The greatest pleasures in my life are raising my children and connecting with my beautiful wife and best friend, Angela. I have grown children who live about the country and two still at home.

I am originally from Virginia and born in Portsmouth – not too far from Virginia Beach. We lived there until I was 12 when we moved to Woodbridge in Northern Virginia. This is where I really grew up. I went to Woodbridge Senior High School.

During high school I was in the band, a photographer, and enjoyed math – pretty normal. Many Sunday afternoons, during those high school years, you would find me lying on the living room floor reading a favorite book.

Those books were almost always either on investments or investing in real estate.

I actually started investing in high school. I convinced my father to take me to a stockbroker and began investing my own money in the market. The first stock I bought was a utility stock and the second was a gold stock. During college I was excited (and nervous!) to purchase my first investment/rental property. 

I went to Virginia Tech and enjoyed Blacksburg and tubing down the New River in southwest Virginia. After VT, I went to George Washington University in the heart of Washington, DC.

Just after college I had a short stint managing the Virginia office of a moving company. The three brothers who owned Beltway Movers (they had offices around the DC beltway) taught me much about how to serve clients well and run a business. I’ll always be grateful for the time I spent with them. 

After that, I began working in the financial services arena and never looked back.

I left Virginia in 1996 and moved to paradise – Colorado Springs! I heard someone say once it’s like living in a post card. I think they were right. On a beautiful night we would hang up a sheet as a movie screen in front of our trampoline in the backyard and project a movie on it. We all would lay on the trampoline, eat popcorn, and enjoy the movie together.

In 2021 we moved to New Braunfels in south central Texas to be near family. It’s been a super blessing that we couldn’t anticipate.

Part of our hearts (and many friends) are in Colorado Springs and during the heat of the summer in Texas we’re back in Colorado sitting on our patio looking at Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods enjoying coffee in the morning and friends and a glass of wine in the evening. 

I enjoy golf and running. I wish my game was better (the ball seems to fly farther in Colorado) and my running was more often like it used to be.

 However, one of my most cherished times is just a good walk with Angela, and talking about life and family. And when possible on the beach.

I really enjoy my work. It’s exciting for me to meet with clients and new folks. It is a joy to help people work through financial issues and reach their dreams.

At one point I wondered if I was normal. I enjoy this stuff. When markets are bad for long periods I’ve had possible new clients come in and tell me that they don’t open their financial statements. They shove them in a drawer and don’t want to look at them! Life shouldn’t be that way.

Financial statements to me are a real-life extension of the books I enjoyed as a kid. A great day in the office for me is getting to know someone, reviewing their financial progress (statements too), and turning it into something that secures their financial future.

Well if you’re a client reading this, your friendship is truly valued. Thank you. 

If we haven’t met yet, I hope we can soon. I love meeting new people.

 

All the best,

~Greg