Why I Became a Financial Advisor
My desire to become a financial advisor started at the age of 10. I know that sounds young, but I remember clearly the catalyst for this passion. I was sitting with my dad in his apartment waiting for the unemployment check to arrive in the mailbox. While I was too young to understand financial insecurity, I did see the stress, strain, and anxiety it caused my father. This caused me stress, strain, and anxiety too.
Over the years, I learned that my dad’s situation wasn’t uncommon. Many families experience financial pressures. Seeing how powerful of an impact finance could have on a family made me want to understand all I could about the economy and money.
Starting My Career as a Financial Advisor
In college, I pursued a degree in finance to learn about retirement, investments, and how the economy worked. I wanted to learn as much information as possible so I could help my family, as well as others. I aimed to teach people to manage money responsibly and with a plan in place.
Immediately after graduating college, I was fortunate to be hired by a large brokerage company. I worked with several brokerage companies for more than two decades and ultimately established Keen Wealth Advisors as an independent firm.
Building My Practice
At Keen Wealth Advisors, we remain entirely objective and unbiased in our recommendations and advice. We don’t receive any bonuses for selling particular products and are committed to staying completely neutral. We like to tell our clients that there are no fees to start working with us and there are no fees to leave. The healthiest relationships are built on absolute transparency, which is what we intend to provide to anyone who works with us.
Today, as the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, I have more than 23 years of experience, a degree in finance, and the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor® designation. While some people may tire of the same career, my passion for what I do continues to grow every day.
My Focus Today
Over the course of my career, I’ve held more than 15,000 meetings with individuals and families. While every client is unique, I’ve seen patterns and trends emerge. Too often, people don’t have a plan for retirement.
While they may be contributing to a 401(k) or investing, many are on autopilot with their finances. It’s typically not until they’re within five years of retirement that they realize they need a plan for funding their next phase of life. But just as you would never build a house without a blueprint, you shouldn’t venture into your retirement years without a plan.
This is where our services come into play. Our goal is to help people realize the necessity of planning for retirement earlier so they can avoid the stresses and anxiety a lack of a financial plan can create. By developing a personalized retirement plan, we want our clients to be able to create a life of security and to be conscious of reality.
Retirement planning is much more than calculating numbers. We aim to help clients articulate their “why” by utilizing an actionable and understandable retirement planning process. By providing education and answering their questions, our goal is to provide the honest facts so they can make informed decisions, feel more engaged with their planning, and achieve confidence in their future.
There are always struggles that come with any job, and it can be very hard when our clients experience the loss of a spouse or other painful life event. However, the opportunity we have to help people pursue a comfortable retirement drives us.
How We Can Connect
We are happy to work with people and educate them, regardless of whether or not they become a client. Whether you currently work with a financial advisor or are new to the process, we encourage you to meet with several advisors to learn about their process and how they work. This allows you the chance to find a firm that fits your needs.
When we take a client on at Keen Wealth Advisors, we want it to be for the long haul. If you’d like to learn more about how we work and what we offer, I encourage you to call our office at (913) 624-1841 or email BKeen@KeenWealthAdvisors.com. We can schedule a consultation and chat about your current circumstances and whether our services fit your needs.
About Bill
Bill Keen is a CHARTERED RETIREMENT PLANNING COUNSELOR℠ and independent financial advisor with more than 25 years of industry experience. As the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm, he specializes in providing personalized retirement planning designed to help people thrive before and during their retirement years. With a passion for educating others, Bill regularly blogs about retirement planning, hosts the podcast Keen on Retirement, and has contributed to U.S. News and World Report, Reuters, Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, Yahoo Finance, and other publications. Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Bill and his team work with clients throughout the greater Kansas City area and across the nation. To learn more, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit www.keenwealthadvisors.com.
KWMG, LLC’s dba Keen Wealth Advisors (“company”) is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor located in Overland Park, KS. The company and its representatives may only conduct business in those states where registered or where excluded/exempt or from licensure. For registration information please contact the SEC or the state securities regulators for the states where the company is notice filed. A copy of the company ADV is available upon request. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where the company and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by the company unless a client service agreement is in place. This information is not intended to be investment advice or construed as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy and is for illustrative purposes only. Clients and prospective clients must consider all relevant risk factors involved with each strategy, including costs or fees, and their own personal financial situations before trading.
The views outlined in the book, Keen on Retirement Engineering the Second Half of Your Life, are those of the author and should not be construed as individualized or personalized investment advice. Any economic and/or performance information cited is historical and not indicative of future results. Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted.
The Amazon Best Seller ranking listed on marketing materials is specifically referring to Best Seller rankings for the Kindle Top 100 Paid Lists under the subcategories of: Budgeting and Financial Risk Management, based on data as of September 5, 2019. Amazon rankings although relevant on how a product is selling overall doesn’t necessarily indicate how well an item is selling among other similar items or similar item categories. Amazon may choose the most popular categories or subcategories within which an item has a high ranking to determine its best seller rankings. These rankings are updated hourly and as a result, should be expected to fluctuate as such. Keen Wealth Advisors and Amazon are not affiliated entities.
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