Our Approach
A strong year doesn't mean you're covered.
If your lifestyle depends on your next deal closing, your next paycheck looking better than the last one, or a business you built yourself still standing without you in it, most financial advice was not written with you in mind. It assumes a salary, a 401k match, and an HR department handling the things you handle yourself.
We work with real estate agents and business owners whose income does not come with a safety net attached. Before we build wealth, we protect the engine that makes building wealth possible: your income.
Building a financial plan without the right protection in place is a bit like free soloing El Capitan. Possible, sure. But also slightly insane.
Seth Holzwarth, CFP® MBA
I believe a retirement plan should actually work for the people relying on it.
I spent years before this running a small business and working in the nonprofit world, and both of those jobs taught me the same lesson from different angles: a retirement plan is one of the only things a business gives back to the people who build it, and most plans are designed around paperwork instead of the people using them.
That is the lens I bring to every plan I build now, whether it is for a company with a benefits committee or a Realtor running a one-person operation with no HR department at all. The structure looks different. The standard does not. If you are responsible for your own retirement plan and your own risk management, with nobody else checking either one, I can help.
I believe a plan should be something a business owner is proud of, employees actually use, and that holds up when someone finally looks closely at it. Too many plans only get examined when something goes wrong. That same standard is part of how my faith shapes the way I work. I show up consistently, which is also why you will usually find me on a Saturday morning serving with Holy Smokers, a BBQ ministry I have volunteered with for years.
Outside of that, I am usually on my bike or putting in miles on the Des Plaines River Trail in the north suburbs. I hold a CFP designation along with Series 63 and 65 registrations, and an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
If your retirement plan has not been looked at closely in a while, or you are not sure it was built for someone in your situation to begin with, let us take a look together.
Connect on LinkedInReady to talk through your situation?
Schedule a ConversationMerrick Robison
I protect income. I help families build a plan A and a plan B.
I came to this work from a few different directions. Five years as a stage actor in Chicago. Four and a half years in operations at a trading firm. A layoff two months before my wedding. Not exactly a straight line. What I found on the other side of that line was something the previous stops did not give me: the chance to see how this quality of work positively impacts a family's life. That keeps me here.
The clients I work best with have a family they want to protect, an income they want to put to work, and no particular interest in figuring all of this out themselves. They want someone who is going to be available and handle the complexity with them.
Income is the asset that makes every other goal possible, and most plans get built backward from that. My standard is to show someone the full picture first, what complete protection actually looks like, and work back from there based on budget and priorities. I want every person I work with to know what they could have done, even if they do not end up doing all of it.
Outside of work, I tend to get a little obsessive about things I care about. I talked about how great a Vitamix was for a year before I finally had one. I build furniture with hand tools. I pull espresso on a manual press. I shoot portraits with a micro four thirds camera that makes the background go soft with a quality a phone never quite has. I also lead the worship band at my church most Sundays, which is its own kind of rehearsal in reading a room and responding to what is actually happening rather than what you prepared for. I like things done right, down to the last detail. That is also how I think a plan should be built.
Meetings tend to be pretty enjoyable around here. If you have been meaning to get your financial picture in order and just have not had the right person to do it with, that is exactly where I like to start.
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Ready to Start?
One conversation gives you a clear sense of where you stand.
We look at your income, your coverage, your accounts, and your cash flow to give you a clear picture of what is working, what is not, and what to do next.
- How long 60 minutes. Enough time to actually look at the full picture.
- What happens We ask about your income, your coverage, and your goals. You get a clear read on where the gaps are.
- Who it is for Realtors, business owners, and commission-based professionals who haven't had a complete financial review or aren't sure their current plan is actually working.
- What comes next If it makes sense to work together, we will tell you what that looks like. If it does not, we will tell you that too.
Or reach us directly at Merrick.Robison@twealth.us
