5 Years of Flatwater Wealth

In 2021, a small team made a big decision. Flatwater Wealth launched with a simple promise: local control and local decision-making for the clients and communities it serves. Five years later, that promise has held up. The firm has grown, the team has grown, and the relationships at the center of it all have only gotten stronger.

The decision to launch wasn't made lightly. The founding partners wanted decision-making back in the hands of the people who actually knew their clients and their communities best. That idea of "local control, local decisions" became the foundation for everything that followed.

Turning that vision into reality took some risk. "One of the biggest risks was not only the change of our name and rebranding, but doing that at the same time as a physical move, a new office in the fall of 2021, and switching our back office from Waddell & Reed to LPL, all at once," said partner Jeff Halloran. "It made sense to do it all together, but that was a lot of change for our clients." What didn't change was the people. The advisors clients had come to know stayed the same, and for most clients, that was real reassurance.

The team itself has changed a lot. Flatwater Wealth launched with five people. Today there are 11, with a 12th hire in the works. "One of the statements we made when we formed the team was 'local control and local decision-making,' but we found out that also means local work," said partner Brett Klein. Renee and Allie have been with Flatwater Wealth since the beginning, and they've since been joined by a group of people who've added real depth to what the team can offer.

More people has meant more capability. Partner Jeremy Ringlein points to the tax work done through Flatwater Associates, which has let the team help households in ways the partners didn't expect when they got started, solving problems for clients that go well beyond a typical financial plan.

Some of the stories that stick with Ringlein aren't about services at all. Clients have told him, more than once, that Flatwater Wealth feels like family. For Ringlein, that's the kind of feedback that matters most, more than any number the firm could point to.

Five years in, the firm looks different than it did at launch. Bigger team, more services, an office and a name that have had time to settle in. What hasn't changed is the reason Flatwater started in the first place: making decisions locally for the families and businesses who trust them with what matters most.