Here's my story.

I got into financial advisory in 2016, after completing my Ph.D in Economics at GMU. The original plan was to become a professor (the path my wife has since taken, and succeeded in). I enjoy teaching but realized the publish-or-perish academic career wasn't for me. 

Investing is my passionate interest but I knew that I lacked the connections to break into hedge fund or portfolio manager jobs with a non-finance Ph.D. 

Instead I got hired at a national brokerage firm in Los Angeles, figuring I would find my way into investment advisory from a different angle.

It's commonly said that financial advisors don't beat the market. After learning the business at a big firm, it's totally unsurprising that they don't. The average financial advisor I met working for everyday people barely has time to think about the market at all.

A week in the life: Monday was Cold Call Day. Trying to arrange meetings with strangers, and in the evening returning calls and doing follow-ups. Lots of office time, listening to pep talks from management. Most of the week I'd be out running appointments with potential clients who expressed an interest in a product, and quite a few who didn't.

Talking about individual stocks was actively discouraged; mostly we were told to use cookiecutter model allocations or high-commission insurance products.

I moved to a smaller firm and earned my CFP® certification to improve my professional knowledge. 

Financial planning outfits are getting better and the industry is improving. However, there's still too much corporate fluff, too much time spent on "client acquisition", and too many conflicts of interest. 

Today we all need to be investors. 

It is not enough to rely on public benefit systems that are underfunded and cracking under the strain. To reach financial independence and have a dignified old age, the responsibility is in our own hands. 

But investing is a specialized skill. More than technical knowledge, it takes experience. We all only get one chance, one working lifetime, to get it right and land where we want to be for the rest of our years.

Good financial advice is ultimately one-on-one. 

It comes from someone you can trust, both because they've been there before and have your interests at heart. 

A great advisor's impact can be life changing, but in my view the level of trust required to make that professional relationship work does not emerge in a corporate space.

"Less, but Better." 

- Dieter Rams

I opened Bormann Wealth Management, LLC in 2021 and was working with only friends and family at first. 

No team building events. No marketing slop. No physical office space. Minimal software, and all investment selection done in-house.

My plan was to operate on a shoestring budget and earn new clients through referrals, word of mouth, and whoever stumbled across my website. The people who need what I do, will find me.

Now, my typical week involves an hour or two of necessary administrative work but the majority of my time goes toward exploratory investment research. 

My calendar is open and my clients book a time whenever they need me. 

I send four investor letters per year but otherwise I am in the background, seeking out good investments and whatever else might make my clients' lives easier.

Some finance people would look down on this as a "lifestyle practice" and I will own that completely. 

I have no interest in building an empire, supervising teams of advisors, or running a national marketing effort. I want to lead a decent lifestyle, focus on the work that I love, and help my clients do the exact same. 

• Your personal finances are mostly in order, but you're either very busy or not interested in spending time thinking about investing and would prefer someone else handle that for you.

• You've had negative experiences with other financial advisory firms. Maybe you've been burned by high-pressure sales tactics or poorly explained products with high fees. I can help extricate you from this and get your plan back on track.

• You prefer to work with an individual, not a team. I don't delegate; if you email a question, it's answered promptly by me. If an investment decision is made within your account, the buck stops with me.

• You want the prestige of working with a national brand advisory firm. I appreciate my clients, but I don't hold client appreciation events.

• You don't answer emails or are uncomfortable with working remotely. I need to be able to reach you and stay in touch.

• You want Cash Flow financial planning. For those unfamiliar, this is done by software which tries to estimate a lifetime of expenses and incomes, years into the future. As a rule, if a projection is more complicated than we can handle in a spreadsheet, my approach is "let's get directionally correct, and then we will meet as many times as necessary to keep on track as things change."

• Lowest cost is your primary concern. In that case, a robo-advisor will be the better choice. I've priced my services to undercut the big firms, but I am not the cheapest option around and generally do not negotiate on fees.