Having been in the financial services industry for my entire working life, I often get asked why I became a financial advisor. The truth is, financial advising isn’t for everyone. It can be stressful keeping a constant eye on volatile financial markets and the complex interplay between international economies, especially when those things start to worry my clients.
But despite the stresses, I absolutely love what I do. I love building meaningful relationships with my clients. I love celebrating my clients’ successes and milestones with them. And I love the creative problem-solving I get to engage in every day at work. Below, I share my story of how and why I became a financial advisor, and why I think I have the absolute best job in the world.
My Background
I was raised in a small country town a couple of hours north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. At the time, it was a mostly middle-class, blue-collar town. (And actually, it still is.) Growing up in a small town helped me learn the value and importance of a strong community and the type of good we can all do when we’re focused on serving others.
Growing up, my family never went without, but we weren’t able to freely spend money on whatever we wanted whenever we wanted it. While we didn’t have much, one of the values instilled in me at an early age was the importance of service and generosity with regards to my community, my friends, and my family. These values are an integral part of me to this day.
Another one of my most important life themes is “to leave the world a better place than you found it.” I always think about how I can improve or contribute to my surroundings to make them more vibrant and beautiful. I also think about how I can contribute to increasing the happiness and fulfillment of the people I engage with. It’s this mindset that defines the relationships I develop with my clients and the way I approach wealth management planning.
My Interest in Finance
I worked at a local bank during my senior year of high school. This is where I first developed my interest in finance and why I ended up choosing to pursue a degree in finance at Texas A&M-Commerce. It was during my college courses that I discovered my passion for investment management and financial planning.
As I grew older, I gradually became more aware of my surroundings. I noticed that many older people in my community – including some of my own family members – were funding their retirement solely with their monthly Social Security checks. They were surviving on less than $1,000 a month simply because they didn’t have the resources or knowledge for how to save for retirement during their working years.
I also noticed people around me were living paycheck to paycheck and generally making unwise financial decisions without thinking about or planning for their financial future. Some of the things I saw included excess spending, irresponsible credit card use, and taking on unnecessary debt.
As my awareness grew of how people lived financially, I continued taking courses in finance and learning about how to grow wealth through investing. I realized I could help people by combining my passion for investing and financial planning with my core value of serving others. It’s for these reasons that I became a wealth manager.
My Lifestyle Values
I’m a big believer in living out your values in the way that is most meaningful to you and those around you. As I stated above, service and generosity are two of the core values I grew up with and that I continue to hold onto in my adult life. They’ve inspired why I do what I do and how I do it.
Over my lifetime, I’ve done a lot of reflection about my values and how those values inform the decisions I make in my life. Ultimately, I’ve boiled that down into three succinct statements that guide my goals and interactions:
- My What: To meet people where they are and to help them move forward with sound financial advice and strategies that work for them and help them sleep at night.
- My Why: To help people, regardless of their current financial situation.
- My Mission: To help highly motivated people take control of their financial lives so they can get from where they are to where they want to be.
Realizing My Values as a Financial Advisor
With those values-based statements in mind, simply working as a financial advisor for any financial firm wasn’t going to be enough for me. My focus on service and generosity of spirit meant it would always be important that I provide my clients with the highest quality of financial advice and wealth management.
It’s no secret that there are some aspects of the financial services industry that are not so nice: shady brokers not focused on your best interest, but on commissions; hidden fees and products you don’t need; and unstable investment philosophies are just a few of the things I wanted to avoid as a financial advisor.
This is why I started my own independent financial advisory firm: Caviness Wealth Management. Rather than ally myself with a large corporate brokerage firm intent on selling its own proprietary financial products and insurance policies, I wanted the freedom to help my clients pursue their goals with all the resources the financial world has to offer.
How I Can Help You
Poor financial decisions and planning create an undue amount of stress on individuals, marriages, and families. I know this stress doesn’t necessarily have to continue if you have the right knowledge and planning strategies to make sound financial decisions. I specialize in helping individuals and families pursue financial freedom and a fulfilling retirement. If your values align with mine, it’s likely our services will be a good fit for you. To start a conversation, contact us today.
