Welcome! For those of you that do not know me, I'm Travis. For those that have been to the Fortitude Financial Planning website before reading this blog post, well, hello again! For those that do know me, thanks for reading anyway! I decided to make my first blog post about myself so that potential clients can get to know me a little better.
As stated in my bio on the "About Us" section of the Fortitude website, I am from a small town in South Carolina - Spartanburg, to be exact, where I was born and raised. My father was absent for most of my childhood and adolescence, leaving my mother to raise me along with my three younger siblings. Growing up, I was heavily involved in sports, primarily basketball and baseball. However, I found myself gravitating to basketball once I reached high school, and I later transitioned to basketball only.
Basketball presented me with many opportunities. In high school, I was approached by the head basketball coach of the private school in my town, asking if I wanted to transfer to the private school to play for him. Due to my mother being a single mother of four, we would not have been able to afford private school tuition without being awarded a scholarship, which I was fortunate enough to receive. Ultimately, I transferred to and graduated from the private school with a 3.5 GPA. I got the opportunity to go to Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, where I majored in Business Administration, minored in Accounting, was a member of the Men's Basketball team, and, most importantly, met my wife, Shelby.
Along with my mother and maternal grandparents, I had many mentors throughout my adolescence, including teachers, guidance counselors, and coaches. As I was approaching college graduation, I found myself reflecting on my past experiences. I realized that without the help of others, I wouldn't have been able to accomplish what I had. Leaving out the details, suffice it to say that I encountered quite a bit of adversity growing up. Studies suggest that, based on my background, I should not have been a good student, I should not have gone to college, and I definitely should not have graduated from college. As I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life, I knew I needed a career in a field where I could help others how so many others had helped me.
My first job interview out of college was with a captive life insurance company (for those who do not know what a captive company is, it is a company in which you are required to sell only the products they offer). As a 22-year-old new graduate, I knew nothing about the financial industry; however, their pitch was centered around how I would help people, so I thought it would be a good fit. In this role, I felt I was being pressured into selling products; I am not a salesperson, and I quickly learned that this job would not allow me to help people the way I imagined. While at this job, I met a financial advisor breaking away to start his firm with another business partner. He and his business partner wanted me to join their firm to assist with back-office support and sit in on client meetings. This firm was still in the business of selling insurance products and commissioned investments; however, I was not pressured to sell products. While I did not have the pressure of selling insurance products, over time, the idea of working for a firm that did sell products to clients did not sit well with me. I wanted to work with clients in a way that I could still provide value without pressuring them to buy certain products.
As I continued learning more about the financial industry, I came across the Certified Financial Planner® designation. After reading more about the CFP® designation, I finally felt like I had found the career I was looking for. I began the CFP® coursework with the College for Financial Planning in the later part of 2015, finished the course work at the start of 2018, and passed the CFP® exam in July 2018. At the beginning of 2020, I decided that I wanted to become an Enrolled Agent, and in August, obtained the EA certification.
While engaged in the CFP® coursework, I continued to learn more about the various types of firms in the financial industry, which is when I learned about the fee-only model for financial planning. I quickly realized that the fee-only model would allow me to help people the way I had envisioned in my mind. I started searching for fee-only firms to work within the Raleigh-Durham, NC, and Charlotte, NC area. Around the same time that I passed the CFP® exam, I started working at an hourly fee-only financial planning firm in Durham, NC. I felt like I had found my dream job. In my more than two years working for this firm, I gained a lot of knowledge about being a financial planner. However, I realized that working in an hourly capacity with clients and the types of clients we worked with still didn't fit what I had imagined.
Over the years, I noticed that people with assets were the only clientele utilizing the services that a financial planner offers. I started to realize that I wanted to work with my peers and provide a service to them with a fee structure that was more conducive to their needs. I searched for firms in the area that provided the things I had imagined. Due to the pandemic, firms weren't hiring in the area, and none worked with the types of clients I wanted or the way I wanted to. Therefore, after a lot of praying and thinking, I decided that the only way to help clients the way I had envisioned was to start my own firm. Thus, Fortitude Financial Planning was born.
Fortitude Financial Planning is a fee-only, comprehensive financial planning firm whose purpose is to help young professionals, families, and entrepreneurs build the courage to control their finances. Our core values are honesty, education, encouragement, dedication, and simplicity. Our core fee structure is to provide an ongoing financial planning service. However, we do offer additional services to meet your needs. If you'd like to find out more, please feel free to schedule a free phone call with me. I'd be glad to speak with you.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know me. I look forward to assisting you with your financial planning needs!
Sincerely,
Travis Tracy, CFP®, EA