Lighthouse Fiscal Solutions was started by myself, Wes Strubhar, and my wife Shannon. The idea grew out of work I was already doing helping friends with small businesses. I’d had an interest in finance for many years, despite working and volunteering in other fields. I started training as a financial advisor years ago, but left it when I learned (at least at the time) that the majority of my income would be from selling insurance to my clients. Nothing against insurance salesmen, but that wasn’t my interest.

I did lots of reading over the years and gained experience by managing and investing my own money before spending more time helping others. Learning experiences ranged from buying our first new car (lots of mistakes made there) to good investments, to risky speculative investments (predictable outcome) to job changes, to home buying, brief timeshare ownership and more. I had plenty of chances to see what worked out well in the long run and what didn’t.

The work I did in the meantime involved creative problem solving, data analysis, data presentation, teaching, field training, mentorship, critical incident counseling, leadership in crisis situations, coordinating communication and managing organization budgets. It’s that breadth of knowledge and experience along with the continuing desire to help people that enables me to coach people from different backgrounds and in very different situations. I’ve learned to find effective and efficient solutions that will continue to pay off for years to come.

Financial and life coaching fits what I wanted to be doing when I first began training as a financial advisor. I get to help clients sort out their lives and financial situations according to their goals and values. There’s no obligation or incentive to try to sell them anything. I work for my clients with no conflicting or hidden agendas.