Crown Conversations

Sean Foote & Stephen Welch

Two partners telling the truth about money, and bringing real people in to do the same. We're Sean Foote and Stephen Welch. We met in the same training program in 2008 and have been partners ever since. What we built together became Crownmark, Legacy Suite, and Plan Participant. Not a webinar. Not a pitch. Not another boring finance podcast. It's for the person who feels behind. The one who thinks building real wealth is for other people with a head start they never got. We made this for you specifically, because we were you. You don't need permission. You don't need a seat someone saved for you. You can build your own table.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Building The Crown: The Untold Origin

    A $270,000 retirement account went to zero overnight, and a two minute interview in a lobby ended with a stranger in an elevator handing over a phone number: Sean Foote and Stephen Welch on the years nobody sees. Sean Foote and Stephen Welch are the managing partners of Crownmark Wealth Advisors in Atlanta, and they have built together for close to twenty years. Stephen started as a telemarketer at MCI at twenty-three. He picked his 401k contribution rate by looking at the paper of the man sitting next to him, put all of it into company stock for the twenty percent discount, and watched the balance go to zero when WorldCom filed the largest bankruptcy in US history. Sean produced music for Jennifer Lopez and Mary J. Blige before walking away from an industry he could not sleep in, then spent months trying to get a wealth management firm to return a phone call. They met in the same training program in 2008 and have been partners since. They explain: What actually happens to a 401k when the company behind the stock files for bankruptcy How Stephen chose his contribution rate and his investments on his first day, and what that decision cost him years later Why Sean turned down his first job offer out of college and what he did instead What happened in the two minutes that were supposed to be an interview, and who was waiting in the elevator afterward Why the two of them partnered as rookies after being told that is not how the business works Timestamps: 00:00:00 Two Hundred Seventy Thousand Dollars, Gone Overnight 00:00:40 Welcome To Crown Conversations 00:02:23 Telemarketer At MCI, Twenty-Three Years Old 00:05:03 Picking A 401k Rate By Copying The Guy Next To Him 00:06:50 Everything Into Company Stock 00:08:11 Borrowing From The 401k For A First Home 00:08:43 WorldCom Files The Largest Bankruptcy In US History 00:09:34 The Day The Balance Went To Zero 00:10:16 The Advisor Laughed 00:11:25 Investing For Dummies, Cover To Cover 00:13:01 The Call That Made Him An Advisor 00:15:36 Seventeen Thousand Dollars A Year 00:17:39 Producing For Jennifer Lopez And Mary J. Blige 00:19:20 Atlanta, And A Job That Cost Him Sleep 00:21:44 Everything Is Sales 00:22:50 Best Suit, Day Off, Two Minutes In The Lobby 00:24:15 The Stranger In The Elevator 00:25:36 Sitting In The Car, Holding The Wheel 00:26:17 An Hour On The Phone With A Stranger 00:30:18 One Shot At The Series Seven 00:39:10 The Second Person He Called 00:41:20 The Coach Who Told Them To Do It 00:43:12 Two Decades As Equal Partners Follow Sean Foote: Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamseanfoote TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@iamseanfoote X: https://x.com/iamSeanFoote YouTube: https://youtube.com/@iamseanfoote Facebook: https://facebook.com/Iamseanfoote LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-foote-crpc%C2%AE-qpfc%C2%AE-4a597218/ Follow Stephen Welch: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwelch7/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamstephenwelch TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@iamstephenwelch X: https://x.com/iamStephenWelch YouTube: https://youtube.com/@iamstephenwelch Where to go next: Stephen's 401k story is the reason Plan Participant exists. If you have a workplace plan and have never opened the portal, start here: https://planparticipant.com In the opening minute they both land on the same word, legacy, and they mean the version that outlives the account balance. If there are people who depend on you: https://legacysuite.com If you are past the point where a portal answers your questions, Crownmark takes applications: https://www.crownmarkwealth.com

    Building The Crown: The Untold Origin

About

Two partners telling the truth about money, and bringing real people in to do the same. We're Sean Foote and Stephen Welch. We met in the same training program in 2008 and have been partners ever since. What we built together became Crownmark, Legacy Suite, and Plan Participant. Not a webinar. Not a pitch. Not another boring finance podcast. It's for the person who feels behind. The one who thinks building real wealth is for other people with a head start they never got. We made this for you specifically, because we were you. You don't need permission. You don't need a seat someone saved for you. You can build your own table.