About five and a half years ago we hired Jared Woodward to be part of our team. I had known Jared for a long time from him being a bat boy on our amateur baseball team, him coming to baseball camps and eventually becoming my Bears teammate. I hired him because his degree was in finance and accounting. I hired him because I knew he was a good man and worked hard. I hired him because I needed help taking care of the clients who were counting on me and I wanted my clients to be taken care of if something were to happen to me. I hired him because I needed some new energy. In fact, his second week working for me I was on vacation and an auditor showed up that week for an unannounced visit. Talk about being thrown in to the fire! He did great in that situation and has continued to do great ever since.
This summer Jared sat for and passed the CFP examination. Which is one of our industries most recognizable and highly pursued designations. It's no easy task, taking 9 courses over a 18-36 month period. Countless hours spent reading and studied for exams. Then the final six hour 170 questions exam (which has a pass rate of 64%). Needless to say Jared was happy he passed and we are proud of him.
Over the past 5 years, Jared has become more involved in meeting with clients and helping them set and save for their goals. His focus has been working with families and individuals to save for their future, including investments, life insurance and education planning. As my focus has been working with pre-retirees, retirees and small business owners to help them with strategies to their financial concerns, he has done a great job of gaining knowledge and expertise in the areas he has focused on. We both support each other in those areas and are in constant communication.
The reason I bring this up is I want to emphasize our office works as a team to help our clients set and achieve their financial goals. We are all good at different things and we want to give our clients the best overall experience possible. Some of you have witnessed this first hand as there are times when I will bring him in to a meeting to answer questions about those topics he has more knowledge in.
Another advantage is Jared is 11 years younger than me. This is helpful for children of clients and younger people looking for an advisor because he has more runway to be their advisor up to and in to retirement. For these same reasons, we will probably add another advisor 10 years younger than Jared at some time in the next 3-5 years. I feel this is important to help our clients and their family in life's financial journey.
Tammy is also in the office to help with many aspects of client service. When you have any paperwork or other customer service questions she will probably know the answer better than I do.
Whether you are talking with Tammy, Jared or myself please consider us as an extension of each other and know that we all honor your trust and confidence deeply. If you have any questions please call or email.
Enjoy the day!
Keith