Swope Health announces a new edition of its podcast, One on One with Swope Health, featuring H. David Whalen, a financial advisor with Equity Wealth Partners.
Eric Wesson, founder and publisher of The Next Page KC, a newspaper focused on the Black community, hosts the show’s conversations with Kansas Citians about issues of importance to the community’s health and wellbeing.
Whalen has been a trusted financial adviser in Kansas City for more 15 years. He says his mission is to develop positive long-term relationships with clients, to help them pursue their personal and financial goals. At heart, he is an educator, guiding people on understanding and managing money.
He is a mentor to boys, working through a group he founded called Bow Ties and Ties. He also frequently conducts financial literacy classes in the community. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of Swope Health.
In this conversation, he discusses why financial education is so important. People are stressed and afraid about money, and he believes financial literacy can lessen those stresses and fears. He distills his financial planning approach to three questions:
- Where are you?
- Where are you trying to go?
- How are you going to get there?
He explains: “When you have the facts, you can make good decisions.” He also compares money management to Chiefs football – when the game starts, you have a plan. At halftime, you might need to make adjustments. It’s the same with your financial plan.
In the discussion, he also addresses savings (always save!), the high cost of low living (how we spend more for convenience without additional value), basics of budgeting, banking relationships and more. He encourages parents to share their budgeting and decision-making with their children so they can learn early how to manage money.
“Money is just a tool; you can manage it and control it,” he says. “Give your money instructions to do what you want, or it’ll do what it wants.”
