A Story of Passion Being Realized
Why I gave up “job security” to help others secure their financial futures.
By David Anderson
Mom told me that I started saving money before the age of 8. However, I remember it differently. In fact, I remember saving money the very moment I turned 8 years old. I was not sure where this behavior came from, but the answer came much later in life. I was a strange kid and never asked my parents for a nickel. I was very independent, not always in a good way. I was good at doing, serving, and giving; but I was horrible at receiving. I thought this was a good trait because I enjoyed (and still do) giving to others. What I never considered was that when I don’t receive well, I take away the pleasure of the giving aspect from the other person. I’m better today, but certainly not cured!
I started working at the age of 9. I cut grass and delivered movie schedules for the base theater while living in Del Rio, TX on Laughlin Air Force Base. My dad was an air traffic controller in the United States Air Force. We moved to Eglin AFB in Fort Walton Beach, FL in 1976. At the age of 13, I was making pretty good money delivering newspapers. By the age of 17, while attending Niceville Senior High School, I was 49% owner of an S-Corporation that owned a Texaco gas station which did full service and automotive repair. In fact, I hired my dad to work for me when he retired from the Air Force!
Working for myself at such a young age and learning the entrepreneurial world has been very beneficial to my life and accumulated success. I learned early on how to make decisions about employees, inventory, accounting, marketing, selling, and managing overall cash flow. This knowledge was not only imperative in my business life, but also in my personal life. People started asking me questions about how I was able to own a business and hire my dad while still in high school. I always responded about my belief in striving for what you want, and I would talk to them about handling money and not putting limits on what one can achieve. All of this became a “seed” that was planted and later blossomed into a larger picture.
After finishing college with a Bachelor of Science in Systems Science Business and a minor in Management, I worked for the Department of Navy as a computer specialist where I did hardware and software support. To give you a flashback, we were still using those giant mainframe computers with punch cards! There were only two personal computers in the building. This experience grew into my computer programming career where I specialized in unique projects. As I advanced my skills and career, I was promoted to management with the Naval Education and Training Command, where I managed a large information technology project across the nation for the training command. This was a great experience in handling a team of people on a complex national implementation of information technology. Again, I was being prepared for something that was not my plan.
During all this time, I was very strict and controlling with money. I have tracked every penny I have spent since 1986. I am also one of those people that read insurance policies, legal documents, etc. Yes, I am one of those people who just needs to KNOW.
My wife and I were debt free and saving about 30%+ of our income while not earning a ton of money. We were both government employees. Since my personal slogan is “The relentless pursuit of betterment,” I wanted to know how we could improve even more.
In 1997, I went on a search to learn more about investing or doing better than we were, financially speaking. This became a very aggravating pursuit. I went to stock brokers, financial planners, and talked to a lot of people about how to improve what I was doing. About all I could get were sales pitches to purchase another investment product, but not do a real strategic plan that could help me. I was very disappointed and frustrated.
This frustration wore on me until 2003 when I made the decision to walk away from my government job. Please understand, I loved what I did and had a great career going. However, I felt a higher calling to go beyond “my plan.” I was encouraged by friends and most of all, my wife, Kelly, to do what God had been molding me to do. Kelly’s strong faith and belief in me gave me the strength to pursue the challenge God had laid on my heart. Looking back at my career, He had planted the seeds of money knowledge, business management, entrepreneurial mindset, software development, and the strong desire to serve others as key points to launching what might very well be the final mission of my career.
I left the government in January 2004 with 17 years of federal service under my belt. By military standards, I wasn’t old enough yet to receive a pension, so I left with no income and went straight into a commission-only career. This is where it was different for me than some. I didn’t feel like I was changing careers, I felt like I was going on the mission field to do what I was called to do. This was a true blessing – not to have a job, a career, a time-clock, etc. Although it was a little scary, I found a lot of peace within it.
I worked with a financial firm for a couple of years before breaking away to start my own company and really begin the mission of what is now the Lifetime Income Process. In 2007, I founded Nautilus Financial Strategies, LLC (www.NautilusFinancialStrategies.com). Nautilus is an independent financial firm that does insurance, investments, and retirement planning focusing first on creating a sound strategy that helps people realize a secure retirement. We always start with a model to balance cash flow inside the family.
Combining my lifelong journey of money management with my software engineering background, I started building financial tools in search of the real truths in the financial world. I grew very tired of everyone’s opinion and wanted to know the real information…for myself, my family and my clients. Since this quest started, I have built well over a hundred financial tools that measure financial scenarios.
Building these tools, I discovered some interesting things about cash flow ratio modeling. This led to a process that I created called The Lifetime Income ProcessTM. The process is a software program, a language and a larger set of financial tools to measure balance and test scenarios so families can truly plan for retirement.
My passion is to help people with their financial lives and help them create balance, which I hope improves their life. Money has created a lot of issues in businesses and families. Money is just a tool that we must gain control over, and we cannot afford for it to control us. I feel very blessed to get up each day and do what I am very passionate about.
As a fellow advisor, you must understand your products, provide great service and help educate your clients so they understand the unique value you bring to the table. And, in the ten years since we started down this path, this mission is still the same for us. We hope you will join the Lifetime Income Process movement.
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