In September 1978, I opened the doors to my bookkeeping and eventual tax practice in my garage at home. While being a little far removed from a “Tax Expert”, I could spell T-A-X forward and backward and there was an intense desire to excel and make a difference in people’s lives. That intensity drove me to learn through constant reading and studying to develop more professional skills that could genuinely help people, including being admitted to practice before the IRS as an Enrolled Agent (EA).

As the years passed, I found that a strange thing was happening: while I am a confirmed Introvert, I discovered I really enjoyed working with people and reached the place I wanted to work with them throughout the year and involve myself with more of their lives than just taxes. This led me to pursue the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification in 1993 that was much tougher than I envisioned, but dogged pursuit produced results and I moved into the new world of helping people in all kinds of financial matters.

As the firm grew and matured, I realized there was more than I could do alone, so as circumstances evolved in 2007, I began to consider the career path of my oldest child, Shelby. She was smart, with two master’s degrees, caring and accomplished in her own field and while she was somewhat dubious as to the relationship between counseling and financial planning, agreed to join me for a 5-year trial run. That time soon passed and because “Dad is always right”, she studied and earned her CFP® certification in a short time, realizing it was where she belonged. She has carried the bulk of the financial planning work since 2018, and I have watched her build on the foundation I laid and make it her own.

Then in 2012, I re-discovered Sherryle, my youngest. Even though Sherryle had worked with me on and off for most of the past 40 years, I think she had a certain mindset of, “I don’t want to be on the front lines or work that hard to be a professional. I’m just a Mom”. I convinced her that with her many years of experience and fighting in the trenches with me, she already had great knowledge, it just wasn’t recognized. So, with some initial reservation, she began the arduous process of studying and passing the Special Enrollment Examination, to be admitted to practice before the IRS (EA). She has risen to become the primary tax preparer, while drawing from my experience as needed, and my EA has now been retired.

There have been several different partners and a couple of family members that accompanied me along the way, until we finally arrived at this crossroads blending the disparate backgrounds of myself, Shelby and Sherryle, resulting in a creative and fulfilling synergy that was a little surprising in some ways. More recently, my grandson Thomas began work first as an intern and is now gaining experience as he studies for the Enrolled Agent examination. So, this family team, plus a critical binding agent named Karen Strange as our client concierge, all joined together to create the team that you know.

In 2018, we completed a key component of our transition plan when Shelby and Sherryle purchased the practice of The Advisors Group. They sometimes refer to me as The Wizard Behind the Curtain, mostly because of my institutional and historical knowledge. This comes in handy with our multi-generational client families, because I started with many of their grandparents.

All that to say, I have now managed to work myself into a wonderful situation where I no longer administer ownership responsibilities and can work as much or little as I wish. I focus primarily on investment management and participate in tax and financial planning activities as needed. So, what is left for me to do? Most would say “Retire”, but here’s what I’ve discovered:

I began this journey with a destination in mind, but I reached that a while back. I now work with my girls and our clients, and I have begun to realize the real goal for me is to continue Enjoying the Journey, for as long as it is fulfilling.

John H. Russell, CFP®, CAP®
Founder