Confessions of an Aging Wealth Advisor: Wisdom That Challenges the Norms
In my 33rd year as a wealth advisor, I’ve come to appreciate the irony of my profession. Early in my career, I was all about the numbers—maximizing returns, minimizing risk, reducing income tax, eliminating estate tax and exceeding benchmarks. But as the decades passed, I realized that true wealth is not just about the size of your portfolio; it’s about aligning your financial decisions with your values and goals.
Some of my advice now raises eyebrows because it contradicts the “standard” wisdom you will find in glossy brochures and online financial calculators. Yet, I’ve seen it work wonders for clients—and for myself.
The Parable of the Jalopy
Some may ask, ‘what triggered this shift?’ It’s a good question; one that I’ve thought about for several years. I think deep down I knew the answer all along but did not want to acknowledge it. But, in the spirit of making a confession, here goes: I’m getting older. Not old, mind you, just older.
We’ve all heard the adage, with age comes wisdom. When I was twenty-two, I felt pretty wise. After all, I had been well educated and obtained employment at a prestigious global accounting firm. Looking back at my twenty-two-year-old self, I may have been book smart, but I most certainly was not wise.
If I could point to a specific moment when that wisdom lightbulb first lit up in my brain, it would likely be when my first child began to drive. My own first car had been an absolute beater—’cheap’ was the name of the game. I had always assumed the same philosophy would apply when my own children reached that stage of life.
It wasn’t until I saw my daughter behind the wheel that any thought of cost immediately evaporated. In fact, all academic knowledge regarding the financial implications for cars altogether went out the window. All I could see was that I needed safety and reliability for her—far more than I wanted to save money on a cheap car held together with popsicle sticks and duct tape.
Lesson One: Make Mistakes
Wisdom is earned through experience—and mistakes. The more varied the experiences, the greater the opportunity to learn and grow. That growth, if you are open to it, becomes wisdom.
While seeing my daughter behind the wheel may have flipped the light switch, it was years of experience before that moment that laid the wiring. The absolute beauty of my profession is that I have had many, many experiences with varied and diverse people beginning at an early point in my career and oh boy, you better believe I learned a ton. I also made plenty of mistakes. Some mathematical, some in the interpretation of tax law and regulations, some pure judgement calls. I have walked with countless clients through the complications of life—financial, familial, and otherwise.
Each mistake made and lesson learned became a steppingstone toward becoming the advisor I am today – better equipped to navigate complexity and offer meaningful guidance. It just took a number of years for the knowledge contributed to that bank account to compound and grow into wisdom. Luckily, it is the foundation of my work to ‘play the long game’ when it comes to these things.
Uncovering True Wealth
What I hope to share through these stories and anecdotes from my years as an advisor are specific examples where my advice may not appear consistent with conventional financial wisdom. And, do you know what, in most of those cases it isn’t consistent with conventional financial wisdom. After all, who among us would proudly call themselves conventional financial entities? Not many.
What these years have taught me is that cookie-cutter financial advice rarely holds up to the complexities of real life. People are more than spreadsheets. They are more than breakeven calculations. They’re travelers, dreamers, parts of families… Some of them are parents of first-time drivers, like I was those years ago, suddenly facing a new world of unknowns.
My greatest satisfaction as a wealth advisor does not come from exceeding a benchmark—it comes from knowing that our clients are living lives they love. This peace of mind and satisfaction is a return our team calls “true wealth.” And after 33 years, I have learned that’s the only return that truly matters. As we take this journey together, I invite you to ask yourself: what does true wealth mean to you?
