My Opening Farewell

It Is Time

I am both grateful and thankful for many things:

• The luck to have made it this far

• My wife and family

• Virginia Commonwealth University

• The many, many people who have helped me through the years

• Those who read and appreciate what I publish

• The opportunity to express my opinions

• Serving 140 or so families and helping them achieve their life goals

• Health

• Passion (who knows where it comes from?) for a few things

• My fellow advisors and partners at Journey Strategic Wealth.

And now it is time to move on from this profession and hence The Uncertainty of It All. The firm remains, as does terrific financial advice from Angela Lessor, Chad Faulkenberry, Kristen Bartlow, Kerry Meath-Sinkin, Mike LaBarbera, Brian Flynn, Jill Isbell, Laurie Adams, Kathleen Barlow, and Mike Brown, all led by Penny Phillips and supported by the Journey Strategic Wealth team.

I have loved this profession. I still do. Knowing today what I now understand about myself (my ADHD, curiosity, inherent math skills, deeply embedded desire to help people) I would have been well-served to take up this profession far earlier in life. I know I will miss our clients, our advisors, our partners - all if it. No matter. I found my way here and am a better person as a result. These terrific years, along with my education and integrity, are mine and cannot be taken away.

And yes, it’s a place where I could continue for many years, and perhaps there are a few clients who wish I would, and is that not a wonderful thing? However, in this second half of my life, which, like Warren Buffet (read his latest letter here - it is fabulous), I like to think has been far better than the first half, it is time for me to use my time other ways.

It has been the great joy of life, professionally, to serve others. First as an auto mechanic, then as a technology and operations consultant, and last as a financial advisor and coach. One of our clients wrote our team a note, accusing me of providing wisdom, so I cannot help but brag about that just a little. Out of many positive things I have heard from our clients and my peers, that I might have acquired some wisdom might be the most flattering. I received this text from my friend Ryan Krueger, as well, which is what prompted me to write this last piece. If this indicates a life well-lived, I am all the better for it.

Ryan Krueger is not a client and received no compensation for this promotion.

I am now destined for other things. For the most part, I have always focused on caring for others, which gives me a lot of juice and at the same time has meant that I have not always cared for me. No, I am not taking my talents to South Beach.

Taking better care of my health, improving my diet, and exercising more efficiently and in a way where I do not incur injuries is the top priority for me at this time. I am grateful to Phil Pearlman for motivating me with respect to this area of life. I will also continue writing about those things where I have passion. Then there’s golf, reading, riding my bike, and traveling with my family. I will not be bored.

This decision, like some other major decisions I have made - the change from auto mechanic to college student, then from potential accountant to Accenture consultant, and this last decision to leave Accenture and become a financial advisor being the big ones - was NOT the result of extensive thinking and analysis. You might expect deep analytics and studiousness from someone who was a chemistry major and then took an accounting degree. This is not the case. These decisions, in my experience, are far more intuitive and right brain than analytical.

Part of what I became intensely interested in as a financial advisor is how the brain works and how decisions are made, and while the left brain is relatively decently understood, the right brain, intuition, consciousness, and human connection might be one of the last, great frontiers (along with the ocean, perhaps, and maybe space, although I think we have that one down). As a result, I discovered my friends at Shaping Wealth and The Leading Edge, both of which I encourage you to investigate.

While I will no longer publish this professional tome, you will be able to find me writing in two places, neither of which reflect any views or opinions of Journey or its people:

• My personal Substack (https://marknewfield2.substack.com/p/this-substack)

• A discussion on the US Constitution (https://the-constitution.beehiiv.com/)

I will maintain my LinkedIn presence for a while, and I have a twixxer presence as well:

• www.linkedin.com/in/marknewfield

• https://x.com/marknewfield2

I hope to see you all on the other side.