Happy Friday Reader!
A Quick Note From 12,000 feet
This week's newsletter comes to you from about 12,000 feet...
I'm currently in the mountains of Colorado chasing elk through the thick timber, having only a slight idea what I'm (actually) doing, and very likely shivering from the freezing cold weather up here.
That might not sound like fun to you... and I don't blame you... but this is easily one of my most cherished times of year. It's a chance to reset, breathe in the mountain air, and spend time with dad and my brother-in-law.
While I’m out here, I just want to say thank you! Whether you’ve watched a video, read a blog, opened this newsletter, or even reached out with a question — I appreciate you more than you know.
So many of you have gone from readers and followers to clients and friends. I'm incredibly lucky to wake up every day doing what I love - and I thank you all for that.
You may not know me outside of my financial content, so I thought I'd share just a little bit more about me on a personal level:
I’m a Jesus lover, Colorado native, lifelong athlete (including an NCAA baseball career), and I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors. Most recently, I’ve been playing a lot of competitive racquetball — I even went as far as hiring a professional coach to help me. She just happens to be one of the top-ranked women players in the world as well! I'm hoping "maybe" to compete as a professional myself someday... (fingers crossed).
I got into financial planning purely by accident in 2009. I was a 21-year-old college student, studying engineering and economics, and (like most of us) had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Luckily, I stumbled across a financial planning internship that really sounded interesting to me. The only problem was that it was UNPAID... but, since I was already a broke college student, that didn't really bother me haha!
I immediately fell in love with financial planning. Every element of it was interesting to me - investing, understanding insurance products, helping people navigate taxes and estate planning. I read every financial book I could get my hands on and asked (at least) a million questions to anybody and everybody within the financial institution I started with.
I can truly say that since that internship, financial planning has been my obsession. I also found a love for creating content about 10 years ago as well (which is the foundation of my business today). I thank God every day that I get to wake up do what I love - advising people and creating content - and more importantly getting to meet so many great people along the way!
Most of the content I create - the blogs, the videos, and even these newsletters — come directly from real conversations I have with people just like you.
This shapes my content on a daily basis so I'd love to hear from you!
What topics would you like me to cover next (or go into more detail about)? Chances are, if you’re wondering about it, others are too.
Once again, a special thank you to everybody reading blogs, opening these newsletters, sharing my videos, and reaching out on a personal level. I appreciate you all and I'm looking forward to creating new content when I get back.
Wish me luck out here!
– Matt