When people sign up with Taylor & Padgett Wealth & Legacy Strategies, they might think they will receive excellent financial advice, but they would be wrong. Not only do they get excellent financial advice, they get a trusted friend.
“We are life coaches as well as money managers,” said Charlie Taylor, who founded the firm 45 years ago.
“Wealth management is taking care of the issues of life. Money is just a small part of it,” he said. “We understand the estate plan, we know the skeletons and we know the problems in the family. People are more comfortable talking to us than talking to their attorney.”
Taylor said that once their clients understand money and are given detailed reports so they understand how the firm plans to manage it, people generally get on the same page.
One of the many issues with which they deal is helping parents help their children.
“We help people to determine when they are helping a child and when they are enabling the child. We have a motto that we are not bashful, we tell people what we think, but we are not there to tell them what to do. It’s their life. It’s their money,” Taylor said.
Still, he has been at it for 45 years and has a degree in psychology. “I understand the head games,” said Taylor, 72, a Vietnam veteran.
Another thing he wants his clients to think about is their legacy, which also he said, is about so much more than money.
“We are all financial advisors, but part of our relationships besides managing money is leaving a legacy, not necessarily with money,” said Jodi Padgett, Taylor’s business partner for 31 years. “It may be a story about themselves they can pass on.”
She said each client is given a questionnaire and encouraged to use it to leave a written legacy of his or her life; maybe the person can share their major lessons learned and influences.
“Sometimes they ask for forgiveness for or I forgive you for,” Padgett said.
“Many times the parents will write their children a letter to be opened on their passing,” Padgett said. “It’s more of a keepsake.”
A legacy can also be in the form of money that can go to their heirs, or charities. “They could have a choice of keeping the dollars in our community or sending them to Washington or they can start an endowment with a foundation and let the foundation choose,” she said.
Padgett didn’t start out seeking a job in the financial advising business. “I thought I was going to be a banker and some doors closed on me,” she said. “I came to work for Charlie as an assistant, a temporary thing. I never left.”
She said she fell in love with the business and eventually earned a masters degree in financial planning. “I love helping people,” she said.
John Farmer, the newest member of the firm, has been there for about four years. After being a teacher for years, he decided to change professions. He said he asked everyone in Prescott who the best financial planners were.
“I took Jodi to lunch and asked if they were looking for someone to join,” he said. “She said she would talk to Charlie.”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Farmer says he does a little of everything and conducts financial planning classes through Yavapai College. Gaining new customers is not the reason he gives the classes, Farmer said. “I really do if for educational purposes,” he said.
And, he says, he’s proud of the firm. “What sets us apart is that we work together as a team.”
Taylor says when a person signs on with the firm, that person become a client of the firm, meaning he or she gets the full impact and attention of a combined 75 years of experience.
One of the best things about working for the firm is that it is like a family, said Farmer. “I want to acknowledge the staff that makes it possible to do what we do. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Besides Taylor, Padgett and Farmer, there are four others helping make the business run smoothly.
Taylor says the best advertisement that even money cannot buy is happy customers.
“We took all of our advertising dollars and give back to the community. It can be in the form of a golf tournament or a dinner event or something. We have a client appreciation event once a year.”
Taylor, Padgett and Farmer also look toward to the future of their clients. The firm also has a clear succession plan, that no matter what happens to Charlie, Jodi or John, the client will continue to be well cared for.
Padgett gave the example of Charlie’s heart attack in 2003, which kept him on the bench for an entire year and her own battle with breast cancer a few years later. Everyone is fine now, but the plan acknowledges that no one can see around the corner of life.
“I am Charlie’s succession plan and John is my succession plan,” Padgett said.
Taylor has no plan of retiring anytime soon, however. “I’m terrified of retirement,” he said. “I see people who have retired and they say how happy they are and they have never been so busy, but then the story starts falling apart and many of them are bored out of their gourds.” QCBN
Taylor & Padgett Wealth & Legacy Strategies is located at 1555 Plaza West in Prescott. For more information, call 928-778-0933.
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