My career in financial advising began in a different way than most advisors. When I graduated high school, I felt I should have learned about managing money, finding a job and working, using the banking system, getting a loan, renting an apartment, etc. This led me to become a high school Marketing and Business teacher so I could help my students learn things that I didn’t. During my second year of teaching, I started a part-time job helping adults invest for retirement and provide for their families. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching students about finance, economics, and marketing during the day, and teaching my clients about managing their finances at night and on weekends. I started my own Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm, Potter Financial Solutions, Inc., in 1992. Over 23 years, I built my financial advising business while teaching, reaching a point where I had two full-time jobs. It was time to retire from teaching and focus more on running and growing my financial planning business.
I believe in educating my clients as I help them build a sound financial plan for their future. I also continue to help high school students develop financial literacy. I was asked to be involved in writing Colorado state standards in Personal Financial Literacy when this subject was added to the state’s standardized tests. Helping teachers learn to teach personal finance was a natural next step.
Being a fiduciary and always putting my clients’ interests first has always been very important to me. I became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional (CFP®) in 1989 and left the sales side of the business, becoming an early adopter of providing financial advice for a fee rather than commissions which may have potential conflicts of interest. It was a blessing when my son, Jackson, was drawn to a career in financial planning, being driven by these same values. And now, after thirty years of running my own financial planning firm, we have joined the Heirloom Wealth Management team, who share our core values.
Outside of work I love to travel with my wife, Alice, and spend time biking and hiking in Colorado and beyond. Investments, finance, and economics continue to be not only my work but part of my hobbies.