There’s a saying that goes “If you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”. Since I graduated from engineering school at Carnegie Mellon University in 1984, I’ve been fascinated by the simple concept of compounding, and how a “money machine” can be built slowly over time via brain power alone. And then how the money machine can be turned on, and work so you don’t have to. So much so was my interest in investing and financial planning that I continued my education at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Business night school, earning an MBA with a specialty in finance and investments. Highest honors to boot.
The fairy tale part of this was that Sally and I seemed to have a solid and exciting future ahead. I had a great engineering job and a promising professional future. High school sweethearts and prom king and queen, we married in the spring of 1985, buying our first house in 1986. I was mid-way through MBA school when Chris was born, and Sally decided to quit her executive administrative assistant job in favor of staying home to take care of Chris. Our financial security would be on my shoulders. I started looking at buying life insurance to secure my family’s future if something happened to me.
But life can get really messy sometimes, and something did happen to me. After being sick for a year and seeing nine different doctors and spending hours reading medical books, I determined I had a very dangerous, rare, and fatal auto-immune disorder. I marched into my physician’s office with references in hand, and he agreed and sent me along to another specialist. An immediate hospitalization and a month later, I was weak, afraid, blown up on steroids, and staring down the barrel of daily oral chemotherapy, a revolutionary approach to my auto-immune disease. Without it, I would die, but there was no guarantee it would work. We fought hard, and it worked. Eventually, I would owe my life to some very talented and caring physicians in Pittsburgh and a well-known doctor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who completed the development of the new therapy just a few years prior. (Yep, that’s the guy).
Words can’t describe what it’s like to stand at your newborn son’s crib at age 27 sobbing quietly over whether you’ll get to be there to protect, provide, and guide him through his childhood and adolescence. And worrying that your group life policy from work won’t be enough financial support for your partner and son. I wished someone had given me better guidance to get insurance as soon as we knew we were expecting.
I was also running an investment club at the time and members were just giving me money with little interest in being involved with the investment decisions. “Just invest the money, Mitch. I trust you and you know what you're doing” they would say. Since I never shied away from learning and studying, I jumped at an opportunity given to me to become a licensed Registered Representative or broker, as some would say. It would become my new hobby, since resuming running (I was a track and field letterman at CMU) or anything of the sort would be out of the question. And maybe I could make a few bucks to cover some of my medical bills and build up our savings. And afford a modest vacation.
Well, one thing led to another, I continued my studies, obtained a life insurance license, and became my first client. I paid quadruple the standard premium because of my health history. Several years later I completed the academic work to sit for the Certified Financial Planner designation, taking and passing the test to become a CFP®. My financial planning practice was small and very manageable, and I enjoyed it. It never interfered with anything family-related. I wanted to know everything I could to help my clients. I was still working full-time as an engineer.
But life wasn’t done challenging me and sent me a nasty cancer to fight. Win and I live, lose and well, that was it. So we fought. Through fear, pain, and tears. We won that battle and two years later I took over another practice from a retiring colleague. Nine months after that I was diagnosed with leukemia, Chris went away to college and I underwent a life-saving stem cell transplant six months after that. More tears, more pain, more chemo, radiation, sickness, hair loss, and terrifying moments. I faced a total of 18 months off from my engineering work while I underwent treatment and waited while my immune system recovered. Thank goodness for caring siblings, parents, and in-laws, as well as great disability and medical benefits from my engineering job. But especially, gratitude for Sally, who tirelessly took care of me and carried more than her share of the load throughout my illnesses, and still does so today.
During my disability, I personally gained experience with obtaining Social Security disability benefits, health savings accounts, medical insurance, disability insurance, and Medicare. Dozens of doctor’s visits, a few hospital stays, and drugs cost as much as $36,000 a month. I was my own case study. Without suitable medical and disability insurance, those costs would have been crippling.
I stuck out my engineering job until eligible for retirement at age 58 because I kept my excellent medical insurance benefits until age 65 and had a pension. The follow-up care for my illnesses was extensive and expensive. I retired at the start of COVID-19 straight from another stint on disability, ending because of recovery from some issues from another miracle drug to calm my transplant. I was well enough to return, but it was time to pull the plug. Plus, my practice had grown considerably, with roughly 150 clients across the country. All through word of mouth. Not a drop of advertising or marketing.
I don’t tell you all of this for your sympathy, but only to let you know that I get it. We are a family practice at Fifth and Forbes Financial, and we all get it. My family has seen what it’s like when life is messy and how we hope for the best, plan for the worst, and live life to the fullest extent possible going through hell and back. And we have personal experience with it all. Including reacting to some of the most terrifying and difficult things our clients and loved ones can face, but also sharing some of the most special and meaningful moments life can deliver. We’ve experienced the awful, amazing, ordinary, and mundane moments in our lives and those of our clients. We’ve laughed and cried with many of them.
What we want for our clients is to live life to the fullest extent possible without sacrificing future financial security. The same thing we want for ourselves. So we endeavor to help every client find where that sweet spot really is, balancing saving and investing with spending. Or putting a child through college, reaching a life-long goal like purchasing a second home, or just retiring with confidence. Even planning our own legacies. We’ll worry about your funds so you don’t have to.
If we aren’t comfortable investing our own money in something, we won’t do it with yours either. We invest in many of the same things you do and believe in planning-based investing – matching investments with needs. We’ll always ask you what you want your money to do for you. And we don’t make decisions so it will do something for us. Your needs will always be placed over any benefit we receive. We’ll always explain what we’re doing so you understand it. I didn’t get into this business to make money. I’ve talked clients out of investing in some things they wanted that would have brought us a hefty payday but that I didn’t think were right for them. And Chris will do the same thing.
Life truly can be breathtakingly beautiful in and around its messiness. We’re happy to help with anything. If we can’t, we’ll do our best to help you find someone who can. Thanks for taking the time to read this. We’d love to hear your story, too.
I’ve never worked a day in my life.
p.s. - Writing this and “Founder” of a family-run practice made me shed a tear or two. Fighting three life-threatening illnesses and building a successful business while working full-time in a demanding engineering job. Having the privilege of watching Chris grow up, having the chance to work with him, and him finding an exceptional partner in Carolyn. Having Sally, who I could not have survived without. Supportive friends and doctors. Enriched life through more friendships with clients. Golden Retrievers Duncan and Gracie who add humor and comfort. And gratitude to be able to occasionally experience some other nice things in life. Despite the challenges, I’m a lucky guy. But I really don’t want any more challenges…
-Mitch ONeill CFP®, Founder
