Everything you've been meaning to ask

I'm an independent wealth advisor in Shreveport, Louisiana. I help families who are close to retirement, or already there, turn what they've saved into income that lasts.

I've been advising families on their money since 2013. I started at Morgan Stanley and founded Montgomery Wealth Advisors in 2015.

Outside of work, I've been happily married for more than 20 years. We have three daughters. We love to travel as a family, and we think a lot about building something that lasts: not just money, but the kind of intentional life we want for ourselves and the people who come after us.

I joined the life insurance business in 2012 and the investment business in 2013. I started at Morgan Stanley, and in 2015 I founded my own firm so I could give advice without a product to sell.

I'll be honest with you: most financial advice is pretty universal. There are plenty of competent advisors who understand the mechanics of a 401(k) or an IRA.

The difference isn't a secret investment formula. It's the relationship. It's having someone in your corner who understands your situation, cares about your life beyond the spreadsheet, and isn't trying to sell you a product. The commitment I make to every client is simple: outside of your family, there's not going to be anybody who cares about you more.

If you see that and you believe that, a lot of the other details become secondary.

Evidence-based, low-cost, and grounded in decades of academic research. I use a Dimensional approach, and I believe it's the right way to invest.

But here's the thing. Investment strategy is maybe number seven on the list of ten things that will actually decide how your retirement goes. The plan, the tax coordination, the income design, the estate and insurance review, and honestly the life design: that's where the real value lives.

I'm not interested in debating active versus passive at dinner parties. I'm interested in whether your entire financial life is coordinated and moving in the same direction.

Families who take saving seriously and want it done right. Many are within about five to ten years of retirement, or recently retired, and want what they've saved to last. Others are earlier in the building years, already saving well and ready to stop guessing about the rest.

For people close to retirement, the job is changing. For 30 or 40 years the job was to save. Now it's to turn those savings into a paycheck that lasts as long as they do. For people still building, the job is getting the big decisions right early, while time is doing most of the work. Either way, that's usually when the call happens.

I take on a small number of new families each year, so each one gets my full attention.

By you, and only by you. I'm an independent fiduciary. No commissions, no products to sell, and nothing paid to me by a fund or insurance company.

Every fee is covered in plain English in our first conversation, before you decide anything.

The best answer is years ago. The second best answer is now.

The years right before and right after you retire are when the decisions that are hardest to undo get made: when to claim Social Security, which accounts to draw from first, how much to keep out of the market. Every year you wait isn't just a year of missed returns. It's a year of missed coordination and missed tax savings.

And beyond the dollars, there's something else: the freedom you feel when you finally know you have a plan in place. That weight of knowing you should have it all together, but don't? It lifts. That alone is worth starting today.

It's a relaxed conversation. I want to understand where you stand, and I want to understand your life. What have you done your whole career? What's weighing on you? What would you do with your time if you didn't have to work tomorrow?

Most advisors start with the spreadsheet. I start with the question most people have never been asked: what do you actually want retirement to look like? Then we work backward to the money.

One favor beforehand: jot down every account you have, including the old 401(k)s and anything you've half forgotten. Rough balances are fine. No account numbers.

I want you to leave knowing exactly where you stand, and what you'd do next, whether or not we ever work together.

Someone who coordinates your entire financial life, not just a portfolio. That means pulling together every account, every policy, every loose end, and getting them all moving in the same direction.

Most people I meet have accounts in several places: an old 401(k) at a previous employer, an IRA they rolled over years ago and haven't opened since, some insurance scattered around, and a drawer full of statements. None of the pieces are talking to each other.

My job is to change that. One advisor. One plan. Everything coordinated.

It's not what you'd think. It's not a bad investment or a missed deduction.

The biggest mistake is that none of the pieces are moving in the same direction. You've got good things going: savings, a retirement account or three, Social Security coming, maybe a pension. But nobody has pulled it all together into one plan. It's not because you're irresponsible. It's because you've been busy living your life.

My father was the most organized person I knew. Early adopter of Quicken, balanced the checkbook religiously. And even he had an annuity with one person, a financial product with another, and a main advisor somewhere else. If he could end up that way, anybody can.

That's the advice almost everyone hears. Move more to bonds. Move more to cash. Lock it all down. It sounds responsible.

For a lot of people, I think it's the wrong move. Retirement can last 25 or 30 years, and that's a long time for prices to climb. The money can still be there and quietly buy less every year. That's what I call the safety trap.

The answer isn't to ignore risk. It's to plan for it on purpose.

It's the question I hear more than any other, and it deserves a real plan, not a pep talk.

Before your retirement income starts, we set aside a reserve: enough cash and safe money to cover your paycheck through a rough stretch, so you're far less likely to be forced to sell near the bottom. I call it the Storm Reserve. When markets fall hard, you'll hear from me first, with the plan already in hand.

This comes up constantly. Almost everyone I talk to says “I have life insurance,” and what they mean is group coverage through their employer.

That coverage is usually inexpensive, and you should take what you can get. But it often doesn't follow you. When you retire or leave that job, the coverage may end. If it can be converted, the cost is often far higher than a policy you own directly.

The bottom line: employer coverage is a benefit, not a plan. Don't confuse the two.

In most cases, yes. Rolling it into an IRA usually gives you more flexibility, more investment choices, and better coordination with the rest of your plan.

Most people leave it sitting there because it's invested reasonably enough that it never feels urgent. But not urgent doesn't mean not important. An orphaned account is a loose end, and loose ends add up.

There are exceptions, so it's worth looking at your specific situation before you move anything.

Start with the non-financial plan. Before we touch a single number, I want to know: what are you going to do with your time? After decades of work, when that's gone, what fills the space?

Do you want to spend a month in Italy? Maybe you have the resources to do it. So let's go. That's what it was all for.

Once we know what you're building toward, we work backward through the numbers: your income sources, which accounts to draw from and when, Social Security timing, taxes, the estate plan, insurance, and a realistic timeline.

The financial plan exists to serve the life plan. Not the other way around.

Think in decades. Build for generations. Make decisions today for the people who come after you. And along the way, live the life you're building. Don't just accumulate.

I'm not chasing the next hot investment or optimizing for this quarter. I'm thinking about what your financial life looks like in 10, 20, 30 years, and what it means for your kids and their kids.

I used to chair the board of my daughters' school. I constantly reminded the board that we were making decisions for a group of children who didn't exist yet. The same thinking applies to wealth. The best financial decisions are the ones that compound across generations.

This one. The answers here tell you more about who I am, what I believe, and how I work than any brochure or credential could.

If you've read this far and you're thinking “this is my guy,” you're probably right. And if you're thinking “this isn't for me,” that's okay too. I'd rather you know up front than waste both our time.

A conversation. No commitment, no sales pitch, no pressure. Just a conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and whether it makes sense to work together.

If it does, we'll build a plan. If it doesn't, you'll leave with clarity you didn't have before. Either way, you win.