Ladies. Those are one meeting, one hour conversations that can be anything they want to talk about. We had conversations about budgeting, prenups, asset protection, debt management, investment education, and more.
I did very little volunteer work while I was employed at my last job, and I always felt a little guilty about it. I’ve made volunteering a priority again, and that feels good. I hope to continue similar volunteering in 2025.
Business Continuity Planning
There are many benefits to being a solo firm, but there are also downsides. One of the main ones is continuity for clients.
In the past, if something happened to me, clients would need to find a new financial planner. They always have visibility of their accounts on Schwab and can trade them if needed, but losing a financial planner is disruptive.
Since day one, I’ve been working on a solution to it. I’ve completed partner matching surveys, had calls with other financial planners, and discussed it with close friends who also own solo firms. I haven’t added up the hours, but I’ve probably spent 30 to 40 hours on it.
This past year, Matt Fizell and I entered into an agreement to help each other if something should happen to one of us. How this would look in practice is that if I died or became incapacitated, Matt would run my firm until it can be closed down. Clients would have an option to work with Matt, but are under no obligation. If they decide not to work with Matt, he could provide names of other financial planners.
Matt’s not buying my firm, and I’m not buying his if something happened to us, which is more of the “normal” arrangement. We simply wanted to make it easier on our clients and wives that if we died or became incapacitated, clients would feel supported during that time.
It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s better than what I had originally, which was a call from my wife and a letter of instruction of what to do next.
Thoughts on Hiring
A “better” solution to business continuity planning is to grow or merge with someone else. I’m finding this question is coming up a lot more for other solo firms, and I have friends who are actively exploring it.
Would I love a perfect merger where I get to work alongside someone I respect and appreciate? Absolutely!
Am I thinking about doing it any time soon? No way!
I know people who have merged where it went well, but the numbers are far greater where it didn’t go well. I can’t wrap my head around everything to which you’d need to agree.
Below is a short list:
- How you serve clients
- Vacation
- Growth of the firm
- Who is responsible for marketing, service, operations, technology, and more
- How you pay yourselves
A business partnership is like a marriage. Trying to align on everything and work through differences sounds too challenging, at least at this point in my life.
The other option is to grow and hire for new roles with the hope that you can bring on another financial planner who provides continuity.
I’ve seen the challenges of hiring, training, finding a good fit, having good employees leave, and shifting how one spends their time to managing employees instead of being a financial planner.
I trained associate advisors at my prior firm, and it was exhausting. It’s not something I want at this point in my life.
Although I sometimes dream of working with someone else, I have no desire to give up what I have now. As I mentioned earlier, it feels surreal.
I love that I get to do two things: serve clients really well and run a business that supports it.
I get to make all of the decisions, decide on the direction of the firm, take time off without running it by someone, work with only clients who I love working with, and grow at my own pace.
Life is much simpler than when I was working with 115 clients, training new associates, being the point person for life, disability, and long-term care insurance, and more.
I might change my mind at some point, but I’m very thankful and happy with the business I’ve grown.
Life After My Dad’s Death
My dad died in the summer of 2023. I’m still processing it and likely will for a long time. I think that’s only natural given the tumultuous time my mom and I had caregiving for him and our relationship.
What I have noticed is that my dad’s death opened a lot of space — physically, emotionally, and mentally.
This past year was the first time where I didn’t have the constant weight of “what happens next?” or “how the f*** am I going to handle that?”
It’s the first time in seven years I didn’t have that weight.
Although my experience with my dad has informed much of how I show up for widows, caregivers, and retirees going through tough transitions, it’s freeing not feeling that weight. I’m listening better, sleeping better, and enjoying life more.
It allows me the space to be a better financial planner, husband, son, friend, and human being.
My Hope for Next Year
It’s scary to put yourself out there and publicly admit what you want. What if I fall short?
What I’ve noticed is that when I do speak it out into the world, it often finds a way of happening. With that in mind, here are a few things I not-so-secretly would like to happen over the next year:
- I’d love to be working with 30 families when I write this same article next year. That would require about one new client a month, and since people often show up in waves, that likely means a few clients signing up during some months and none others.
- I’d like to complete a draft of a book about my caregiving journey. More people are asking for book recommendations about caregiving, and I have a lot to share. I can feel I’m still not at the point of making it a priority, but I feel I’m getting closer.
- My wife and I survive bringing a puppy home and training them well. We are welcoming a puppy home later this month, and we are both anxious about being the best puppy parents we can be.
- My newsletter grows from around 700 people to 1,000 people.
- I’m able to produce two YouTube videos per month and grow from over 200 subscribers to 1,000.
I tend to do my reflections and goals for next year in mid-December, which means I’m still working through my goals for next year. There are probably other things I’ll think of, but this is what I’m putting out into the world today.
If you appreciate what I’m doing and believe in it, I’d be honored if you could help with any of the above. If you feel up to it, below are a few ideas:
- Share my newsletter with a loved one
- Show someone a YouTube video and encourage them to subscribe
- Email me what you’d like to see in a book about caregiving
- Share your own puppy tips
- Mention my name and website if someone is looking for financial help
Final Thoughts – My Question for You
Life and business feels surreal.
Where I am today is nowhere close to where I thought I would be. Heck, I’m in a house in the Midwest, running dare-I-say a successful solo financial planning and investment management firm, and having more control over my time than I thought possible.
I still smile when I get to block an afternoon or day off because my wife is post-call, and I don’t need to ask anybody if that is okay.
People are continually showing up and allowing me to be an integral part of their lives. Not a day goes by where I’m not thankful for that trust and what they share with me.
I’ll leave you with one question to act on.
Do you feel like your financial life is supporting the life you want to be living? If not, let’s talk.
