Why We Started This Firm
By Josh Wolberg, CFP®, RICP®, MBA
A few years ago, I spent six months researching a tent.
My wife, Amy, and I wanted a good family camping tent, and for some reason I became completely obsessed with finding the right one. I watched countless YouTube reviews, compared waterproof ratings, read camping forums, and spent far too much time evaluating zipper quality and ventilation systems. The tent cost around $300.
Truthfully, it wasn’t about whether we could afford it. We could. I just didn’t want to spend $300 and then spend the next several years wishing I had bought something else. At one point, Amy looked at me and laughed because she knew exactly what I was doing. I wanted confidence before making a decision.
That mindset ended up reminding me a lot of the people we work with today through our fee-only retirement planning firm in Minnesota. Many of our clients spent decades building wealth carefully, asking smart questions, researching major decisions thoroughly, and wanting clarity before committing to something important.
That’s How Our Clients Think Too
Many of our clients have accumulated $2 million, $3 million, sometimes much more, often without ever hiring a financial advisor. They built their wealth slowly and carefully over decades through consistent saving, disciplined investing, and avoiding unnecessary mistakes, and they’re proud of how they got there.
These are the type of people who shop at Costco because they appreciate value and drive their cars longer than they need to. Before making a major purchase, they spend time researching it from every angle. Then they begin looking for a financial advisor and run into the same question I had with the tent: “I can afford this. I’m just not sure I’d be getting my money’s worth.”
That hesitation makes perfect sense to me because Amy and I think similarly in our own lives. We ask questions before making decisions, and we want pricing to make sense. We want clarity around what we’re paying for and why it matters.
Many retirees feel uncomfortable admitting this and worry that asking detailed questions about fees may make them seem overly focused on cost. What that usually tells me is they were responsible with money long before they ever walked into our office.
Why I Started Great River Financial
For years, I watched this same group of people struggle to find the right fit within the financial industry. Many large wealth management firms built their business models around charging 1% of assets indefinitely, even as portfolios grew larger and larger. I saw retirees look at those fees and simply walk away.
Other firms focused heavily on younger investors still accumulating wealth rather than pre-retirees trying to transition from saving money to living off of it.
This left many people continuing to do what they had always done: figuring things out on their own. The challenge is that retirement planning introduces decisions with long-term consequences, with questions like:
- When should I claim Social Security?
- Which accounts should I withdraw from first?
- Does a Roth conversion make sense this year?
- How much can I comfortably spend without constantly worrying about the future?
These decisions are difficult to reverse once they’re made, and many are navigating them for the first time. I started Great River Financial because I witnessed responsible savers who wanted a different kind of relationship with their advisor.
How Amy and I Built the Firm Differently
Amy and I have been married for more than 25 years and have been blessed with three kids. After spending 15 years in the financial industry, we launched Great River Financial in 2021 as our own fee-only firm. The structure of the firm came from a simple question we kept asking ourselves:
What would we want if we were the client?
That question shaped everything we do, especially pricing. Our fee structure starts at 1% on the first million dollars and then declines significantly above that amount. A client with $3 million invested ends up paying closer to 0.40%, not 1%.
We built it this way because the math mattered to us personally. We knew that many retirees were looking at traditional fee structures and wondering whether the cost still made sense once their portfolio reached a certain size.
Interestingly, clients with larger portfolios often become our strongest relationships. They ask smart questions, do their research, and value transparency. Amy and I genuinely enjoy working with people who think this way because we think similarly ourselves.
Early on, I worried charging less per dollar might make people assume we valued our work less. But what I discovered is the opposite happened, and the right clients showed up.
What We’re Really Helping Clients Do
The technical phrase for what we offer is retirement income planning. This includes investment management, tax planning, withdrawal strategies, and Social Security decisions. Those topics are pivotal in any financial plan, and we spend a great deal of time helping clients think through them carefully.
But in everyday life, the outcome looks much more personal. It’s the retired couple finally booking the family vacation they had been postponing for years. It’s the client who stopped checking his portfolio every morning because he understood how his retirement income plan was designed to function during market fluctuations.
One of my favorite emails came from a client who finally bought the nice glass shower door she had been debating for years. She realized she could enjoy her home instead of delaying every purchase indefinitely. These moments matter to us because we believe retirement is meant to be fully lived.
Building Confidence Through Fee-Only Retirement Planning
Many of the people we work with spent years managing everything independently before reaching out. Some still manage parts of their finances themselves today and others simply wanted another perspective before making larger retirement decisions.
If you’ve been running the numbers on your own but still have questions about taxes, withdrawals, Social Security, or whether your retirement plan supports the life you want to live, we’re happy to help. At Great River Financial, we provide a transparent approach to fee-only retirement planning for Minnesota retirees who value clarity, diligence, and thoughtful decision-making.
We offer a simple 15-minute intro call with no preparation required. It’s a chance to ask questions, get clarity around your next steps, and decide whether working together makes sense for you. To schedule a meeting, get in touch by calling (763) 231-7581 or emailing info@greatriverfinancial.com.
About Josh
Josh Wolberg, CFP®, RICP®, MBA, is president and lead financial planner at Great River Financial, located in Plymouth, Minnesota, serving clients locally and around the country. He started the firm in 2021 to help pre-retirees and retirees turn what they’ve saved into a tax-efficient income they can spend with confidence. Josh’s undergrad in computer science still shapes how he works; he explains retirement, investments, and taxes through analogies and visuals instead of jargon.
