20th Anniversary Reflections: Looking Back and Looking Forward

I am humbled, proud, and blessed this year for many personal and professional reasons. On the personal side, I continue to enjoy my growing family, with all three of my children married and successful in their careers. And on the professional side, 2024 marks the 20^th year since I founded Grand Wealth Management. In that time, we’ve grown beyond my wildest dreams from a 1-man shop to over a dozen talented team members focused on helping people plan better to live better.

When I began Grand Wealth Management in July 2004, I did so based on a business model I’d envisioned, but could not find elsewhere. As a principal at Ernst & Young, I found my attention split between Chicago and my home base here in West Michigan. I felt unable to be fully present to help my clients in the level of detail I wanted as they made financial decisions throughout the different phases of their lives. I was also worried I was missing out on too much of my own family life as a young husband and father.

With the support and sacrifice from my wife, I established Grand Wealth Management – an advisory firm wholly aligned with our client’s best interests; an advisory firm with an investment philosophy deeply rooted in evidenced based research; and an advisory firm with a culture to be proud of. Twelve of my clients trusted my vision and expertise enough to follow me to the newly established Grand Wealth Management. I am sincerely grateful every day for their support, as well as that of several Ernst & Young partners who quickly signed up to become clients.

I started as a 1-man operation, but quickly Grand Wealth Management began to grow. Today, Grand Wealth is a team of about a dozen professionals and we have multiple owners. We are laser focused on continuing to build a firm that provides a customized high touch client experience, develops staff and advisors committed to their craft, and thrives in a respectful ‘team first’ culture. Together we are focused on advancing our steadfast mission: Helping people plan better to live better.

As Grand Wealth blossomed, we embraced a workplace that values collaboration and trust. We strive to be continually pushing our forward-thinking approach to client service and the business. Several years ago, our advisory team expanded the Grand Wealth Management Process^TM to include a three-year planning schedule which helps ensure that all areas of financial planning are routinely reviewed with our clients. We invested in becoming an EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) business which has helped us streamline our processes and increase efficiency. The EOS model has allowed us to continue to provide the same high-touch client care to a steady growing number of West Michigan families. More recently we created an innovative Financial Advisor Residency Program designed to nurture next-gen advisory talent.

Moving forward, I have no plans to retire anytime soon. I’m still having too much fun. That said, when the time comes, I couldn’t be more pleased to know that Grand Wealth is positioned to thrive well beyond my own career. Across our organization, governance, hiring, ownership, office space, and team approach, I believe we’ve built a firm with staying power for our clients and ourselves.

Cheers to the next 20 years!