Financial planning is one of the most important conversations individuals, families, and businesses can have about their future. Rising living costs, longer life expectancies, and evolving retirement landscapes mean that planning for financial security have made it all the more important. At its best, the process provides clarity and confidence. Still, financial planning can sometimes be seen as overly complex or intimidating, which makes approachable guidance all the more valuable. That is where voices like David M. Wilcox stand out.
Wilcox brings a perspective that blends practical experience with personal conviction. “What I’ve always found is sales isn’t about a product, it’s about people,” he explains. For him, planning is not about quick solutions but about building trust and understanding long-term goals. This shift, from selling products to guiding people through meaningful discovery, is at the heart of how he approaches financial advice.
A Doctor’s Approach to Money
He and his Colorado based team begin with discovery before discussing products or portfolios. “Rather than going door to door with a product or a service and trying to persuade people to buy, I’ve inverted the process. It’s really about the person,” he says. He compares the work to a physician’s intake. “You don’t prescribe any remedies until you thoroughly understand what the challenges are. Only then can you make the appropriate recommendations.”
That examination covers three practical questions: What is working today; what needs to change or start; and what must continue. “We use both insurance and investment products to help people achieve financial security,” he explains, organizing each plan as a “financial house.” The foundation protects income and assets through tools like life insurance and estate documents. The main structure focuses on accumulation, including retirement planning and education savings. The roof addresses preservation and distribution, from reliable retirement income to legacy planning for children, church, or charity.
Integrity Where It Counts
Regulation Best Interest and suitability standards set a high bar for the profession, and Wilcox welcomes that scrutiny. “Any recommendations have to be without question in the best interest of the client,” he says. To meet that mark, his team documents goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, existing holdings, and any beliefs that could shape decisions. The goal is to match strategies to people rather than the other way around. “I really think integrity is doing the right thing when nobody’s watching. It’s got to come from a moral compass within yourself to do the right thing for the client,” shares Wilcox, who subscribes to a “give first” philosophy.” There is a fiduciary responsibility to educate yourself as a financial professional to know what all of the tools are that are available. Even by omission you could be hurting a client by not talking about a certain aspect,” he says, urging advisors to maintain a growth mindset so clients benefit from up to date knowledge rather than outdated playbooks.
Strength, Mutuality, and the Down-the-Mountain Plan
“What makes us really unique as a company is the training and support and education that we provide for our new advisors and financial professionals,” he says. That platform sits within a mutual structure that is able to align interests with policyholders. “You cannot buy New York Life stock on Wall Street. When the board declares dividends, we pay dividends to policyholders,” he explains, while reminding clients that dividends are not guaranteed.
His planning philosophy also departs from the common obsession with accumulation alone. “You get to the top of the mountain, you made it to retirement, good job. But many are left without a distribution strategy,” Wilcox says. The priority is engineering income that people can count on for life. That distribution lens influences accumulation choices from the start. He is equally focused on tax diversification as a risk control, balancing pretax vehicles with after tax strategies that can create tax free income later. “It’s not necessarily about timing the market, it’s about time in the market,” he adds, but the location of assets across tax buckets can matter as much as the headline return.
Building Talent to Scale Impact
After five years growing a Colorado based practice, Wilcox became a partner and now spends much of his time recruiting and developing advisors. The goal is quality at scale. Specialist advisers cover retirement income, business owner planning, and other needs, while the firm maintains a common standard of discovery led advice. “Taking a step back and really getting to know what the client’s challenges are, what their goals are, what they’re doing well, what’s missing, what we need to change” comes first. Products follow. Trust follows that.
To learn more or to connect with David M. Wilcox, visit his LinkedIn.
