PFA Updates

Oct 21, 2019

This past September Ken Wilhelm celebrated 40 years in the financial services industry.  Reflecting back on these years, Ken has had several discoveries he’d like to share with you.

My first discovery was that divine coincidence overrides our best laid plans. It is interesting to consider how we end up where we end up. I went to school and spent five years (yes it took me an extra year to graduate) training to be a music educator. Then I taught school for several years, went back to school again for music and graduated in August of 1979. Unfortunately, this was not a good time for hiring music teachers. By this time, I was married and had several children to take care of so what was I to do? Enter the life insurance business.

My second discovery was that people make all the difference on your journey through life. I have been so fortunate to have wonderful mentors in my life that helped educate and shape my career. The workshops and classes they encouraged me to attend were good but the real education I received was in the wisdom they shared from their years of experience. Here’s a quick example of one of these pearls. After spending an inordinate amount of time with one client doing work and not receiving much compensation, my frustration must’ve showed because my mentor called me into his office and said “Ken you need to remember: at the end of the day, if you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want. It’s all about helping the client and if you live by this rule you’ll be fine.” That meeting has shaped my philosophy to this day. Another piece of wisdom I picked up when I was first starting out: you are only as good as the people around you—your team! I have been so blessed in this arena. All throughout my career I’ve been surrounded by a wonderful team of associates, staff, and colleagues, who all work together to serve our clients.

This brings me to my final discovery: the importance of our clients. In this brief reflection I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to all of you. After 40 years, many of you who started out as clients have become good friends, and some even like family. Through all of the events in our lives—births, deaths, tragedies and triumphs—we couldn’t help but form a bond that extends well past a piece of investment advice. I offer a very sincere and heartfelt thank you to all of you.

So I guess my 40 years could be summed up this way: a little divine coincidence, many wonderful teachers and mentors, a terrific talented team and the most fabulous clients. What a blessed journey it has been. I wonder what the next 40 years has in store?