Member Spotlight: Lifetime Financial Growth
Member Spotlight by Tom Wyatt, JD, CFP®, President of Lifetime Financial Growth of Central Ohio
Provide us with a brief summary of your business’ services.
The focus of Lifetime Financial Growth centers on our clients’ vision for their future to create a lasting impact on their wealth potential. We take pride in delivering cutting edge strategies that give clients the confidence to take control of their lives and guide them to help build a clear path to the financial future they are aspiring toward.
Our financial professionals serve families, entrepreneurs, established business owners, professionals, executives, physicians and dentists.
Tell us about your company’s mission and values.
Our mission statement is posted in each of our meeting rooms so that we can share it with our clients. It focuses on our three areas of service:
Clients – To provide excellence in service and innovative financial product design to help our clients reach their financial objectives in the creation, maximization, protection and enjoyment of wealth by advocating for them to make informed financial decisions which reflect their value system, love of family, and commitment to community.
Associates – To enable all Lifetime Financial Growth associates to reach their maximum potential, even beyond that which they currently believe they are capable of achieving in all areas of their life.
Community – To accomplish all of our objectives while serving as a good citizen within the community through our charitable endeavors and by our leadership.
What are the services you use the most (or are looking forward to using) from the Columbus Chamber?
We are happy to see the Chamber helping to lead the way as our business community continues to adapt to a new economy. We will use Chamber services to increase our exposure through networking and education.
How do you stay engaged with trends that you see in your industry?
We encourage all of our advisors to continue their professional development, by acquiring professional designations and credentials. Our firm has advisors who have a variety of industry-specific credentials, plus a number who are CPAs, Attorneys, MDs, Actuaries and MBAs, among others.
In addition to this, our firm is blessed to have a large number of professionals who volunteer their time in various capacities with industry organizations. For example, I serve on the national board for the Society of Financial Service Professionals, and am a member of 4 other industry associations. Another financial professional in our Columbus office serves on the national board of one of those other industry associations.
What is your company culture like?
Lifetime Financial Growth has 40 financial professionals in central Ohio and over 300 serving six states (Ohio and surrounding states). We are unique in that we leverage the individual experience our representatives have to collaborate on behalf of our clients and solve their problems. It is not uncommon to have a specialist in a different office travel to Columbus to help one of our clients, and vice-versa. This way, our clients receive better outcomes by having access to a specialist in the area in which they need help.
For example, we have representatives who work exclusively in the business-owner market, while others only work with trust planning strategies for very high net worth families, while still others focus exclusively on the unique problems and opportunities physicians face.
What does it take to be a successful employee at your company?
The short answer is coachability, a strong work ethic and moral compass. Everything else can be learned or “borrowed.” Due to our structure, if an advisor lacks knowledge in a specific area, he or she can use one of the other representatives who has experience in that area to serve the clients who need that help.
What makes Columbus such a great place to do business?
There is a positive energy in Columbus that blends Midwest values with a Global reach. Our economy is solid and everyone has a sense of pride in our area and culture. The picture is very bright for our city.
What pieces of advice have you found to be the most helpful since starting your career?
Always be learning. Don’t have an agenda. Make it all about the client. What is important to them? What do they want to accomplish? What is the most effective way to help them accomplish it?
How do you achieve a work/life balance?
I have an (apparently) unique perspective on work-life balance. For context, I am a husband and father with a couple young children. When my job requires me to work, I work. When my family obligations require I be present and enjoy my time with them, I do so.
I am the sole breadwinner for my family, so my family’s livelihood requires that I put in the time and intensity at work. Most of the time that is M-F and roughly 8am to 5 or 6 in the evening. A day or two per week, I have evening office hours so that my clients can meet me at a time that is convenient for them. A day or two per month, I hold Saturday morning office hours for the same reason. Usually, my late nights or Saturday mornings happen at the same time that my family has some sporting or social obligation that does not require my presence.
This schedule really doesn’t seem that unreasonable to me, considering that those are basically the same hours (or less) my grandfathers worked during their careers and certainly fewer hours than my father worked during his. I think where people get caught up is when they want to simultaneously be present for all possible family, social and/or kids events, and they also want a career that is high paying and therefore demanding of their time. As my dad would say “you can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want, choose.”
Where is your favorite place to have a meeting outside the office?
I end up having a lot of meetings over meals. I love seafood or a good steak.
Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LFGColumbus/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifetime-financial-growth
Website: https://www.lifetimefinancialgrowth.com/
Registered Representative of Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS). Securities products offered through PAS, member FINRA, SIPC. General Agent of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. PAS is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Guardian. Lifetime Financial Growth is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS or Guardian. CA insurance license #0E84981. Not practicing JD for Guardian or its subsidiaries or affiliates. 2019-85086 EXP. 08/2021