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Hi I’m Jeff Rose. Welcome To Good Financial Cents!

At Good Financial Cents, we have helped improve the financial well being of millions of readers since our inception in 2008. I’m Jeff Rose, Certified Financial Planner™ professional (CRD #4572469), founder of this website and author of the book Soldier of Finance. I am also a husband, father of 4, and an Iraqi combat veteran having served in the Army National Guard for 9 years, including a 16 month deployment to Iraq in 2005.

Professional Contributions and Awards

In 2011, I Founded Alliance Wealth Management, LLC, an investment advisory firm, which I later sold in 2019. I am now 100% focused on online education through this website and my youtube channel, which continue to inspire millions.

As a financial planner, I was recognized as a top 10 financial advisor of 2019 by Investopedia, and a top 10 young advisor to watch in 2016 by Financial Advisor Magazine. Good Financial Cents has won several Plutus Foundation awards for online financial content, and has been featured as a “Top Money Blog You Should Read” by Kiplinger.

I currently write for Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur. I have previously contributed to Inc.com and CNBC. My work has been featured in major publications such as USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Kiplinger’s, and Fox Business.

Good Financial Cents Separator 1

So, why good financial cents?

As the tag lines of this blog reads “Making ‘cents’ of your financial life” is exactly what we want to do because I’ve been there – scared, confused, wondering how to get to the next level.

Good Financial Cents is here to provide sound financial advice, encouragement and accountability no matter where you are in your financial journey.

We facilitate money conversations by creating content for you, the reader. Our content is read and shared by millions of people and referenced widely in the media.

We operate by core principles. These principles are timeless, and are the foundational building blocks of financial change.

Finally, while I do not work one on one with clients any more, we abide by the CFP Board’s code of ethics.

If you have questions like these, we’ve got you covered.

  • Confused on how to start investing?
  • Don’t know how to open a Roth IRA?
  • Stumped on how to make more money?
  • Clueless on how much life insurance you need to buy?
  • Getting started with your 401k have you feeling overwhelmed?

We’re also here to show you that even the experts make financial mistakes, and that we’re all here to learn and grow together. I’ve made lots of mistakes that hopefully you can learn from. Like the time I lost $5000 on a penny stock or how I failed at real estate investing early on. I hope the lesson you take away from by journey here is that you can overcome mistakes and still live the life of your dreams.


My Journey — Not your average CFP®

After serving in the Army reserves for 9 years, including deployments to Iraq, I returned home and became a licensed Certified Financial Planner™ professional (CFP) and opened up my own practice in Carbondale, IL.

Why Become a Certified Financial Planning Professional?

Both of my parents struggled with debt. Each of them filed bankruptcy twice – independent of each other. I believe the constant debt struggle was a contributing factor to my dad’s death. So, I decided to dedicate my life to helping others figure out a path to financial security.

My parents struggles drilled the debt lesson deep into my brain, but still the timeless lessons of saving and investing hadn’t hit home. Six months into my career, not much changed.

Sure “I thought” about investing and did put a measly 3% into my 401k, but it still wasn’t a priority.

That is until a client meeting that changed my life.

The meeting was with a couple who were in their early 60’s and thought it was time to finally meet with a financial planner. After the usual pleasantries, we got down to business to see how I could help them.

In the meeting I learned how concerned they were about retirement. They knew they had social security in a few years but weren’t confident it would be enough. To make matters worse, their entire life savings was just over $30,000.

No pension, small social security checks, and $30,000 in investments is all they had.

They were stressed and it was evident.

After talking more they shared their two main regrets that I can still hear today:

We wish we would have saved more.
We wish we would have started earlier.

Those two simple items that they had neglected their entire lives was now smacking them in their face and their gut.

I wanted me to offer reassurance, but it would have been a lie. They left my office with the same helpless feeling as they had arrived.


The wake up call to save and invest.

Seeing the distraught look on that couple’s face lit a fire underneath my Filipino tush and I knew that I needed to start saving.

Immediately.

At that point I was only making $23,000 a year! But I was determined to achieve financial security, then financial independence and then real wealth generation.

I started saving around $200/month, yes on only $23,000 a year.

I drove a grandma car (literally). Not cool, but very effective! After my “Nanny” passed away, I inherited her 1998 champagne colored 4 door Chevy Lumina. I sold my Pontiac Grand Am that was fully paid, used the cash to pay off some debt and then drove “The Lu” for the first several years of my career.

I rent shared with friends, earned side income from my weekend warrior obligation with the National Guard, and I prevented myself from buying anything that I absolutely did not need.

While it seemed insignificant at the time, I’m now able to reflect back at that moment and realize it was a pivotal point in my financial life – a few short years later, I would be a millionaire.


Building my practice.

Once I had made saving a habit, I was able to focus on growing my financial planning practice. As I continued to meet with clients, they all had similar questions on the basics, which I had painfully learned. I wanted to get more clients, and broadcast my message that financial freedom is not a myth. The internet was making that possible, and I launched this blog in the middle of a financial crisis.


Building true wealth through entrepreneurship.

Little did I know that GFC would become my main source of income and the conduit through which I could broadcast my message to millions. As GFC took off, I sold my financial planning practice, and doubled down on the site and message.

I hired people to help me organize and grow the business – making it more passive for me and my family, and giving us the true benefit of real wealth – the freedom to choose.

Today, I continue to push the mission of GFC via this site, my youtube channel, authorship and other investing activities.

If you want more GFC content, follow along on social media.

Good Financial Cents Separator 2

Meet my team

Michael Gardon

Michael Gardon

Managing Editor

Mike is a former derivatives trader turned investor and entrepreneur. He previously held roles at Reviews.com and was Managing Editor at The Simple Dollar. His writing and media mentions include The Simple Dollar, Reviews.com, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, Yahoo News, GoBankingRates, Ask Men, Cosmopolitan, State Farm Simple Insights, Discover Financial, and The Penny Hoarder. Mike is an advocate of remote work, and runs his teams remotely from the beautiful (and affordable!) Midwest, where he resides with his wife and 3 young boys.

Holly Johnson

Holly Johnson

Contributor

Holly Johnson is a credit card expert, award-winning writer, and mother of two who covers travel, retirement planning, and budgeting. In addition to writing for publications such as Bankrate, U.S. News and World Report Travel, and Good Financial Cents, Johnson owns Club Thrifty and is the co-author of “Zero Down Your Debt: Reclaim Your Income and Build a Life You’ll Love.”

Kevin Mercadante

Kevin Mercadante

Contributor

Kevin Mercadante is a professional personal finance writer and the owner of his own personal finance blog, OutOfYourRut.com. He has extensive backgrounds in both accounting and the mortgage industry. In fact, it was his career crash-and-burn from the mortgage business in 2008 that led him into freelance personal finance blogging. In addition to writing for Good Financial Cents, Kevin has written for Dough Roller, Money Under 30, Investor Junkie and Wallet Hacks. Kevin and his wife live in New Hampshire.

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