Every financial planner has a story. This is mine—and it’s the reason Abundance Financial Planning exists.
October 1st, 2000 — the day after our wedding.
We were young, newly married, optimistic, and absolutely convinced life would unfold exactly as planned. After interviewing with several major investment firms, I accepted what I believed was the perfect start to my career. Success seemed simple: work hard, build wealth, climb the ladder, and enjoy the rewards.
Looking back, I understood investing far better than I understood life. And life has a way of teaching lessons no textbook ever could.
A few months later, everything changed.
At 24, I was diagnosed with a condition physicians believed carried a 99% probability of cancer. Two major surgeries followed. After complications from one of them, I found myself in the emergency room late one evening, where I was told that had I waited any longer, I likely wouldn’t have survived the night.
Moments like that permanently change how you define wealth.
Career goals, investment returns, and financial milestones still matter—but they only matter if they’re supporting a life worth living. For the first time, I realized there is a profound difference between accumulating wealth and living well.
A few years later, I was invited to share that experience at a statewide American Cancer Society summit. Words can only capture part of that season. The video below tells the story far better than I can.
Looking back, those experiences became the foundation for Abundance Financial Planning long before the company ever had a name.
Economics teaches that life is the allocation of scarce resources. My own experience taught me something different: abundance isn’t having unlimited resources—it’s intentionally aligning the resources you do have around what matters most.
Around that same time, Julie began chiropractic school, and our lives shifted again. I accepted a position with a large insurance brokerage helping clients with investments and insurance planning, while also volunteering with Special Olympics.
What started as volunteer service eventually became a full-time leadership opportunity during a season when Julie and I needed stability while she completed school and built her future practice. Those years reinforced lessons no financial textbook could teach: humility, resilience, service, and the importance of investing in people before profits.
Those lessons continue to shape how I approach financial planning today. Every recommendation begins with understanding the person before considering the strategy.
After more than five years, I returned to financial advising with another nationally recognized investment firm.
I came back with a different perspective than I had in my twenties. My goal wasn’t simply helping people build wealth—it was helping them build financial lives aligned with their values, families, and long-term goals.
It didn’t take long to realize those priorities weren’t fully aligned with the firm’s business model. Too often, products became the starting point instead of the planning process.
Expensive investment programs, proprietary solutions, and sales expectations competed with what I believed clients truly needed: objective advice.
That wasn’t the kind of advisor I wanted to become.
I made the decision to walk away from my securities and insurance licenses and establish my own Registered Investment Advisory firm. It wasn’t the easiest path, but it was the only one that allowed every recommendation to begin with one simple question:
What is genuinely in this client’s best interest?
Today, as a CFP® professional, I also follow the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which require fiduciary duty, ongoing education, and always acting in each client’s best interest.
Before our first daughter was born, I knew it was time to build something that reflected everything I had learned.
I didn’t want a practice defined by products, quotas, or corporate agendas. I wanted one built on clarity, education, and objective advice—where financial planning begins with understanding the person rather than selling a solution.
That’s why Abundance Financial Planning is an advice-only firm.
There are no commissions. No proprietary products. No asset management requirements.
Just thoughtful financial planning designed to help people make confident decisions throughout every stage of life.
Just thoughtful financial planning designed to help people make confident decisions throughout every stage of life.
The greatest financial mistakes rarely come from one bad decision.
They happen when good decisions aren’t coordinated.
That’s why I believe financial success isn’t built by chasing the next investment idea. It’s built by aligning hundreds of financial decisions around what matters most.
Always acting in the client’s best interest—without compromise.
Removing unnecessary complexity so important decisions become clear.
Helping you understand the “why” behind every recommendation so you can move forward with confidence.
Aligning financial decisions with your values so wealth becomes a tool for living well—not simply accumulating more.
Outside of financial planning, life revolves around family, homeschooling, and serving our community—the same intentional values I encourage every client to build their financial life around.
Life isn’t meant to be lived on autopilot.
A well-designed financial plan doesn’t simply prepare you for the future. It creates the freedom to live more intentionally today.
Ready to build a financial life aligned with what matters most?
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to bring greater coordination to an already successful financial life, Abundance Financial Planning provides objective, advice-only guidance designed to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.
