My work leads me to meet with many people, strangers at first, and listen to details of their personal and financial situations.  I have found this to be endlessly fascinating and don’t mind at all that I’ve been doing it for over 25 years.  The challenge of my work is to sort out the information and determine the most important features, then guide the people to ideas and solutions for their financial near term and long term needs.

Sometimes I come across people with very similar personal situations and finances but with very different concerns and goals.  That’s what keeps the work interesting.  It’s a puzzle, sometimes using the same pieces resulting in different final pictures.  Usually though, the personal situations vary considerably and the finances are also quite varied.  Some people with major long term goals simply don’t have the finances to meet the goals.  I am also finding more and more people with no children and considerable finances.  No college bills, no grandchildren, no family legacy to be concerned with.  These people fall into a special category.  Typically childless couples have nieces/nephews and/or favorite charities.  Occassionally they have pets that almost fall into the category of ‘child.’  Working my way through the details of how to provide good care for pets has been an interesting challenge of its own.

I remain glad to be in the business and look forward to all of the unique situations ahead and all of the ‘strangers’ that will eventually become my friends.