Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Chitrathorn.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
It all started when I was a young lad. As with many youngsters, I would sometimes overhear my parent’s argue. Money is a common argument for most families and my parents were no different. My parents were both born in Thailand and migrated to the U. S. A in the mid 70’s. They worked very hard to give my sister and I the world. We grew up in a mobile home park in Colton, CA. I didn’t realize how good others had it until I started going to friends’ birthday parties and visiting their homes. They were pretty well off in my opinion, especially when compared to us. However, I also realized that others were not as fortunate as my family. What was consistent, was that all families, regardless of where or how they lived, argued about money.
One day, I was sliding a glass jar and knocked it off of the kitchen table. Time slowed as I watched this jar of wrapped candies miss my little hands and descend off of the wooden tabletop. Of course, the table had metal legs and, of course, the jar landed right on one and shattered into, what I thought was, a million pieces. I was so afraid about my parents finding out. It wasn’t so much that I broke the jar, but that I was afraid that I might be the cause of an argument between my parents.
I decided shortly thereafter that I wanted to do something to help families like mine avoid arguments over money. Albeit at the young age of seven, I wasn’t sure how I was going to accomplish this new goal. It turned out that as I grew older, I was pretty good with money and math. Numbers came naturally to me.
Fast forward to my senior year in high school where I decided to major in business in college. I wanted to help people to achieve more and be more, as I knew I could. I wanted to make a direct and beneficial impact on their lives. With that driving determination, I earned Bachelor of Science degrees in both finance and real estate.
I have been a financial advisor for over 17 years. Most of those years were spent with a prior financial firm before I resigned, as I didn’t feel like our values were still aligned. After researching different companies, learning more about what they stand for, things fell into place for me last year. I was able to partner with some old colleagues and we formed Simplified Wealth Management, where all the partners share very similar ethical, family and work values.
I believe I got where I am today by working hard and striving to make a difference to better those around me. I believe that when people see how hard you work for them, then they see how much you care.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, per se. All through high school and college most teachers and professors thought I was a wild child in part due to what a friend calls my “dress code mutiny.” But I stayed motivated and worked extremely hard. I made sure that regardless of any distractions, I read and studied, over and over, so that I knew for sure that I would ace each test.
I maintained a 4.0 GPA in high school most of the time. And throughout college, the same was true. I remember a fraternity almost voting not to invite me because of my appearance. I was what you would consider a punk rocker and looked the part. Ugh, I hate using that term as it’s a stereotype, but that is the best way I can explain it. Several of the guys asked those others if they had actually spoken with me. They had not. When they did, they came around and found that I had a lot to offer. My 4.0 GPA would definitely help them out.
When I graduated, there were many that told me to get a safe nine-to-five type of position. I held steadfast as I knew that I wanted to be a great financial advisor to help as many people as I could improve their living situations.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Simplified Wealth Management is a financial firm that helps individuals with financial planning, wealth accumulation, wealth management, financial education among many other things. We believe that building a relationship with our clients is crucial if we’re going to help guide them. For us to be able to best help our clients, we need to learn more about them and really get to know them. We help people save, invest, protect and plan and most importantly, LEARN. That’s what we do.
Our objective is to understand what our clients hope to accomplish and then we help formulate a plan to help get them there. We are fully independent and can work with most firms in the marketplace. We don’t have any of our own investments or products, which allows us to be completely objective.
We are planners. It is not just about investing and saving but about having a solid foundation that is flexible, as life tends to be. We help build financial plans and road maps.to help people reach their own personal financial goals. We help build a solid financial strategy and then provide support with implementation and monitoring to make sure that our clients can continue to stay on course. With a solid financial plan or road map, we believe it is much easier to get back on course should something unexpected happen. If new goals or variables arise, we make sure that the plan is flexible enough to adjust and accommodate accordingly.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.planwithbobinfo.com www.planwithbob.com www.simplifiedwealth.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/planwithbob
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WealthPlanningbyBobChitrathorn/videos
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft5XhDlScqE
