This year marks 10 years at Strategies for Wealth, a place I’m proud to call my professional home. I actually started as a client back in 2007, when I began working with my now business partner, Keith Snyder, who first introduced me to the structure, strategy, and thought process I still share with clients today.
After a long career in finance and accounting, joining Keith in this business remains one of the best professional decisions I’ve ever made. It allowed me to take everything I knew about finance and relationship-building and apply it in the most rewarding way: helping real people build confidence and clarity around their financial decisions.
Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of helping hundreds of clients design financial plans that reflect the lives they truly want to live. One of many highlights has been celebrating countless milestones alongside them, including marriages, new homes, job promotions, and new babies (those are always my favorites). These moments remind me why I do what I do.
Personal finance can feel overwhelming, but my goal is to make it accessible so that clients feel less stressed and anxious about money on a daily basis. Many people simply need guidance, someone they trust to help them think strategically, calmly, and proactively. Knowing I can play that role and seeing the positive impact it has on individuals and families is what makes this work especially meaningful.
With that in mind, I want to reflect on what the past ten years have meant to me and share a few of my greatest learnings:
Personal finance is more personal than it is finance.
My background as a CPA and my time at Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and as CFO of an investment management firm have taught me a lot about finance. But working one-on-one with clients has taught me something even more important: there’s a reason it’s called personal finance.
Everyone has their own unique personal economy, which is shaped by their values, goals, and life choices. Some clients are driven by the desire to create security for their families; others want the freedom to change careers, buy a dream home, or give back to causes that matter deeply to them.
A financial plan should be as unique as the person or people behind it—grounded in sound strategy but built around real human priorities. Having a plan, with clear goals and strategies in place to protect and grow your wealth, is always better than hoping it all works out for the best. I try to help my clients understand that true financial success isn’t just about accumulating wealth to simply watch the numbers grow; it’s about sustaining it in a way that supports your life, your priorities, and the people you love.
Sometimes, numbers aren’t enough to motivate action.
At my core, I’m a numbers guy. I like facts, logic, and reason. But I’ve learned that just because the math supports a recommended strategy doesn’t mean it resonates emotionally with clients.
Financial decisions are rarely made on spreadsheets alone. If I can’t connect the why behind a recommendation to what truly matters to someone (e.g., their family, their goals, their peace of mind), the numbers don’t matter. Reconciling the hard numbers with human behavior has become one of the most important (and fulfilling) parts of my job. I’ve come to live by the phrase, “If the concept makes sense, then the details are irrelevant and if the concept doesn’t make sense, then the details are even more irrelevant.”
You never know what’s behind the curtain until you have a conversation.
When I first started out in the business, I had a tendency to make assumptions about people’s financial situations based on how they presented themselves to the world. But over time, I realized that what’s on the surface doesn’t always match what’s underneath. I realized that I could never really know a person’s relationship with money until I talked to them about it.
That’s why real conversations matter. They uncover what’s actually going on— the fears, goals, mindset, and habits that shape financial decision-making. In The Psychology of Money (a great read if you haven’t read it yet), Morgan Housel writes, “Your personal experiences with money make up maybe .000000001% of what’s happened in the world, but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.” Over the past decade, I’ve learned that people come into the financial planning process predisposed to their own beliefs and experiences that in turn, color their decisions. But once I gain a better understanding of their relationship and experiences with money, I can truly help people take the next step forward with confidence.
People often say what they want… but act in conflict with it.
We’ve all seen it: someone says they want financial independence, but they make choices that pull them further away from it. For example, people say they want to retire by the age of 65, but they don’t put a savings plan in place to make that goal attainable.
Part of my job is to help people spot these inconsistencies and employ thoughtful strategies that actually align with their long-term goals. It’s not about selling particular products or solutions; it’s about helping people understand exactly what they need to do to achieve the results they desire.
There’s always more to learn.
One of the things I love most about this business is that it never stops evolving. Between ongoing training, coaching, firmwide collaboration, and the wisdom shared by mentors and peers, there’s always more to learn. Right now, for example, in my preparation to become a Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP), I’m learning how, as part of a broader retirement strategy, to utilize reverse mortgages to unlock housing wealth.
I’ve been fortunate to learn from some incredible colleagues, coaches, and mentors and find inspiration through podcasts and books that challenge how I think about money and human behavior. I’m blessed that Strategies for Wealth brings in so many outside speakers on a range of topics from mindset coaching to goal setting in order to ensure that we are honing our knowledge beyond products and relationship-building.That constant growth keeps me energized and able to embrace a growth mindset.
Thank You!
Special thanks to the many people who’ve mentored, challenged, and supported me along the way:
Keith Snyder – for playing so many different roles over the past 30 years of my career: advisor, mentor, partner, and sounding board, to name a few. There’s nobody I’d rather be growing a business with than you.
My incredible team (past and present), Jodie Schmieder, Jeff Stern, Connor Jamison, Sam Eilbaum, Rayder Sanchez – for your commitment to striving for excellence every day and keeping up with my constant questions to make sure everything is moving in the right direction to achieve the best results for our clients.
Our talented leadership team (past and present), Jerry Harnik, Josh Becker, Lyle Domenitz, Jeff Neeck, Jerry Tavella – for your ongoing guidance and support, regularly asking what you can do to help us grow our practice, both internally and more importantly, in support of our clients’ growth. Special thanks for investing in coaching and training programs that help us reach our potential, as humans and advisors.
Our amazing team of Associate General Agents, Joe Long, Bobby Angel, Adam Katzman – for your consistent support, from the early days of my career transition to now. I appreciate the countless training sessions you lead and the active interest you’ve taken in me and my team.
My coach, Chris Berlow – our journey is just beginning together, but I know it will ultimately help shape and mold the future, and for that I’m already grateful.
My Strategies for Wealth colleagues(too many to name) – who share ideas, time, and wisdom so freely. It takes a village to deliver advice, one client at a time. We are truly stronger together.
My Goldman mentors, colleagues, and teammates – for providing me with a place to evolve from a young, green 24-year-old to a mature, confident, client-relationship focused professional.
My Citi colleagues – for helping me hone my leadership skills and your loyalty over time, many of you becoming valued clients of mine.
My childhood friends Seth Buchalter and Mike Canarick – for standing by me every step of my life and for becoming trusted business associates and confidants.
My clients – thank you for trusting me with your financial journeys. It’s an honor and a privilege I never take lightly.
My wife, Holly and my daughters Rebecca and Jenna – for your constant encouragement and support of my dreams, for learning the language of our business, and occasionally indulging me when I want to talk “shop.”
Ten years in, I still feel like I’m just getting started. There’s so much more to learn, more people to help, and more opportunities to make a difference. Here’s to the next decade and to continuing to help people live the lives they want to live, with confidence and purpose.