Financial Planner Search

Gregory Wilnau
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Finding a financial advisor is easy. Finding the right one is hard. Most advisors look the same on paper — credentials, services, a polished website. But what you actually need to know is how they think, how they treat people, and whether you'd even enjoy working with them. That's what Financial Planner Search is for. Each episode, we sit down with an independent financial advisor for an honest, in-depth conversation. No sales pitch. No jargon. Just a real look at who they are, how they work, and who they're best suited to help. By the end, you'll know what they’re all about. Whether you're approaching retirement and looking for a fiduciary for the first time, thinking about leaving your current advisor, or simply want to make a smarter hiring decision — this show gives you the inside access you need.

  1. 19 hr ago

    Disinherit the Government, Not Your Kids with Dean Owen | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Dean Owen, a CPA in Paducah, Kentucky, talks about keeping money in the family instead of handing it to the government by accident. In 1990 he was in the military, moving from Connecticut to Seattle with his wife. They went from not paying rent to paying rent. She lost her job. He could not pay the taxes. The course the command used when someone was bouncing checks all over town was usually a punishment. Dean asked for it. Nobody on the submarine could explain the tax breaks, so he dug in, started teaching his buddies, and ran a VITA site. After the first Gulf War he went back to school, earned his CPA, and opened the firm in 1999. He had already been laid off in a pattern he later understood. The military, then Price Waterhouse, then Air Products each cut about a third of the overhead once computers made the rest more productive. He decided he would rather be on the producing side. Nobody cuts that. The people who fit him are conservative evangelical patriots. He says that plainly. Outside that, he is probably not the right advisor, and he turns away about one in five who come in. Inside it, the work is a story more than a product pitch. A couple in their late sixties comes in, and what is really happening is that he is choosing who will handle the money when he is gone and she is still here. Large IRAs get moved to Roth accounts with a scalpel, not a chainsaw, staying under the next tax bracket and the next Medicare bracket. Dean’s line is that you do not inherit an IRA. You inherit what is left after the tax. He wants a plan to disinherit the government, not the kids. He also asks, at least once a year, when they last saw a doctor. One client named Mike had not been in thirty-five years. The visit found problems they could still fix. Takeaways Why a tax bill he could not pay sent him into this workWhat “disinherit the government, not your kids” looks like over ten years of Roth conversionsWhy the spouse who does not run the money still has to trust the person across the tableHow a rocket scientist and a Dollar General clerk should not inherit the same kind of accountWho he will not take: people whose values do not line up with hisChapters 00:52 He Asked for the Course03:43 His Tribe05:15 Overhead Gets Cut08:28 Disinherit the Government09:30 Who Will Be the Money Husband14:19 Mike Had Not Seen a Doctor in 35 Years16:23 A Scalpel, Not a Chainsaw20:45 About One in Five22:48 Freedom Chamber25:14 A Dollar In, Three Back26:19 The Will the State Already WroteYou can find them at: https://www.owencpa.com/ If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ . . . #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #taxes #faith

  2. 1 day ago

    We Don't Predict, We Prepare with Theodore Hicks | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Theodore Hicks, founder of Hicks & Associates and author of Evidence Based Investing, talks about what he does when the weather changes. He started in February 1999. He got thirteen months of the 1990s bull market, then three losing years in a row. The leaders at the big firm told him it was a once-in-a-career crisis, and that he was lucky to get it over with while he was young. In 2007 he and his wife bought a bigger house. They moved in about two weeks before their second daughter was born, and about two weeks before the next crash. The firm said almost the same thing. Once in a lifetime. He remembers thinking: how many of these am I going to get? He was already doing what the industry taught, and what the textbooks taught. It was not working. Hicks & Associates is a small firm built around how the money is managed. Most of the people who call already have something saved. He uses a simple picture. A 20% drop is ordinary. On $3 million, that is $600,000. He calls that an adult number. They are usually in their late 50s or early 60s, close enough to stopping work that a mistake is harder to earn back. He does not think most of them are investors. An investor, in his definition, handed cash to someone like Bill Gates in a garage. Most people are sophisticated savers. They own something because they hope to sell it higher. He will not hold a position just to be right. If the reason he bought it changes, he sells. His order is guardrails, then growth. He uses a fast car on a banked ramp outside Durham as the picture. He would take that ramp at 70 or 80 only in the right conditions. He thinks a portfolio should be driven the same way. The line inside the firm is: we do not predict, we prepare. Takeaways Why two “once in a lifetime” crashes changed how he manages moneyWhat he means by a sophisticated saverWhy a bond-heavy mix failed his test in 2022What he does when a holding stops meeting the rulesWho he turns away: people who want to tell him what to buyChapters 00:54 Two Once-in-a-Lifetime Crises05:38 The Ship’s Captain06:49 Sophisticated Savers09:44 A $600,000 Drop11:20 Drive for the Conditions15:10 Hold On for Dear Life19:18 Guardrails, Then Growth23:45 Tonight’s Menu27:41 We Don’t Predict, We Prepare32:12 The First Year34:42 The BookThe book is Evidence Based Investing. The introduction and first chapter are at https://www.theodorehicks.com/. The full book is on Amazon. You can find them at: https://www.hicks-associates.com/ If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #investing #markets

  3. 21 Oct

    75% Therapist with Sean Linder | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Sean Linder, founder of Honarc Wealth, talks about why a complex family does not want to be dropped into a box. Sean has been an advisor since he left college, about sixteen years. He stayed independent on purpose. He does not want hundreds of clients. Money is too private for that. People do not sit down with their friends and open the balance sheet. The families he works with have complicated lives, most of them built a business, and a number of them own McDonald’s franchises. What they say when they call is almost never one neat request. It is: I have been doing it this way my whole life. I do not know what I do not know. He tells clients he is about seventy-five percent therapist and twenty-five percent advisor. A lot of the calls are personal before they are financial. One family was six or seven years from selling a company that was headed well past nine figures. They already had more than they were going to spend. Before the sale, Sean helped move about $50 million of the company out of their names, using about $4 million of their lifetime exemption. He puts the estate-tax savings around $20 million, before whatever that trust earns over the decades. He has a one-year-old and a three-year-old, and he tells new families he is not going anywhere. The big firms, in his view, are turning people into account numbers and fitting them into box A, B, or C. He will not do that. His largest relationship started with a $200,000 portfolio. It is now approaching nine figures. He does not use a dollar minimum. He asks whether the situation is complicated enough that he can be useful for a long time. Takeaways Why he keeps the book small enough to stay through a sale and into the next generationThe line he actually hears: I do not know what I do not knowHow one family moved company ownership before the saleWhy he thinks a chatbot is a weak stand-in when markets finally stay downWho he turns away: people who want to keep doing it themselves, and people who only want the portfolio managedChapters 00:00 A Small Book, on Purpose03:48 You Do Not Talk About This with Your Friends06:12 Box A, B, or C10:55 I Do Not Know What I Do Not Know12:39 Fifty Million, Before the Sale16:29 Seventy-Five Percent Therapist18:07 Who He Will Not Take21:23 A $200,000 Start27:42 The Plan First, Then the PortfolioChapter labels follow the transcript. No Riverside chapter sheet was provided. You can find them at: https://honarcwealth.com/ If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #businessowners #family

  4. 19 Oct

    Women in Transition & The Virtual Family Office with Dr. Pat Pachciarz | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Dr. Pat Pachciarz, CEPA, CPT, founder of Pinnacle, discusses the virtual family office he built for women in life's transitions. After a decade inside JP Morgan watching wealth leak out between uncoordinated advisors, CPAs, and attorneys, Pat left to build a firm where the CPA, attorney, private wealth advisor, banker, and estate planning attorney all show up for the same family — and where any partner who doesn't show up three times loses the seat. Eighty-seven percent of Pat's personal clients are women: widows, divorcées, empty nesters, and highly educated mothers re-entering the workforce after years at home. He opens every first meeting with the same line — "there will be no recommendations on this call" — and runs a commitment-based practice where clients sign a commitment-to-themselves contract. His 25-year vision is to give back 90% of every dollar of revenue the firm ever creates. Takeaways * Wealth leaks between advisors, not within silos — coordination is the product * The "no recommendations" first meeting: how safety builds trust with women in transition * The commitment contract: why Pat only works with clients who meet him at the 50-yard line * The DAITT methodology — Debt optimization, Advanced planning, Private wealth investments, Tax strategy, Trust planning * The Leak Score: a 7-question self-diagnostic that lets prospects locate their own wealth leaks before they ever talk to the firm Chapters * 00:00 Building a Virtual Family Office * 03:25 From Food Stamps to JP Morgan * 07:04 Why 87% of His Clients Are Women * 10:20 Women in Life's Transitions * 14:17 The Widow Who Said "You See Me" * 20:33 Who Dr. Pat Won't Work With * 25:52 Where Clients Come From * 30:40 The 25-Year Vision * 35:08 Onboarding: The Leak Score * 39:17 What to Do Next * 43:01 The Acronyms: KIA, PEPSI, and D.A.T.E. You can find them at: https://drpat.co/ If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #virtualfamilyoffice #womenintransition #taxstrategy

  5. 14 Oct

    Values-Aligned Investing Without Sacrificing Performance with Bill Davis | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Bill Davis, founder of Stance Capital, makes the case that values-aligned investing isn't a sacrifice trade — and anyone who tells you otherwise is doing "performative theater." Two-thirds of his career had nothing to do with financial services: he built a database marketing company in his mid-twenties, ran a venture-backed renewable energy firm for seven years, and only stumbled into finance in 2010 when a college friend asked for help launching an asset management firm. That outside-in path shaped his conviction that every business runs on the same drivers — hire good people, build something you stand behind, deliver it consistently at a fair price, treat clients well. Bill gets into why the next generation of investors is fundamentally different from their parents, why the old stat that advisors lose two-thirds of clients at generational wealth transfer could become 95% for advisors who can't speak to values-aligned investing, and how Stance measures what companies actually do rather than what they say in sustainability reports. He also walks through the Section 351 exchange — a way advisors can move concentrated single-stock positions into a diversified ETF without triggering a taxable event — and why a boutique manager's hardest fight is simply competing against scale. Takeaways * Values-aligned investing doesn't require sacrificing performance — the trade-off is a myth * The next generation of clients wants to personalize their investments, and it transcends politics * "Measure what companies do, not what they say" — getting to ground truth on greenwashing * The Section 351 exchange: solving concentrated position risk without a taxable event * A boutique's hardest fight is competing against scale, not against ideas Chapters * 00:00 Stance Capital and values-aligned investing * 01:12 From database marketing to renewable energy to finance * 06:41 The same drivers run every business * 07:20 The next generation of investors is different * 09:51 The 2/3-to-95% generational wealth transfer problem * 12:27 Who's a great fit to work with Stance * 14:45 When off-the-shelf solutions stop being enough * 18:14 Fear of losing clients and fear of not winning them * 20:06 How advisors find Stance * 22:09 ESG under attack — and why assets still quadrupled * 23:03 "Measure what companies do, not what they say" * 26:39 What happens when a company doesn't fit the criteria * 28:44 The challenge of competing against scale * 30:08 The 30-minute first conversation and what comes after * 35:20 The Section 351 exchange: solving concentrated position risk * 37:31 Values-based investing isn't going away You can find them at: https://www.stancecap.com If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #ESG #valuesinvesting #sustainableinvesting

  6. 14 Oct

    From a Roast Beef Sandwich to a Blue-Collar RIA with David Wiedmeyer | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, David Wiedmeyer, founder of KLD Wealth and a CFP based in Lebanon, Ohio, shares how a five-dollar Arby's deal shaped his entire career. After his dad — an over-the-road trucker — was in an accident and money got tight, his mom brought home five roast beef sandwiches and doled them out among three kids. The feeling of trying to give one back to her, and her refusing, became the moment he decided no one's kids should ever feel that way again — and it's the engine behind a fee-only RIA built for people the big wirehouses tend to ignore. David gets into why he specializes in millennials and Gen X, the subscription "validator" model versus the AUM "delegator" model, and how his team's blue-collar roots help them connect with federal employees near Wright-Patterson and Fort Knox. He walks through the KLD Total Wealth Process — from a 20-minute intro call to a "sleep on it" meeting to seasonal reviews that cover cash flow, tax returns, risk management, and year-end tax planning — and shares two recent tax-planning wins: a ChatGPT-prompted cleanup of botched backdoor Roth conversions, and a couple of engineers under 30 who were starving themselves of "life credits" by over-funding Roth. Takeaways * Why the advice is needed younger, not older — and how a subscription model serves that * Validators vs. delegators: two client mindsets, one onboarding process * Blue-collar and federal-employee niches built on shared background, not just geography * Tax planning as the entry point: backdoor Roth fixes and the three-buckets conversation * A seasonal cadence (winter, spring, summer, fall) that keeps planning proactive instead of reactive Chapters * 00:00 The Arby's five-for-five origin story * 04:28 From Mass Mutual and Merrill to launching KLD Wealth * 07:07 "Money Squirrel" and meeting clients where they are * 10:03 Validators vs. delegators * 11:30 Why blue-collar workers and federal employees * 15:13 What keeps clients up at night: retirement and taxes * 16:44 Two tax-planning wins: the ChatGPT client and the engineer couple * 21:46 Who David won't work with — and the website filters that made it stick * 27:18 Vision: 150 households and a capped advisor bench * 30:04 Shout-outs: Hazel (Altruist) and Right Capital * 31:48 The KLD Total Wealth Process and seasonal reviews * 37:10 Where to start: KLDwealth.com You can find them at: https://kldwealth.com If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #taxplanning #feeonly #bluecollar

  7. 7 Oct

    If You Die, Nothing's Left with Melissa Yano | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Melissa Yano, a CFP at Capital Wealth Planner, talks with business owners whose companies are already working and who still do not have an answer for what happens if they are suddenly gone. She works with closely held businesses, often a solo owner or a couple, usually up to about $15 million in revenue. People come to her when cash is piling up, a colleague has just sold, or last year's tax bill made them choke. A CPA can tell them what already happened. Melissa looks at what is next: how they pay themselves, whether the business could stand without them, and what they are actually moving toward if they ever step away. She will also say it plainly. If you die and nothing is set up, there may be nothing left for your family, your business, or your employees. Her husband cringes. She says it anyway. If you are married, she wants the spouse who is not the money person in the room. She grew up without much money or financial literacy, and she does not think a CFP designation makes her the only one allowed to understand the picture. Takeaways Why "the business is fine" and "I still don't know the next step" show up in the same first meeting What changes when someone looks forward instead of waiting for the tax return The surprise of a bigger net worth than the owner thought, and cash they still do not know what to do with Why she says the quiet part out loud: if you die, there may be nothing left What you are moving toward after a sale, so you do not spend the first year bored and hard on the people at home Chapters 00:00 From larger family wealth to smaller business owners 02:15 Who shows up, and what they ask first 03:46 What a CPA already did, and what is still open 05:56 Cash, an advisor they have not talked to, and a bigger net worth than they thought 07:39 How an owner knows it is time 10:06 Direct, and the spouse stays in the conversation 11:46 "If you die, there is nothing left here" 13:58 Putting the pieces of the puzzle together 16:30 What you are moving toward after you sell 20:37 Where to find her You can find them at: https://capitalwealthplanner.com If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #businessowners #smallbusiness

  8. 5 Oct

    Wealth Is a Tool, Not a Trophy with Gary Preisser | Financial Planner Search

    In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Gary Preisser, Managing Partner of Stonebriar Wealth Advisors, explains what he calls functional wealth. Most of his clients are retirees, or close to it, and he spends a lot of time reminding them that every dollar they have is going to be spent by somebody. It might as well be them. Gary came up through tax preparation and small-business consulting, where the useful question was always cash flow. He was surprised, once he entered this industry, to find the first conversation was a sheet of questions about feelings and risk. His process runs the other direction. Start with why the money exists. That tells you when it is needed. The investments follow the timing. Money needed in six months does not belong in the market, and it does not belong in a 12-month CD that will not be there when the bill shows up. He also walks through what a "good" return actually means. A 7% year sounds fine until someone took half the market's volatility in a year the market was up 20%. His business partner Shay compares that to paying for a dozen eggs and opening the carton to find nine. Later he talks about the widow's tax trap, the ants in Aesop's fable who saved the food so they could eat it, and a 96-year-old client he keeps telling to spend more. His longer aim is to get other advisors to start with purpose before they ever talk about a product. Takeaways Every dollar already has a job, and the job is not to sit on a statement A conservative return can still be a bad year if it lagged what that level of risk should have earned The useful tax question is when to pay, while the lower brackets are still open Saving for decades does not finish the plan. Someone still has to use the money Purpose, then timing, then the portfolio Chapters 00:00 Wealth is a tool, not a trophy 01:48 The $10,000 refund that was a loan to the government 04:11 Start with why, then decide when the money is needed 08:22 The real worry is not running out 13:45 Nine eggs instead of twelve 16:27 The widow's tax trap 21:32 The ants were supposed to eat the food 27:31 Clients who say "just take care of it" 32:28 The surgeon, the scalpels, and a backwards industry 37:38 The first appointment, and what a quarterly meeting is actually for You can find them at: https://www.stonebriarwealthadvisors.com/ If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #retirement #taxes

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About

Finding a financial advisor is easy. Finding the right one is hard. Most advisors look the same on paper — credentials, services, a polished website. But what you actually need to know is how they think, how they treat people, and whether you'd even enjoy working with them. That's what Financial Planner Search is for. Each episode, we sit down with an independent financial advisor for an honest, in-depth conversation. No sales pitch. No jargon. Just a real look at who they are, how they work, and who they're best suited to help. By the end, you'll know what they’re all about. Whether you're approaching retirement and looking for a fiduciary for the first time, thinking about leaving your current advisor, or simply want to make a smarter hiring decision — this show gives you the inside access you need.

Information

  • Creator
    Gregory Wilnau
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    62
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Gregory Wilnau
  • Show Website
    Financial Planner Search