Ken Clark is a Certified Financial Planner, author, and speaker with close to fifteen years of experience helping individuals make sense of their personal finances.
He’s the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Out of Debt, the Saving for College guide at About.com, and a regular contributor to Investopedia.com.
Ken Clark’s Background:
Ken has been fascinated with finances and investing ever since his father, a veteran stockbroker, walked him around the office for the first time as a child. By middle school, when most kids his age were watching movies like Top Gun, Ken was enthralled with classics like Trading Places and Wall Street.
At Pepperdine University, Ken studied Business Management and Accounting while simultaneously enrolling in the CFP Program through Colorado’s College for Financial Planning. During college, Ken interned at UBS PaineWebber (where he learned the art of multi-generation wealth planning) and then at Dimensional Funds, researching Pacific Rim companies.
After college, Ken joined UBS PaineWebber full-time and became one of the youngest CFP’s in the country. During his time at UBS, he co-managed over $100 million in retirement accounts for affluent families.
It was during this time however, that Ken’s heart began to grow for people struggling to get out of debt and take their first steps towards financial freedom. So, after five years, Ken left to start his own financial planning firm that would focus heavily on helping people who could not afford his services at UBS. Through the people he was helping, Ken received more and more invitations to speak, eventually transitioning into full-time speaking and writing.
In addition to his financial planning background, Ken is an ordained minister and holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. He’s considered an expert on many complex issues such as the psychology of investing and wealth, the overlap of spirituality and personal finances, and helping families resolve financial conflict.
Non-Profit Work:
Ken was named “Mentor of the Year” by the Investment News in 2007 for his work with at-risk teens through Young Life International. He’s also served as a volunteer on the organization’s pension committee, which managed $75,000,000 in assets for 3,000 employees.
Recently, through a partnership with Hope Care & Counseling of San Clemente, CA and the CFP Board of Standards, Ken started the FinancialBootCamp.org program for military personnel. This program seeks to provide free educational workshops and advice to service-people and veterans, through a network of volunteer Certified Financial Planners.
Ken Clark’s Philosophy:
“My financial planning philosophy can be summed up in two ideas:
First, financial planning is not about obsessing over the future. It’s about taking care of the future so you can fully enjoy today.
Second, good financial planning gets you from “Point A” to “Point B” with as little stress as possible.
With this in mind, I focus heavily on teaching the basics of financial planning and hope to help people avoid getting caught up in the trends, fads, and fears of the investing world.
Ultimately, I want to educate people on what needs to be done to balance the demands of today and the needs of their future. I truly believe that anyone can learn to sufficiently manage their financial futures on their own, but also want people to feel wise enough to know how and when to work with a professional.”