Paul Sommerstad , AIF®, QPFC®

Neither of my parents were in financial services, though my mother was a public school elementary teacher for 40 years. Her love of helping others flowed through to me and I was pretty good with numbers growing up. Now I’m focused on leveraging behavioral psychology to improve the lives of Americans while reducing their daily stress.

Serving as a captain of our football team in college helped teach me effective leadership and communication skills. Observing retirement plan committee meetings while I interned in college further shaped my awareness of committee dynamics and behavioral psychology. To this day, I learn something new about how our brains work and that is why I enjoy this opportunity to serve so many hard working people.

I love karaoke. If we ever get the chance to sing some Prince songs together, let’s do it!

Krisanthy and I have two young boys, 5 and 2 years old, and they keep us quite active. One important skill that we practice every day with our boys is active listening. Affirming their feelings, watching their body language for cues and distilling complex topics down to words they understand are part of my daily life at home and with my valued clients.

A genuine empathy for those who have different lived experiences than our own. Listen first, speak later.