By Heidi Huiskamp, Founder and CEO of Huiskamp Collins Investments, LLC
You might already work with a financial advisor. He or she might have rolled over your 401(k), sold you an annuity, or maybe set up a college savings plan for your children or grandchildren. I bet they make sure you get your statements on time, send you your tax forms, and even meet with you once a year to review your accounts. You probably think the level of service you receive is acceptable and the norm for financial professionals. What if I told you that I interact differently with my clients? What if I told you that I treat my clients like family, take a “one-stop-shop” approach to make my customers’ lives easier and forge a relationship with my clients, operating with honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity that helps my customers sleep at night? I’ve crafted my financial practice to address all your needs: Preserving and Growing Your Assets, Planning to Invest and Live on Your Assets, Protecting Your Assets, and Preparing to Pass on Your Assets. I also help business owners with everything from creating and maintaining a budget to helping establish and mentor start-ups to working with your tax professionals and attorneys to helping you create a succession plan.
Have you ever heard the term “fiduciary” tossed around in regards to financial professionals? If not, you need to know that it’s of paramount importance to you. A fiduciary is someone who ALWAYS puts their client’s best interests ahead of their own: no ifs, ands, or buts. I have been an active investor for over 40 years and a licensed financial advisor for almost 20 years. I hold my Series 7 and Series 66 securities licenses and ONLY do business as a fiduciary. Not everyone who holds themselves out as a “financial advisor” is a fiduciary, so please be sure that’s your first question when interviewing a new advisor.
I often have new clients or prospective clients come sit at my table, share a beverage with me, and tell me that they have all this stuff, but they don’t know why they have it, how it works, and if it’s the right solution for their situation. There’s a lot of confusion, unanswered questions, and anxiety out there over finances, even among those who have been working with a professional. I believe in education, common-sense language, and helping clients set realistic expectations when it comes to their financial health. At the end of the day, do you really care about alpha and beta and risk coefficients? No, you want the peace of mind that comes from co-creating a plan and taking a holistic approach that answers the question effectively, “Am I/We Going to be O.K.?” You want someone who is going to help you review not only your investment accounts, but your other assets, your insurance coverages, your bank accounts, your estate planning, and your emergency contacts. I offer a completely different way of interacting with my clients by putting our relationship and all their varied needs at the forefront.
As regards to investing, I’m passionate about it…it’s what I do for fun! After a full day of work, I greet our standard poodle, Lucy, and enjoy dinner with my husband. Afterwards, I don’t watch TV or engage on social media. Instead, I read the Wall Street Journal and The Economist cover-to-cover and then read financial magazines and blogs. I analyze stocks and pore over financial statements at my kitchen table. The investments that I unearth from all that analysis are not the kind of ideas that one is going to find in a typical “one-size-fits-all” financial plan. I believe that all investors should have access to superior customer service and the best financial planning and attention to all their needs that I can supply.
This year, I opened Huiskamp Collins Educational Planning, LLC, a firm which serves both high school families requiring assistance navigating the need-based college financial aid environment and those families who will be paying the full cost of college, but could be served through addressing merit-based awards and advanced tax and financial planning for college. I have earned the Certified College Planning Specialist (CCPS) designation through the National Institute of Certified College Planners through intensive study and the exhibition of knowledge through the satisfactory passage of three exams. I am the only financial advisor in the state of Iowa with this credential and one of three in the state of Illinois, with the other two residing in the Chicagoland area and the St. Louis metropolitan area, respectively. Education is one of my passions and I would be honored to partner with your family on your college planning journey.
Community outreach, especially making a better world for children, is a cornerstone of my personal mission and one of the reasons I left the corporate world to establish my own firm. I am thrilled to be on the Steering Committee of Women United which strives for early childhood education and Kindergarten-readiness for all children, regardless of socioeconomic status. I have also mentored “at-risk” children through Big Brothers / Big Sisters for the last 23 years and currently mentor Myiah, an 8th grader at Washington Junior High School in Rock Island who lives in poverty and has 11 brothers and sisters. In addition, I am on the board of the Rock Island / Milan 1st Day Fund which distributes free school supplies to at-risk children in the Rock Island / Milan School District. This year, we distributed supplies to 4,800 children with an economic impact of just shy of $100,000. I am also proud to serve on the Boards of the Martin Luther King Center in Rock Island, the Two Rivers YMCA and Family Resources. Additionally, I just finished my three-year term as President of the Bettendorf Business Network and still sit on their Executive Committee.
I am deeply humbled and honored to have received community award recognition during my career. In 2017, I was named one of “100 Influential Quad Citizens” by the Quad City YWCA and Rock Island Citizen of the Year in 2019. In early 2020, I was chosen as the Athena Award Winner. Women in our community are nominated by their peers as being leaders in their business or profession, serving as a role model to other women in their profession and the broader community, bringing creativity and innovation to their professions and contributing their time and energy to community betterment. Many women were nominated and the field was narrowed down to four Honorees who were recognized at a wonderful luncheon. I was truly blessed to hear my name and be called to the stage. I was also the winner of the 2020 Outstanding Leadership Award for J.W. Cole Financial, my national financial firm of 400 financial professionals. In 2021, I was chosen as part of the Quad City Times Readers’ Choice Awards as the #1 Financial Advisor in our community. Also last year, I was honored as the Quad Cities’ Philanthropist of the Year.
Securities offered through J.W. Cole Financial, Inc. (JWC) Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through J.W. Cole Advisors, Inc. (JWCA). Huiskamp Collins Investments, LLC and JWC/JWCA are unaffiliated entities.
I would love to connect with you and show you that finding expertise in financial planning with a heart and getting your “financial house in order” really does make a difference in your client experience. Please call me at 563-949-4705 or email me at heidi@hhcinvestments.net. Thank you in advance for your consideration.