When it comes to financial planning, most advisors will say that it’s dangerous to get your heart involved. Strategic Wealth Designers (SWD), a financial advisory firm that has helped thousands of people across the US successfully navigate retirement, doesn’t see it that way. For SWD, crafting impactful wealth strategies has always involved careful consideration of the passions that stir people’s hearts.
“Hard skills like financial modeling, tax planning, and risk management are important,” says Matthew Dicken, Founder and CEO of SWD. “But alone, those skills can’t ever truly meet your clients’ needs. If you don’t prioritize soft skills like compassion, you can’t get the insights you need to help with life’s most important decisions. For those providing financial advice, I’d say compassion is one of the strongest competitive advantages a firm can build.”
Dicken, who has more than two decades of experience in financial planning, has a strong reputation as a trusted authority in wealth management, retirement strategy, and business leadership. He is a former syndicated radio and television host focused on retirement planning, a contributor to Kiplinger. His second book, “The Ultimate Success Guide: The World’s Leading Experts Reveal Their Secrets for Success on Health, Wealth and Happiness”, became an Amazon bestseller in the “Business and Money” and “Self-Help” categories in May 2013. His insights have been featured across numerous national media outlets and publications.
Dicken launched SWD in 2002 to help individuals and families achieve financial confidence in retirement. In the decades that followed, he and his team built the company into a multi-state financial planning firm that helps retirees and pre-retirees find financial confidence, comfort, and freedom. The firm’s services include wealth accumulation, asset preservation, tax minimization, long-term care preparation, and IRA legacy planning.
From the start, Strategic Wealth Designers has been focused on social impact
In addition to his work in financial services, Dicken’s career also involves a deep commitment to philanthropy. As SWD began to grow, Dicken saw an opportunity to formalize the wide range of philanthropic efforts that he, his wife, and SWD were involved with.
SWD Cares is the initiative that arose from that opportunity.
“SWD Cares allows us to engage in philanthropy in a sustained way,” Dicken shares. “We started by having events every quarter in each of the markets where we had an SWD office. The growth came when I challenged our team to find ways that we could potentially provide a lasting social impact on the communities in which we serve. I wanted us to spearhead efforts that would reduce the number of needy and hungry people permanently.”
In response to Dicken’s challenge, his team launched initiatives such as supporting schools in high-risk areas that struggled with attendance and student accountability. SWD Cares helped schools to overcome those issues by providing funding for technology needs and creating rewards programs that offered incentives for better attendance, timeliness, and other important practices.
A hands-on commitment to social impact keeps Strategic Wealth Designers focused on compassionate service
Corporate philanthropy is often limited to providing financial funding. Dicken wanted more for SWD Cares. In addition to funding, his company’s philanthropic efforts also include a deep commitment to volunteerism.
“Creating a formal and organized volunteer program has been extremely impactful for our team,” Dicken says. “Our work with Ronald McDonald House involves donations as well as sending a team to the local house to spend time with families. When we partner with Wish For Wheels, which provides bikes for students at Title I schools, we buy the bike kits, build them, present them to students, and teach them how to ride. Being hands-on with the projects makes them that much more inspiring and enjoyable.”
Hands-on involvement elevates the social impact of the work that SWD Cares is doing. But that is not its only benefit. By prioritizing volunteerism, SWD helps its employees develop a deeper sense of compassion for those in their community, which translates to better care for the clients they serve.
“My genuine belief is that the best way to earn business is to first earn trust,” Dicken says. “In financial advising, trust is earned through compassionate listening. Without compassion, we couldn’t build the type of relationships needed to develop wealth-building strategies tailored to our clients’ unique circumstances.”
SWD’s work is founded in real relationships that extend far beyond the walls of its offices. By practicing compassion, the company and its team improve not only the quality of life for those in the communities where it serves but also the quality of relationships it builds with its clients.
“Clients remember the advisors who took all the time needed to help them feel prepared for life’s important decisions,” says Dicken. “They remember who explained the hard things without making them feel small or rushed. They remember who called back, who listened, and who saw the full life behind the financial plan. And that’s who we want to be.”
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