Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul WInkler.
Hi Paul, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started out as a traditional financial advisor working for a big investment firm in the late 1980s up through the 1990s. I became frustrated with the sales mentality that surrounded me and heard about a university professor who was teaching advisors how to implement elements of his research. What he was teaching made far more sense than what I had been learning from those in the financial industry. I had to make a change. My firm was going through some significant challenges and the chief compliance officer, who knew that I was disillusioned, recommended that I start a firm that represented the client rather than the investment provider.
I spoke to a local program director about my experience and was offered a radio show with a big local station and things took off from there. My idea was to teach what I had learned and simplify it for the masses. If people heard it, I believed they would beat a path to my door. Little did I know how true that was. I found that people were hungry for something different than they were getting at their employer retirement plan meetings, from their bankers, insurance agents or local financial planning offices. Now we have ten offices in middle Tennessee and we are still growing fast.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing worth doing is easy. I had to find people who believed in the vision. I couldn’t have done it without friends who ran businesses supporting the show and advertising. I had an accountant, a mortgage person, a home decorator, a dentist, a local gym and others who made it possible. I also had to give up my insurance business and my licenses to sell securities and insurance products. I needed to “burn my ships in the harbor” and get rid of any temptations to go back to the old way of doing things. In the end, it has all been worth it.
We’ve been impressed with Paul Winkler. Inc., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a fee-only financial planning and asset management company representing our clients rather than the investment providers. While there are over 600,000 financial advisors (according to FINRA) in the United States, just a fraction (23%) hold planning degrees and only 12% act as fiduciaries all the time. It is often surprising to members of the public that people can call themselves “financial advisors” without a formal degree. Out of that small number, only a tiny fraction implement evidence-based research on investing. In my experience, this is due to the conflicted education we see in the industry at large.
One of the biggest determinants to a successful retirement is the level of planning involved, yet few people spend much time engaged in the process. I believe they are often worried they will be sold something they don’t need, worried it will cost too much or that it will be over their heads. I believe I have built a company that helps people overcome these obstacles.
We help people make sense of their entire financial picture and, in many cases, can help them significantly reduce expenses.
I am proud to have a firm that holds these standards and I have surrounded myself with financial advisors who hold the same values. We love educating investors. I believe that investors who know what they are doing, why they are doing it tend to be more confident.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paulwinkler.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulWinklerInc/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulwinkler/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@paulpwinkler
