EP 540: What If Financial Advice Started With Service First

What makes Dan Klonowski with Thrivent a good neighbor?

We talk with Dan Klonowski about helping people navigate financial decisions with greater confidence and clarity. Dan believes that financial planning starts with education, listening, and understanding each person’s goals before recommending solutions. Whether someone is working through debt, planning for retirement, protecting their family, or building long-term wealth, his approach focuses on creating practical next steps that fit real life.

Dan shares his unique path into financial services after spending years as a middle school math teacher. He explains how many of the skills that made him an effective educator, including mentorship, communication, and breaking down complex topics into manageable pieces, now help him guide clients through important financial decisions.

One of the biggest misconceptions we discuss is the belief that financial planning is only for wealthy individuals. Dan explains why people at every stage of life can benefit from professional guidance, whether they are paying off credit card debt, saving for a child’s future, building retirement accounts, or simply trying to create a more organized financial plan. The conversation emphasizes that the most important step is understanding where you are today and building from there.

We also explore the range of topics financial planning can cover, including budgeting, debt reduction strategies, retirement planning, investment guidance, risk management, and personal insurance. Dan shares why financial planning works best when it is aligned with a client’s values, goals, and priorities rather than focusing solely on numbers.

The conversation also highlights the communities Dan serves most often, including educators, nonprofit professionals, clergy, and families looking for a trusted advisor who prioritizes service and long-term relationships. He discusses resources available through Thrivent, including opportunities for community engagement, charitable initiatives, and support for organizations seeking to expand their impact.

If you are looking for financial planning guidance, retirement strategies, or a clearer understanding of how to align your money with your goals, this conversation offers practical insight and encouragement.

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Guest Info: Thrivent | https://connect.thrivent.com/dan-klonowski

Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a financial advisor? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing our good neighbor, Dan Klanowski, with Thrive. Dan, it's lovely having you on today. Now we are excited to learn more about you and your business. So go ahead and tell our listeners just a little bit more about what you do.

What Dan Does At Thrivent

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Well, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you, Sophia. I am a local representative of a national company. So Thrivant is headquartered in Minneapolis, but it is all around the country. And I am someone who locally serves as an advisor, educating people on the options they have when it comes to money, helping them set goals as to what they'd like to accomplish with it, and applying my knowledge to bridge the gap as to how to get there. So my knowledge is in anything from stocks and bonds to long-term investing for retirement to protecting what you already have with personal insurance.

From Math Teacher To Advisor

SPEAKER_02 1:20

So, Dan, jumping into your background here a little bit more, you know, when did you first get involved in this type of industry and where was your passion for helping others with wealth born?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Totally by accident, uh, as many of these things go. Um, I began looking for a change of career uh in 2022. My professional history is as a middle school math teacher, uh, believe it or not. Um, and so I began seeing and exploring how can I take what I've learned in the classroom, goal setting, mentorship, leadership of my fellow humans, uh, and apply that in a new way. Uh, I got a LinkedIn message from the man who would eventually become my first boss here at Thrivent the day after my birthday, December 5th of 22. He said, I think you should consider becoming a financial advisor. And that had never crossed my mind. He said, You know, let's schedule an interview, I'll tell you why I think it's a good idea. Um, he was right, long story short. Um, the the same skills of goal setting and positive leadership and mentorship apply to this new career. I'm someone who is able to listen carefully to what people need uh and apply what I know of the industry, what I know of investing to um plot a path forward for them.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Wow.

The Biggest Financial Planning Myth

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Now, today, because you've acquired so much knowledge, what is that number one misconception you face on the day-to-day in your industry?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

The biggest misconception is that there's a certain level of wealth one must reach before they begin working with a financial planner. Um everyone's got a line of scrimmage, and everyone's got a goalpost to use a uh football analogy here. Um, and my job is not necessarily to work with you know the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts of the world, but my purpose is to empower the next step, whatever that is. For some people, it's a it's as simple as, you know, I ran up a bunch of credit card debt. I wasn't so good in my 20s and early 30s. Now I need a plan to get myself out of that. Great. If that's where you're starting, then that's where we'll start. Um, on the other end of the spectrum, I see and counsel people who are already in retirement and now they're looking to protect what they saved up, um, make it last for their entire lifetime, and also pass it on in a meaningful way to their heirs and to the organizations around town they care about.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

I love that.

Who He Serves And How

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Now we're gonna go ahead and switch gears here for a second. Now we do know that marketing is the heart of every business. So, ideally, you know, who is your ideal client and how are you reaching them?

unknown 4:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

That's a double-bladed question. Um, anyone who has a heart to grow their relationship to money is a good candidate for a 10-minute conversation with me and my team. We can always take that 10 minutes and develop it into something broader and more comprehensive. Uh, but there are a couple of demographics that I tend to get along with really, really well. Um, number one is nonprofit professionals, people who have been working in the 501c3 industry for a long time, who have seen organizations grow and develop. Uh, number two is educators, my own professional history. Uh, and number three is clergy, uh, since uh ThriveIn is a company that was founded um as a mission of the church back in the early 20th century. And so these three tend to be folks who are really driven, who don't miss the forest for the trees, who say, why not? And really atop that that long time horizon of uh the goals that they're setting. Uh, I don't have to preach the gospel, is what I'm saying, of long-range planning to these sorts of folks, because they they see it day in and day out with the organizations and the students that they serve.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

And how are you reaching them today?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

I am reaching them by putting my service foot forward first. And so if I'm encountering someone new, um, I have to realize that anyone with proper licensure could do my job. What am I doing for the person in front of me? Is the question that uh differentiates me from the next guy. And so if I'm meeting a school, for example, um it doesn't take a whole lot of uh lift for me to say, me and my team can come in, set up classrooms at the end of August, um, bring staff lunch sometime in the middle of the year when middle school seems like a slog. Um so that tends to be our differentiator, is I'm leading with the question, what can I do for you and how can I advance your organization while also we do business together.

Why Service First Builds Trust

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Now, Dan, you said that's your differentiator, but why is coming from that place so important for you as a person?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Coming from the place of education?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Coming from the place of service first.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

When you are serving someone, you are pushing forward their whole psyche. You are, of course, serving them in goal setting with money, which is the core of my business, but you are also building a friendship uh and and building trust, which is what our industry is based on. You are opening a conversation to say, I want this to be more than just the two of us looking at our financial statements every six months. I want to be an advocate for you uh and help your mission grow just as you're helping mine.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Understood.

Where To Learn More And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Well, Dan, we've covered a lot of wonderful information today. But one final question for you is where can our listeners go to learn more about Thrivant?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

The best way to be introduced to Thrivant, um, I would say just contact me directly. So I'll make sure that Sophia has my information down in the show notes. Um, and then to connect with us as a whole and to look and learn about some of our uh community outreach programs, that would be at thriveent.com forward slash membership to learn about our not-for-profit 501c8 structure and how that can um drive organizations forward in fundraising, in mission developments, uh, and in getting the word out there.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Well, Dan, I really appreciate you being on the show today. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Outstanding.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Thank you so much, If you thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Frisco dot com. That's GNP Frisco dot com or call four six nine two two two two two two two two two two two two two one nine three four five.