Matthew Atkins

Sr. Financial Advisor, Clearbrook Investment Management, LLC

National Social Security Advisor

Husband, Father, Grandfather, Friend, Financial Advisor, Pastor…

This is my personal version, not one that is “made for tv”. Not that I am on tv, but you get the drift. I was born in the Bay Area of California and probably never really stopped being a “California boy”. I still love the sun and the water! My family moved to the outskirts of Seattle when I was in elementary school, and then to Bellingham, WA when I was in HS. There’s not as much sun here, but there is plenty of water, mountains and beauty to make up for it.

After high school, I moved to Southern California to attend a school focused on helping people in need around the world. I had the privilege of spending time in Mexico and then traveling across the USA. I have since had the privilege to travel to 5 continents, dozens of countries and been with the most amazing people. When I came back to Bellingham, I went to work for a while at a cement plant. It was a great job at the time, but it also solidified my desire NOT to do that kind of work. :) It was also the time that I reconnected with my high school girlfriend after being broken up for a year or so.

I am many things, but truly my greatest achievements in life are being a husband and a father. My wife (Laura) and I started dating during our senior year of high school, had a couple short breakups, finally got married and have now been married for 40 years. That is crazy for me even to say. We have literally been together for more than 2/3 of our lives!

We ended up having five children together, one boy and four girls. That’s a lot to most people and when they were young, it was to us as well. But, the organized chaos of it all was a ton of fun (yes, work too)! Those five kids have given us 5 grandchildren, with #6 on the way (as of 2021). Everybody tells you this, but grandchildren really are the most fun!

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Path to Financial Advising:

I took a pretty unusual path into financial advising. Most of my career has been working in churches as a Pastor, which I still do part-time. My pastoral journey began by working with young people for about six years. I actually started to study to become a Financial Advisor while being a youth pastor due to being able to work with an incredible PhD economist named Robert Patton. Bob taught me a lot and encouraged me to pursue this area of aptitude. That process changed when our journey took us out of Bellingham and into Canada for nine years for education and work in two other churches.

We returned to Bellingham, WA in 1998 and it was clear to me that I wanted to be in business as well as ministry. I actually think I am a better Pastor because I also work in the business world, and I think I am a better Financial Advisor because of my Pastoral work with people.

During the late 90’s and early 2000’s (the .com era), I worked for a small upstart online education company doing sales and developing marketing tools. Because of my background, educating was as natural as breathing, so creating a way to teach people about the value of teaching people online was a great fit!

That company eventually developed into a broader consulting company as more and more businesses were trying to figure out how to use this thing called “the World Wide Web”. What a crazy time that was! A couple years into the process, our small company went a couple of different ways, with me being on the consulting and education material development side. This kept me in contact with videographers, copy writers and web developers for the next couple of years. Though we had worked with all types of businesses, we eventually found ourselves focusing on hospitality and airlines. But, in 2001, everything changed.

9/11/2001

As a small company focused in part on the airline industry, 9/11 was a game changer! Not only did it cost 3000+ lives, it also had a significant impact on our economy.

It also had a personal impact, as our family had just been on top of those towers a short time before the terrorist attacks. I can’t say that I redirected my life, but the effect of that day certainly created some significant change.

As a result of the economic impact, our company pivoted and developed a video to help consumers understand how to prepare for travel in the post 9/11 world. One of the highlights was being invited to the Airline Pilot’s Association national meeting in Washington DC. This was the meeting where the FBI director and the ALPA were discussing whether to arm pilots. Every major news station was in attendance, with CSPAN broadcasting the meetings live. We were one of a very few vendors allowed to come.

Though we felt we had a great product and there seemed to be tons of interest, the recession that followed the Dotcom bust and the changes to travel following 9/11 caused most airlines to completely stop spending money on outside vendors. That included our little company. Combine that with some major tension in our partnership and we were forced to close the company in 2002.

That led to a number of years of working at a church and doing side jobs helping companies get their web presence solidified.

Becoming A Financial Advisor

During the 2008 financial crisis, a long term friend who had founded a Registered Investment Advisory firm, contacted me about helping them develop their web presence and marketing materials. The firm had a popular local radio show and had continued to grow right during the financial crisis. Within a short time, it was clear that I had found a place of great passion, and the process toward licensing began.

The experience with that company was INVALUABLE! I learned a ton and also began to refine my own views on the economy, investing and particularly, working with people. I saw many people who had been “sold” on this product or that investment, only to be disappointed by the results or stuck in something that had high costs and low returns. Honestly, it was shocking! I decided during that time that no matter what the cost was to me, I was going to serve my clients and do what was best for them. Period!

That original company went through an ownership change and over the next couple of years, the three people I work with at Clearbrook joined together. Our founder, Ben Scellick, CPA, had been the president of the previous company and I loved working for/with him. He may be a few years younger than me, but he is WAY smarter! A short time after I joined him, Shara Pagels, CPA, joined us as well. She had also worked with us previously and now we were back together. Not everyone can say this, but I love working with both Ben and Shara. We are friends, co-workers, and we are a great team.

The Same, But Different

Our work as financial advisors, at least at Clearbrook, is really not that complex. Keep fees low, keep investments simple and keep trading costs at a minimum. Encourage your clients to focus on their goals, not to get caught up in the short term market swings and to be concerned about risk management as well as asset growth.

And always, always, always,

DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE CLIENT!

That’s my story and I am sticking to it,

Matt

FUN FACTS

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  • Most Embarrassing: It took me three times to pass the Series 7 exam. Now I don’t even use it. :)

  • Passions:

    • Job-Free Future: I don’t really believe in retirement. I think we are at our best when we are doing work that is life giving and expresses our uniqueness. That’s why I love helping people create their job-free future. That could be a full-time life without paid work or it could mean that we work part-time doing something we love and enjoy the freedom to do the other things we want to do.

    • Family - I’ve already talked about this, but we love being with our kids and grandkids.

    • Friends - I have a great group of friends, many of which I have known for over 30 years. We have a saying: “A friend will help you up when you fall. A good friend will pretend to help you up, let you fall back down and then make fun of you.” :)

    • Golf - currently a 9.8 handicap but that fluctuates a lot. Oh, and the best golf buddies ever.

    • Travel - Our kids live all over the country. I love the Coachella Valley and we love Maui and adventure. Going new places is awesome. Next on the list is probably hiking the Scottish Way and/or visiting my wife’s ancestral homeland, Iceland.

    • Educating - I love to speak, so traveling to speak is a blast. I also have a YouTube channel and do webinars and live seminars when we can.

  • Faith: My faith is the thing that provides me with my most solid footing. It’s like an anchor that holds fast no matter what else is going on. That doesn’t mean I don’t have doubts or ask questions, but I think those things strengthen my faith vs. weakening it. Ps. I also believe in science. :)