People often ask me why I became a financial advisor. Like a lot of people, I didn’t always know what I wanted to be or what I wanted to do with my career. What I did know was that I liked the idea of working with people, building long-term professional relationships, and helping them solve their problems.
In college, I studied speech communication and my first job out of college was as a Relationship Manager at Serta. I learned that I loved building relationships with people and trying to find solutions to their needs. As I had always had an interest in finance, I thought working as a financial advisor would suit me.
Starting My Career
In 2002, I began my career as a financial planner and haven’t looked back since. Over the years, I worked with community and regional banks through 2007 while I pursued my entrepreneurial endeavors to set up shop as an independent financial advisor. I wanted to run my own firm in order to work more closely with clients and offer them unbiased advice and personalized strategies.
At the same time, I was completing my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation because I wanted to learn as much about comprehensive financial planning as possible. I’ve always been passionate about education, and pursuing this designation allowed me to build upon it and help clients with virtually all their financial needs.
In 2011, after nearly a decade of industry experience, I joined forces with Matthew Gaude to acquire Live Oak Wealth Management. With our combined years of experience and varied skills, we form a versatile team capable of providing the comprehensive services retirees and pre-retirees desire to help grow and preserve their savings, while planning for an income stream during and after retirement.
My Philosophy
I believe people need a personally devoted advocate in their corner when it comes to receiving unbiased advice and strategies for their finances. Financial planning and investing can be a daunting task, especially for the inexperienced. It can be overwhelming to seek out an advisor and invite a relationship tied to such a private matter like their personal finances.
My inspiration for being in this industry is based on the value of fulfilling that role for my clients. My clients put a lot of trust in me with their finances and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. In all that I do, I strive to ensure my clients understand how much I care about their future and want to help them pursue their greatest goals.
The Hurdles and the Triumphs
Working as a financial advisor certainly comes with its challenges. Most of the strategies I deal with are very long-term, so it takes time for them to fully work properly in a long term plan. With a never-ending news cycle and attention-grabbing headlines, it’s easy for clients to feel overwhelmed with so much information. They can get caught in the cycle of looking at the short-term picture of day-to-day strategizing rather than a long-term, decade-to-decade approach.
Additionally, it can be difficult to manage my clients’ emotions so they can separate them from investing and look beyond the news headlines in order to focus on what they can control. It can take some time for clients to ignore the media noise and focus on their individual needs and goals. Especially in a bear market or at the end of a bull market, people can become emotional and can exhibit behavior that ends up derailing them from pursuing their long-term goals and ideal outcomes.
Despite the challenges, I can’t imagine having any other career. For me, there’s nothing more fulfilling than helping people pursue their ideal outcomes in life. Meeting with clients and reviewing the progress they are making and hearing them verbalize the true value of what I do is very fulfilling to me and motivates me to help more people.
Next Steps
To get started, I suggest you take the time to meet with me. You can learn how I may be able to help personalize a financial and investment strategy and guide you through many available options that are designed to help you reach your unique financial goals. There is never a fee, charge, or obligation for your first meeting. Call my office at 770-552-5968 or email [email protected].
About Shawn
Shawn McGuire is a financial advisor and the co-founder of Live Oak Wealth Management, a financial services firm in Roswell, Georgia. He serves the planning and investment needs of corporate employees, those approaching or in retirement, and 401(k) plan sponsors. He has worked in financial services since 2002 in positions ranging from financial advisor to stock broker and portfolio manager. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, he is trained to help clients with virtually all their financial needs. To learn more about Shawn, connect with him on LINKEDIN or visit WWW.LIVEOAKWM.COM.
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