After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point soon after September 11th, 2001, I served in Iraq and Germany. In late 2008 I separated to begin a career as a financial advisor serving American military and DOD personnel stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. It seemed like an amazing opportunity and a way to truly give back by serving others. But I was wrong. My last day in uniform was on September 10th, 2008. Lehman Brothers collapsed on the 15th. 

SH*T. HIT. THE. FAN. Whoops. Nothing like being a self-employed rookie in an industry that was rapidly imploding before my eyes while trying to make ends meet in a foreign country! All this while I was struggling with my identity after taking off the uniform.

As a new financial advisor, I went through all the required trainings. I learned the so-called agreed upon military financial planning standards. I followed the rules, regulations and compliance of how everybody is "supposed" to save their money if they’re doing all the "correct" things from a fixed income perspective. I came to discover this is mostly useless info for high income earners. And really is a marketing and sales strategy that the entire industry uses to sell to people with money.  

My big takeaway: 

Military Retirees have been taught to manage their money, but they are led to believe that they should be afraid of actually using it.

From that point on, I believed that if I was being a “financial advisor” doing things the way that financial professionals are all told to do, then I was failing at providing true value to my clients. I wasn’t truly helping people.

Anyone who has a passion they want to realize or a mission they want to accomplish needs money to do it, and I wasn’t having these kinds of conversations with my clients. All I was doing was telling people to do a budget and save for retirement. I wasn’t encouraging and enabling them to pursue their passions or life goals; I wasn’t allowing them to serve, to become the person they wanted to be. 

Around the same time, I noticed that I wasn’t the only veteran struggling with the transition into post-military life. Finding a job, which is what transition is typically considered to be about, is about money. I think it’s fair enough to say that sooner or later, everything comes back to money. But no one else was tying all of these things together.

That's why I founded US VetWealth and created the new Military Retirement Blueprint method.  Retirees who want to become independent and stop following orders aren't looking for advice.  They are looking for knowledge, access and some consulting.  I've created a an online platform designed exclusively for this type of military retiree.  If that sounds like you, then here's a private invitation I'll leave in my bio for those who read this far :)

How to work with Scott: