Financial Advisor in East Lansing, Michigan
Personal Bio
My super-power is organizing things. I LOVE trying to make things fit. My background is in finances so naturally, I like organizing people’s money. I am also spiritually oriented and enjoy looking at things on a deeper level.
Money has always impacted me. Growing up, we lived in the biggest house and had the nicest cars. Our family motto was "he who dies with the most toys, WINS!" We had two corvettes with the license plates TOY 2 and TOY 3. Apparently, TOY 1 was taken. It's a great motto if you get to enjoy them. But I didn't see my Dad too much. He was a workaholic.
One year my Dad was writing an article for work about timeshares. We went to Florida, the Timeshare Kingdom. The year was 1987. It was the year my grandma died. My Mom made him buy the timeshare on the spot.
Up until then we'd camped or taken an overnight vacation every now and then. But not often, and time was slipping away. My brother was in high school and I was in middle school. We finally had something to look forward to every year. That one week together at the golf course, or on the beach.
In 1997 I started working at my Dad's company doing financial planning. He introduced me to The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and I started saving money. I also got to spend a lot of time with him. But there was always a strain around money. It seemed like there was always a balance between time and money. You could have one or the other, but not both. I think it comes from the motto he taught me early on that time is money.
In 2007 my son Tyler was born and something had to change. I had to figure out a way to have both time and money. In 2008 I started IAM Financial because I wanted to change my relationship with money and share it with the world.
Now, I'm a self-made millionaire and take summers and December off. I had a client tell me "I want to do something in my next phase in life that will give me a little money and doesn't require 80hrs a week. Kind of like you." He makes $700,000/yr and has a net worth of over $3.5 million. But he knows the value of time and money.
Oh, and my kryptonite is telling people no. So I'm working on an online course that'll teach others how to organize their money so they can enjoy life.
Firm Name
IAM Financial, LLC
Firm Bio
Work history
In December of 2007 Rich created IAM Financial to serve clients seeking objective, affordable, independent advice. Prior to this, Mr. Feight was an investment advisor representative of Creative Financial Design, where he was responsible for the selection of securities used in, and management of, asset allocation portfolios for numerous client accounts. His career began as a registered representative of Vestax Securities Corp. where he was a fee-based advisor. Rich was also licensed in the state of Michigan with Jackson National Life to advise and sell life insurance.
Education
Rich is a graduate of Michigan State University where he received a degree in Finance. Rich earned the Certificate of Financial Planning from The College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado that was comprised of intense graduate-level classes grounding him in the various foundations of financial planning. He is a CFP® (Certified Financial Planner®) since 2001, meeting the experience, education requirements and passing the two-day, 10-hour exam, making him one of the few in the country who hold the designation.
Rich became an Enrolled Agent (EA) with the Internal Revenue Service in January 2011. An EA is a federally-authorized tax practitioner with technical expertise in the field of taxation. EAs are empowered by the Department of Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals. Only Enrolled Agents, attorneys, and CPAs may represent taxpayers before the IRS.
Since 2004, Rich has subscribed to the stringent and mandatory annual educational hours, experience, and code of ethics to meet the requirements to be a NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor. Out of the 800,000 individuals in the country who claim they are financial advisors/planners, fewer than 5,000 in the country qualify for the membership; Rich is one of them.
Volunteering
Rich served Membership Director on the National Board of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors as membership director. He served on the Small Business Association of Michigan's Strategic Communications Committee and is a past President and Chairman of the Board of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Michigan, one of the largest and most influential of the FPA chapters in the country. Rich is also a past President for Transportation Toastmasters Club 4776 downtown Lansing where he enjoyed enhancing his speaking skills.
In the News
He has been quoted in both local and national media from Noise Magazine and the Lansing State Journal to the Wall Street Journal, FoxBusiness, CNBC, and Bloomberg, and industry news publications such as Investment News and Financial Advisor Magazine. Rich enjoys public speaking and has spoken at industry educational meeting, high schools, executive investment clubs, AARP conferences, and business educational seminars for companies looking to educate their employees.
Key Takeaway
Rich enjoys teaching others how to become a millionaire and millionaires how to manage their wealth at his own blog ThinkingBeyondNumbers.com and at FiGuide.com. Rich views his role as a Fiduciary for his clients as the single biggest key to any planning relationship and strives to provide the most competent, unbiased and objective advice in the financial planning profession today.
Advisor Type
RIA - Richard Feight
Firm License #
146156
Research this Firm: Please visit this Firm's respective State Board of Accountancy website for additional information.
Firm Logo
Advisor License #
2883774
Research this Advisor: Please visit this Advisor's respective State Board of Accountancy website for additional information.
Disclaimer
IAM Financial, LLC is a registered investment advisor in the State of Michigan. The existence of this profile should not be construed in any direct or indirect manner as a solicitation for advisory business or securities business in any states beyond the states in which IAM Financial, LLC maintains registrations. IAM Financial, LLC may only transact business in those states in which it is registered or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from registration requirements. Any subsequent, direct communication between IAM Financial, LLC and a prospective client shall be conducted by an IAM Financial, LLC advisor who is either registered or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from registration in the state where the prospective client resides. Here is a copy of IAM Financial, LLC’s current ADV part 2 discussing our services. A contract discussing our fees are available upon written request.
