Josh Introduces Newest Team Member, Michael Stevenson #193

Micheal Stevenson isn't just a new team member at Keystone financial. He's smart, ambitious, well-spoken and very focused on helping Keystone clients have the most financial success possible. He talks with Josh Nelson in depth in this episode about his motivation, his background and his valiant efforts to get his CFP certification. 

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Podcast Editor: Tim Leaman/info.primegen@gmail.com

Transcript

Wiser Financial Advisor – Meet Our Newest Team Member
Hi, Everyone, and welcome to the Wiser Financial Advisor podcast, where we get real, we get honest, and we get clear about the financial world and your money. This is Josh Nelson, a Certified Financial Planner, founder and CEO of Keystone Financial Services. Let the financial fun begin!

Josh: I'm here today with Michael Stevenson, the newest member of our team as of January 2026. Welcome, Michael.

Michael: Thanks, Josh. It's an honor and a pleasure to be here and have the opportunity to speak to the audience and let them get to know me a little.
Josh: It's an interesting industry. We started in 2010 as a company and of course back then it was just me in a desk in an office. Over the years we've grown quite a bit and proactive hiring is important to our company as a value. We're always making sure that experience is at the forefront and that our clients are getting high level advice and care. So yeah, I'm just glad you're here. You've already made a huge contribution.

Michael: Thank you. I can definitely relate to growth being important, but appropriate growth has two measures. It's the growth of your business, but also the growth of your team and the ability to support that business. I'm glad to be part of the growth here at Keystone.

Josh: Yeah, we're growing, and we're growing fast. Most of that is through referrals at this point, which is the best, right? We don't have a huge marketing budget here. We don't have billboards and our faces on buses and things like that. Maybe someday, I don't know. But we haven't had to do that so far. It's just people that know people. Our clients are a great filter because they know that we want to work with nice people, nice people with money, nice people that value their relationships, not just that we're doing something as a service, but that they value the quality of the relationship.

Michael: It's a more successful way to do business when a client is saying, “Hey, I've got a friend or family member that I know can use your service.” That introduction is a whole lot more fun for all of us. That's a healthy way to grow, versus buying phone call lists and running down the numbers.
Josh: Yeah, that would be a tough way to do business. I'm glad this one has momentum due to the relationships we've built. So Michael, tell the listeners a little bit of your background. How did you end up here?

Michael: So, here are the basics: I'm 27, married to Kendra. We found each other early on in life. We were in 3rd grade, elementary sweethearts you could call it.
Josh; That's awesome.
Michael: We grew up together, and eventually got to the serious relationship side of things and got married in 2020, a COVID wedding. By the time we were 25, we had Sophia, our daughter, who is now two, and we have a new member, Troy, who is five months old.
Josh: Very fun.
Michael: That's the personal side. One of my largest successes is family. Being at this point in my life and having some kids is a fun side of life that sometimes it's hard to brag about early on. You're losing sleep and learning how to parent, but it's all a blessing as well.
Josh: Yeah, it's a lot of work. Being a parent is the best thing ever, also the hardest thing ever.
Michael: Right. I'm blessed to have Kendra at home. She's taking care of the kids and she's amazing in so many ways in that facet of life. 
Josh: You're both Colorado natives, right?
Michael: Yes. I was born at Poudre Valley Hospital and Kendra was born in Estes Park. We are a Colorado native family on many sides of it.
Josh: I'm curious, do you guys celebrate your third grade anniversary? Do you know the exact day you met?
Michael: She might. We were sophomores in high school together and she still knows that date. She's going to kick me if she hears this podcast and I can't remember the date, but it was sometime in March. I do know that. We're now married five years, going on six.
Josh: That's great. And here’s a fun fact: your dad worked at Hewlett-Packard, which is relevant to a lot of our clients because 95% plus of our clients have worked for a big tech company. Many of the older ones were around earlier in my career. I've been at this for 26 years. Many of them had a background at Hewlett-Packard.
Michael: My dad was at Hewlett Packard for 39 years. That gives me an advantage of being able to understand our clients here at Keystone, because I grew up around my dad’s engineering mind. A lot of our clients here are current engineers or had past careers as engineers or in the tech space. I’m able to understand the engineering mind to some degree. I wouldn't say I'm a behavioral expert on engineers, but I’ve had quite a bit of experience.
Josh: Yeah, to toot our horn as a company, we're well suited for that because engineers tend to have high expectations. They tend to be detail oriented. Tech workers and engineers are primarily who we serve. Back in 2001, I figured out pretty quickly that these people are really smart and they know a lot already, so I better get up to speed. 
Michael: Yeah, and that speaks to the level of expertise here at Keystone. What I’ve noticed is that often there are emotional reasons for people to make a decision as well as logical reasons. We provide a multitude of both. It's important for our clients to understand emotionally why they would make certain decisions, whether that's an investment or a decision to pay off a certain debt or let go of a certain stock. There will be emotional reasons and logical reasons both. Part of the art of being a financial advisor is helping people walk through that.
Josh: Yeah, absolutely. People think money is not emotional, but it is emotional, whether we think so or not. It's important for us to be able to act as that buffer to help people, because oftentimes our emotions will lead us the opposite direction of what we should do financially, whether that’s an impulse purchase or panic selling or something like that. I think our clients value the fact that we're a fiduciary, and we operate as kind of their copilot, someone to be that check and balance.
Michael: Yeah, and I've heard you say multiple times, that if you don't provide the logical, the emotional is going to rule the day.
Josh: Yep, sure will.
Michael: If you don't present the information the right way, emotions are going to lead the conversation and lead the decision-making. Sometimes emotions are what we have to help guide people away from.
Josh: Yeah, and emotions, especially with a snap decision, usually are going to lead you the wrong direction. On the other hand, we spend a lot of time on people's values and what's important to them, right? Because ultimately that's what's important, more than what investments you own or how much money you've got. It’s about the quality of the relationships and the experiences you get to have. Talk to somebody who's 98 years old. They don't care any more about the details of their investments at that point. It's about who they love and who loves them. So yeah, that's what we want to stay focused on, is keeping that end in mind. But pivoting back to your career, how did you wind up in this industry? I know you went to Colorado State here in Fort Collins.
Michael: Out of high school, I went to Colorado State University. Ironically, I was in a pre-med degree and by my second semester, I was like, “Oh, holy cow, this is not for me.” I think it was Chem 2 that did it for me. I decided to shift to something I'm good at, something I'm more passionate about. I took a year over at Front Range Community College and changed to business. At that time, it was just general business administration. Got my credits to then transfer back to Colorado State University's College of Business and then got my degree in 2021 in investment and corporate finance. So that led me to pursuing the financial services industry. Primarily that was because of a few professors who spurred my interest in the stock market, financial planning, portfolio optimization, portfolio theory, financial theory. That started to spin the wheels in my head on what exactly is all that. It seemed pretty important because a lot of people were doing it.
Then, getting launched into the real world, I saw that everybody has exposure to this in some way, shape, or form, whether that's real estate or the stock market or alternative investments. It impacts our lives in many ways, money being one of the largest impacts on our lives. That was the aha moment for me, being launched into the real world. At the time I was just working a job out of college. I had been a bartender and server throughout college. Great experience. Yeah. And so from there, I was a registered representative with New York Life, then moved on to a different independent advisor office in Fort Collins. After that, I found Keystone.
I've had people ask me how I got connected with you. It was from my first entry into New York Life. I don't know if you remember this, but I was on LinkedIn trying to get exposure, connecting with people on LinkedIn to build up my profile, and I connected with you.
Josh: How long ago was that?
Michael: It was late 2021, maybe the beginning of 2022. You sent me a message saying, hey, glad to connect. And so, in 2025 I remembered that Josh Nelson guy, went back to LinkedIn to find him and see if there was any opportunity. The rest is history.
Josh: Yeah, it's all about connections and relationships. Tony Robbins says proximity is power, right? And sometimes it's electronic on social media or something like that. But it's an interesting winding road, where people land and who they connect with. I’m glad we stayed connected and glad we found each other.
Michael: Yeah, and there are a lot of paths that crossed for us indirectly. For example, where I went to school, where your kids go to school. It’s a small world here in Northern Colorado.
Josh: Yeah, it is. The financial planning industry is interesting. You're on the younger end of things. “Financial  advisor” is a broad term, right? Sometimes it means product salespeople or something like that. As a consumer, you have to ask questions to understand what they're really going to end up doing for you. They say that 30% of financial advisors are going to be retiring in the next 10 years. That's a huge number leaving the industry. So, do you have any advice for people who are still in college or doing career exploration, about why they might want to look into it or ways to do that?
Michael: Yeah, getting into the industry initially, I learned that the barrier to entry is a bit difficult, but business is out there. People need our help. You run into the dilemma of being young and inexperienced but educated. You will need to convince people who are experienced that you have the skills to serve and help their financial picture continue to get stronger. That's a bit difficult to do. My encouragement for somebody who's young getting into this industry, would be to say that there are many things to focus on, but one is education. If you don't know what you're talking about, you're not going to earn the business. You definitely need to be educated and know what you're talking about. Also I would advise staying persistent. I'm now in my fifth year of being a financial advisor. In the beginning, I didn't think I was going to make it to my fifth year because I felt like, “Man, this is tough. I'm not making a lot of money here, but I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm out there in the community, but how do I convince these people that I actually know what to do?” So I encourage people to find a mentor, somebody you can work with. The success rate is tremendously low when you're going it alone.
Josh: Right. If you're just out there knocking on doors or dialing for dollars or whatever.
Michael: Working with RIAs (Registered Investment Advisors), I was able to gain some indirect credibility. I knew that if I didn’t have the answer, I had somebody who did.
Josh: Yeah, you've got a team. 
Michael: So, I’d encourage being persistent. Hang in there, get educated and find a mentor, work with somebody.
Josh: And stay connected.
Michael: If 30% are leaving, that presents some very lucrative opportunities.
Josh: Those 30% of people need a way to get out, right? 
Michael: They're looking for successors. They're looking for somebody to step in and take over their clients. Because these advisors are not looking to hang their hat, walk out the door, and never talk to anybody again.
Josh: I know people a lot older than I am and they’re ready to retire, but I'm nowhere close. Financially I am, but I still love this industry, right? I like doing this and staying connected to clients and helping people. But in a lot of cases, people want to figure the financial end of selling their business, and they want to hang around. They still enjoy meeting with clients. They still enjoy being part of the industry. But maybe a lot of the compliance and administrative stuff and portfolio management details are things they don't enjoy as much anymore. It kind of hampers their ability to have a good path into retirement where they're able to travel more, right? They might have grandkids, or other things that are important to them now, not just the business focus that they had early on.
Michale, Yeah, and what a blessing that would be for a younger advisor, to be able to step into those shoes and have that mentor, that consultation from somebody who's been in the industry for 20, 30, 40 years. Having somebody in your corner like that is a huge benefit. That's one thing I've tried to keep as a part of my growth in this career with my past employer and now with you and the whole team here. They all have the experience and the knowledge to help me grow and sharpen my skills.
Josh: The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation is the gold standard in our industry. Gold standard because it's the hardest to get, right? I mean, as far as the educational requirements and years of experience, ethical requirements, there are a lot of things you have to do to get the CFP. You don't just get it out of a cereal box, right? Some designations you can go for a weekend and then you're a blah, blah, blah financial expert. It's not the same. I think the website is cfp.net for the CFP board. Looking at that can give you an idea of the curriculum. And as a consumer, for clients, if you're curious about what getting a CFP entails, that might be a good insight into some of the areas that your CFP can support you, maybe in financial areas that you haven't dealt with yet.
Michael: Yeah, the CFP is obviously important here. It's the standard we hold ourselves to. I’m getting into that course. I got my books delivered yesterday, and I'm getting ready to dive in. A lot of it is scraping off the dust from that college education. Some of it will be beyond my college education, but all of it will serve to sharpen my skills as an advisor so I can make an impact on people's financial lives, which is the primary goal of being an advisor.
Josh: For sure. Now, let’s see if I can catch you on the spot here. So, failure's not bad as long as we learn from it, right, so I’m curious how a failure, or at least what looked like a failure at the time, set you up for later success? Do you have a favorite failure?
Michael: That's a great question. Favorite failure. I'll use when I was early on getting into this industry and studying for my series 65. I failed it the first time. In that moment, it was earth shattering. I had spent hours studying for it, but it exposed some bad habits I had, which is why I'm using it as a favorite failure—because it turned into a success in a way. When I was at New York Life, I was able to study for a life insurance license by just taking a couple of test exams. I thought I had a handle on it, but the Series 65 is a step up. It's a more difficult, larger test with more material, drier material, but important information. And I used my same method of taking some practice exams. They sent me a book, but I said, “I'm not going to read that.” And frankly, I was relatively confident. But when I got in there, it was like, bang, fail. Why? I thought I had it. But what it did is, it taught me that the habit of overconfidence about this type of material needed to be adjusted. The reason to take a test for this is because they want me to understand all the ins and outs of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940 and these different types of things.
Josh: There are a lot of rules, laws, things like that, in that material.
Michael: Yeah, and it's incredibly important for your clients' individual lives to make sure that their advisor knows these topics. So, that was an aha moment for me. I realized I needed to take more intentionality into this test, study it more in depth. So I got the book, I read the book, flashcards, all of it. I went back a month later and aced it. It's funny. They told us to pass, and I assumed that meant 100%. I got into a perfectionist mode of feeling like I can't fail this again. One, it was tied to my compensation. Two, it was just the ability to launch myself forward in the industry. But either way, that first test was a failure. I'll call it a favorite, but it was difficult.
Josh: It'd be better to fail early, right? Same thing with business. It's better to have tough stuff happen early on so you can learn. I mean, sometimes, if people get lucky after putting all their money in one stock and making a bunch of money, it can build overconfidence there too. That could be a much larger problem down the road. 
Michael: And I'm sure that failure and what I learned from it will help me in this next season of life going through the CFP. I definitely know how to approach that.
Josh: So, what bad recommendations do you hear in this profession, or maybe this area of expertise? There’s all kinds of bad advice out there with the Internet and AI and everything, right? There's a shortage of advice and information out there. For example, instead of paying debt off, if you have the money, go invest it and try to beat that rate. 
Michael: Yeah. A let's say your credit was great at the time, you got a car loan, whatever that might be, and it's a 5% loan or 4% loan. I've heard bad advice like, “Well, don't pay off the debt. Instead, take your money, go invest it in the stock market and earn more than that 5% and then you can use some interest to help pay it down over time.” Well, in and of itself, the theory there is not necessarily wrong, but I would use that as a bad recommendation from the standpoint of what I've heard you say about Murphy's Law, which is: What can go wrong will go wrong. If you take your money and invest in the market instead of paying off the debt and then the market goes down 20%, now you're really upset at what you did.
Josh: Yeah, look at 2022. Say if you had done that on January 1st, you would have been down about 20% by the end of the year and been really upset with yourself. Even if it was a 0% car loan, you still are way behind. You still have to make that monthly payment. You know, this isn't a math problem. This is a cash flow issue and a financial stability issue.
Michael: Yeah. Debt management is often involved in poor recommendations. 
Josh: Yeah, if you think of anybody who's ever declared bankruptcy, or think of the laundry list of companies that don't exist anymore, why was that? There are all kinds of business reasons, but the claim is that they ran out of cash. Oftentimes they ran out of cash because they over-leveraged themselves and took on too much debt and then doubled down too. Maybe the business had some fundamental problems, right? We're talking about even big companies that didn't make a quick enough shift. Think of Kodak or Sears or one of those companies that are long gone at this point, but they probably didn't make an early enough shift. And if we went back and looked, they probably doubled down. They probably said, “Oh, we're going to take on more debt, more debt, more debt, and that'll fix the problem because that'll provide us cash, at least temporarily.” But of course, that's a downward spiral. And as a consumer, it’s the same thing, which is why we definitely believe in paying off debt. Your mortgage is a little different. We treat that a little differently because most people can't just write a check and buy a house. If you can, that's great. Good for you. But yeah, with the rest of debt, we want to get things paid off as quickly as possible.
Michael: Especially with mortgages, when you have a 2.5% interest rate on your mortgage, it might feel really good emotionally to pay off that mortgage. And many times, that'll be the deciding factor. The case is there sometimes for people who say, “I'm not going to pay off my mortgage because it's two and a half percent.” That may be right for you. Sometimes that emotional leader will decide.
Josh: Yep, absolutely. All right, last question. What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student who is about to enter the real world and what advice should they ignore?
Michael: I’ll start with advice that they maybe should ignore: that you are supposed to exit college with a degree in an industry that you're gonna go work in. I have seen many, many people who have a degree that isn’t in the field where they actually work. It's one of those areas of life where you need to find what you love to do. Sometimes the allure in college is thoughts of, “Oh, I can make this amount of money with this degree and getting into this career.” Sometimes that financial allure can be deceptive. You won't survive in a field if you don't enjoy what you're doing. I'm blessed to be in an industry where I really enjoy what I do and it isn’t hard for me to get up and come to work. So, even though it might be some lost investment if you're not using your degree, it's not a contract that you've signed to use it. So, if you're still in college, try to home in on what you think you want to do.
Josh: Yeah, the way it used to be structured, it was like you had to go to college, right? Now, especially if you're going to own your own business, maybe you don't need to, or if you're going to be in the trades or something else. There are some employers that still want to check that box. They may not even care what your degree is in, but they still want to check that box. So yeah, I would agree. I was a political science undergrad. It wasn't until about my junior year in college that I figured out I wanted to do this. At the time, it's a good thing I didn't give up, because I thought it was too late to go back and be a business major, and I thought I had to be a business or finance major to be a financial advisor. But I started talking to financial advisors who were older than me and further along in their career. They said, “Don't worry. Finish it out, get your degree, but if you're passionate about this and willing to come and build relationships, you can pick that up later.”  
We've seen that with clients too. One in particular was an engineering major back in the day. He became an engineer, got hired as an engineer, and he just hated it. He ended up deciding that engineering was not for him and he went back to medical school. I think he was married with a couple kids at the time but he went to medical school, and for the rest of his career, he was a surgeon. He retired just a few years ago. A lot of people would say, “Oh, you can't do it.” Good for him, right? He did it anyway.
Michael: Yeah, good for him. The second part of your question is about advice. Some of my greatest opportunities have come from just sending the e-mail, giving the phone call, showing up at the office. Some of my opportunities, I introduced myself to companies who didn't have job openings. In the conversations, I was able to present my value and what I thought I could contribute. And some of the opportunities panned out, some didn't, but nonetheless, I got more out of those conversations than I did any of the jobs I applied for that were posted on Indeed or on a company website. My advice is that if there's a company you know you want to work for, or an opportunity that you're looking at that isn’t being presented to you, pursue it still.
Josh: Yeah, and connections are everything. Again, proximity is power. And some people are not going to help you, but most business owners, leaders, managers do care about people. They might not have an opening, but most of the time they will help you if you are genuinely reaching out. They might say, “We don't have an opening, but I know this guy, right?” That's how I got my first financial advisor job. I had applied to a bunch of different places. Nobody wanted to hire me because I didn't have a license or anything. I was really disappointed. But someone said, “I know a guy who’s a branch manager at this bank,” which was First National Bank. They’ve changed names over time, but First National Bank gave me a chance. I was able to get licensed and started with them before I moved over to HP. It was that connection though, and staying connected. So, it is a good encouragement to not give up. You may not find the job that you want on Indeed. The employment situation is tougher now than it was a few years ago. The technical unemployment rate is low. A lot of college-age students are struggling to get that first job. So, that's good advice to make connections and don't give up. You're going to run across somebody who will help you.
Michael: Once you've expanded your proximity, you have this connection. Then maybe six months down the road or a year or two years down the road, it circles back.
Josh: Yep, 2021 LinkedIn connection, right? That was you. Good. We're going to wrap it up for today. We’re so glad that you're here. This company is built off of relationships, and you're already doing a great job of connecting with clients, connecting with the team. I really appreciate you.
Michael: Yeah, I think I've started off on some great relationships with the team here and with the clients that I've had the pleasure of meeting so far. I’m looking forward to meeting all of our clients at some point.
Josh: All right, that's it for today. Thanks for listening. Have a great week and God bless.
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The opinions voiced in the Wiser Financial Advisor show with host Josh Nelson are for general information purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine what may be appropriate for you, consult with your attorney, accountant, financial or tax advisor prior to investing. Investment advisory services offered through Keystone Financial Services, an SEC registered investment advisor.