Building Wealth, Abundance & Resilience with Chad Coe of Coe Financial Group 4-18-25

Summary

Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Episode: Building Wealth, Abundance & Resilience with Chad Coe of Coe Financial Group
Release Date: April 18, 2025

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Introduction

In the April 18, 2025 episode of the Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast, host Scott Becker welcomes Chad Coe, the founder of Coe Financial Group, to discuss strategies for building wealth, fostering abundance, and enhancing resilience in financial planning. The conversation delves into current trends in financial management, the importance of diversification, the role of bonds, influential investors, Chad’s personal endeavors in public speaking and mentorship, and advice for emerging business leaders.

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Chad Coe’s Background and CO Financial Group

Chad Coe introduces himself at [00:53], sharing his extensive experience in financial planning:

"27 years ago, I founded CO Financial Group, a money management and financial planning firm based in Northbrook. We have three advisors and a dedicated staff focused on ensuring our clients can retire comfortably and maintain that comfort in retirement."

He emphasizes the firm's commitment to personalized financial strategies to support long-term client wellbeing.

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Current Trends in Financial Planning

At [01:19], Scott Becker prompts Chad to discuss the latest trends in financial planning, particularly in managing market volatility. Chad observes a shift in client behavior over the past few years:

"There has been a noticeable trend of individuals wanting to manage their finances independently. However, as market conditions become more uncertain with factors like tariffs and economic fluctuations, people are seeking more control and turning to financial advisors for guidance." [01:41]

Chad notes that clients who engage with financial advisors tend to feel more relaxed and less reactive to daily market movements compared to those who self-manage their investments.

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Diversification and Portfolio Management

Discussing portfolio allocation at [03:32], Chad highlights the pitfalls of self-managed investing:

"Many do-it-yourself investors lack diversification, often concentrating their investments in a handful of technology stocks. In contrast, professional advisors emphasize diversified portfolios as a strategy for long-term growth and risk management." [04:14]

He points out that diversified portfolios help mitigate risks associated with concentrated investments in specific sectors like technology, which can be highly volatile.

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Behavior During Market Trends

At [04:44], Scott Becker raises the issue of individual stock picking during market booms. Chad responds by highlighting common misconceptions:

"While some individuals boast about their successful stock picks during market upswings, most do not hold these investments long-term. Instead, they frequently buy and sell based on short-term gains, which often diminishes overall returns."

Chad underscores the importance of a disciplined, long-term investment approach over speculative trading.

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Strategies for Long-Term Growth

In response to Scott’s questions at [06:40], Chad elaborates on strategies that foster long-term financial growth:

"For sustainable retirement, it's essential to save consistently, maintain diversified investments, and leverage compound interest. As Albert Einstein famously said, compounding is the single greatest tool we've created."

He advocates for a balanced mix of ETFs, individual stocks with dividend growth potential, and selective bond investments tailored to individual financial goals and risk tolerances.

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Bonds vs. Bond Funds

Scott Becker inquires about the balance between various types of bonds at [08:40]. Chad explains his approach to bond investments:

"I prefer individual bonds with specific durations, which ensures the return of principal at maturity along with the agreed yield. Additionally, for those with substantial portfolios, diversification through ETFs and selective individual bonds can effectively manage interest rate and credit risks." [09:05]

Chad emphasizes customizing bond strategies based on each client's unique financial needs and objectives.

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Influential Investors and Mentorship

At [09:42], Scott asks Chad about investors he admires. Chad credits his brother Mark as a significant influence:

"My journey in professional money management was profoundly shaped by my brother Mark, who taught me the importance of analyzing companies beyond their stock performance and adding value through thorough research."

Chad acknowledges that successful investing relies on a deep understanding of market dynamics rather than attempting to predict short-term movements.

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Public Speaking and Mastermind Groups

Chad discusses his involvement in public speaking and mastermind groups at [11:10]:

"Over the past two decades, I’ve transitioned from managing 401k rollovers to creating mastermind groups that help individuals overcome personal and professional obstacles. My latest endeavor is my fourth book, 'Your Financial Dream House,' which guides readers in achieving financial and personal abundance." [11:26]

He highlights his commitment to mentoring others and fostering an abundance mindset to navigate the complexities of modern life.

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Advice for Emerging Leaders and Business Professionals

When asked for advice at [12:54], Chad draws inspiration from John Wooden's Pyramid of Success:

"Patience, faith, focus, and clarity are paramount for emerging leaders. Consistent effort, goal-setting, and adaptability to life's twists and turns are essential for long-term success. Additionally, continuous learning through books and podcasts can significantly contribute to personal and professional growth." [13:15]

He encourages young professionals to stay dedicated and open-minded, trusting that their hard work will lead to desired outcomes.

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Conclusion

In the concluding segment, Chad shares contact information and offers well wishes:

"For more information, visit cofinancialgroup.com." [14:25]

He extends a heartfelt birthday greeting to Scott and reiterates his passion for helping others achieve financial and personal success.

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Key Takeaways

• Diversification is Crucial: Avoid concentrated investments in single sectors to mitigate risk.
• Long-Term Strategy Over Speculation: Consistent, disciplined investing leveraging compound interest yields sustainable growth.
• Personalized Financial Planning: Tailor investment strategies to individual goals, risk tolerance, and financial needs.
• Continuous Learning and Adaptability: Embrace lifelong learning and remain adaptable to navigate financial and personal challenges.
• Mentorship and Abundance Mindset: Seek guidance and foster a positive, abundant outlook to achieve personal and professional goals.

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Notable Quotes

• Chad Coe [01:41]: "People are taking the time to get more involved in their portfolio. They're deciding what their risk factor or risk tolerance really is and then they're reaching out for help or guidance."
• Chad Coe [04:14]: "Diversified portfolios are the way to go."
• Chad Coe [06:40]: "If you want to retire comfortably, you could do it on an 8% return compounded every 10 years, your money doubles."
• Chad Coe [13:15]: "Patience, faith, focus, and clarity are paramount for emerging leaders."

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For more insights and personalized financial strategies, visit Coe Financial Group.

Transcript

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[Scott Becker]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. Thrilled today to be joined by a terrific professional who does a ton of speaking and leading and really a good, good person, Chad Ko. Chad, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what your career, your career and what you're focused on currently?

[Chad Ko]

Thanks, Scott. So you know, about 27 years ago, I founded CO Financial Group, a money management and a financial planning firm that now resides in Northbrook with three advisors that work with me and some staff to help make sure that my clients, my relationships, can retire comfortably and stay comfortably retired. So my main focus is CO Financial Group.

[Scott Becker]

And talk to us about CO Financial Group. Tell us a little bit about the trends you're watching in financial planning. Are people sort of able to manage through the recent market chaos? How much does the phone ring? How much your time is spent almost just counseling people through the challenges? Talk a little bit about, you know, what happens during market turmoil.

[Chad Ko]

Well, if you look back the last three or four years, you could see a trend line of everybody wanting to be able to manage the money themselves. They can't get out of their own way. And the markets were going straight up. And there was conversation out there that the market can't go straight up. There has to be some pullback, some modification or some changes in the markets. And as we now started to see that with tariffs and talk about other economic influences, it looks like people are now getting more engaged. People want to take more control. And I'm hearing from a lot of people that they want to become more defensive. So I think in summary, people are taking the time to get more involved in their portfolio. They're deciding what their risk factor or risk tolerance really is and then they're reaching out to, as an example of me as a financial advisor, or they're reaching out to the 800 numbers that are out there asking them for help or guidance as to what to do. As far as the phone ringing off the hook, believe it or not, when you work with a financial advisor, I Think those kind of clients seem to be a little bit more relaxed about their life and portfolio different than do it yourselfers that are looking at the market, you know, 24 hours a day or looking at the news right now.

[Scott Becker]

That'S through this for several years or that are older, have seen the ups and downs and, and probably breathe a little bit better. How important is that somebody has their allocation right, has an emergency fund so that they can manage through this type of turmoil without panicking too much. And how often do you get people that have not really worked on their allocation and maybe just highly weighted towards equities, but then have a hard time managing through a market turmoil? Talk about that.

[Chad Ko]

I think a lot of people as an example that are do it yourselfers have a tendency not to be diversified. They have a tendency to pick five or 10 technology stocks and throw their money at. That is what I hear. Now when you work with a professional or you take the time to educate yourself about growth over time in the marketplace, there's all the professionals out there that talk about diversified portfolios are the way to go. So in my world, my clients have diversified portfolios in other worlds or technology based worlds like the Robo advisors. Many times it's just dedicated to large caps or technology stocks.

[Scott Becker]

And how often do you hear people. Because I hear this so much and it must be hard to listen to somebody that when the market is going up, talks about how they invest in Nvidia, Soundtown, Apple, and they're, they're genius. How often do you hear that when the market's going up? Everybody bragging about their stock picks and the picks they start, they, they picked individually. And how do you deal with that when the market goes up and goes down?

[Chad Ko]

A. If they're my client, it's usually not a conversation we have because they're diversified and it might be just a few dollars that they invest that way. Number two, if you're sitting around a dinner table and you know they're all talking about how great they've done in the markets, you know, one of the things we need to realize is very few people, as an example, bought Bitcoin at $10,000 and held it to $85,000. Most people buy it at 10, sell it at 20, buy it again at 30, sell it 40 or 50. So when it comes to Nvidia or Palantir or some of the other stocks you shared with us, most people didn't necessarily buy it at a price. Call it of 5, 10, 20 and $30 and hold onto it. To the place where it's at now. A majority of people will just buy and trade and sell and buy again. And most people, believe it or not, there's a lot of research out there. Most people don't over time make money by trading the technology stocks or holding on to them indefinitely.

[Scott Becker]

Thank you. And you mentioned something I thought is just brilliant, that there's this concept that when you look at the long term averages of the S and P or the Dow or something like, you know, it might be 8 to 10% a year over 50 to 100 years, but most people don't enjoy that for exactly the reason that you said is they get nervous, they sell it, they buy back in when it's gone back down or back up and so don't really enjoy those returns. And so I'm going to ask you two questions. How much of that do you see out there, people that, you know, you hear about these returns in the S, P and the Dow, but most people don't enjoy those because they don't just keep their money in all the way through because they do get a little nervous, which I don't blame them. And then second, do you err towards index funds, individual stocks? How do you think about those issues? And then what's the same question on the bond side? Treasury bonds versus munis and how do you think about that? So that's a lot there.

[Chad Ko]

Sorry. So on the first side, people, people, you know what I find right is the married couple, the older cars, the simple house, those people retire comfortably and stay comfortably retired. There's a lot of new generation where it's the flashy watches buying stuff, the three or four trips a year, they're spending money they don't necessarily have and therefore they're not able to enjoy the growth of the markets because they're not really putting money away into the markets and possibly they're putting money in their 401ks. But more often than not believe it, there's a small percentage of people that maximize their 401ks as an example. So listen, if you want to retire comfortably, you could do it on an 8% return compounded every 10 years, your money doubles. You could have a really great life. The key is to put away money, keep it diversified, let it grow, look at compounding. Just like Albert Einstein said, it's the single greatest tool or that they've ever created or figured out. And that time is on your side when your other question was, you know, as an example, bonds. Oh by the way, what I invest in so Number one bonds. I like individual bonds that have a duration. You buy it, you hold it. Whether the bond goes up or down, you're going to get your principal out of it at duration, right? Plus the yield that you buy. Call it short term intermediate bonds. What I prefer today, New world versus old world. I like a diversified ETF portfolio and if you have enough assets, I like to sprinkle in there. Individual stocks like dividend growth, mid and small, but it depends on the size of the portfolio. Mutual funds have their place, but more often than not you could find a really great portfolio that's riddled with ETFs, exchange traded funds and individual stocks.

[Scott Becker]

100%. So ETFs, index funds, a little bit of individual stocks, but that's really a gamble on the individual stocks. Unless you're highly diversified on so many of them. On the bond side, individual bonds versus bond funds, you don't have to deal as much with interest rate risk. You still deal with some credit risk. And then do you. What's the balance between treasury bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, how do you think about those things?

[Chad Ko]

I think about those as individuals come to me and have their individual tax needs and their individual growth needs. I'll apply the different bonds based upon their personal needs and wants. And as you know, when you're in a room with 10 people, every single one of them has different financial goals, different outcomes, different risk tolerance. So those are questions that we have to ask for each person that we talk to as we evolve relationships and look at their risk tolerances. They all have a place. It's just a matter of who's the right person for those.

[Scott Becker]

Let me ask you another question. There are some well heralded investors, the Warren Buffetts of the world. There's so many others. Are there particular investors that you think of, not so much to model yourself after, but that you particularly have admired over the long term? Are there, are there anybody that you think of? Like, yes, that's someone we're really a fan of.

[Chad Ko]

So. So believe it or not, you know, Scott, as we went to college together and you were friends with my brother Mark, you know, my brother Mark is the one that shared with me and taught me the business of professional money management. Analyzing companies, not stocks, and finding where the value add is and doing the research on it. The other thing is when you deal with professional money managers and you ask them where the markets are going, they'll never give you that answer. Because what I'm told is, and you know this, nobody knows. So I would just share with you that it started with my brother Mark, learning from him professional money management from the side of the analysts. And now 25 years later, being in the business, I use a few different money managers that have a team of analysts that diversify portfolios and keep a close eye on them. So based upon the economy, the world or the markets, we're always have an eye on what's going on so that we could help ensure that our clients can grow and retire comfortably if they listen to our advice.

[Scott Becker]

Thank you. No, I absolutely love this. Your brother's a brilliant person, a great investor. Learned a lot there. Fantastic. What are you most focused on, Chad? You also do some public speaking, you've ran some mastermind groups. Talk a bit about some of that that you do, if you don't mind.

[Chad Ko]

So. So 20 years ago, I was helping unemployed executives get jobs and I was able to build a nice base to my company by working with them, helping them and then managing their 401k rollovers. As we move forward in my life and generate. In 2008 and 9, I created mastermind groups which which help people remove roadblocks from their life. And with that I learned how to coach, mentor and guide people to kind of have the abundant mentality. And one of the things that I'm most proud of and excited about is I just finished my fourth book which is your financial dream house. So through planning and investments and a guide, you could have the financial dream house that you dream of, where you could live comfortably, travel, enjoy your life, enjoy your family, and just basically dream abundance. What is abundance? Personal, professional and financial. Being able to just be able to be comfortable in your own skin without stress. So I'm out there speaking. I run mastermind groups. I help people achieve their dreams and goals one person at a time. Because the world today is hard. People are nervous and I want to help them overcome.

[Scott Becker]

No, I think just absolutely fantastic. Any sort of overall advice for emerging business people, emerging leaders. Any thoughts you would give it to? An emerging leader, emerging business person.

[Chad Ko]

So I put a lot of thought into that because I used to be an emerging person who was coach, mentored and guided. But one of the things that I would share today is I think everyone knows John Wooden. He was one of the most winningest coaches in college history and he created the pyramid of success. And at the top of the pyramid, it talks about having patience, faith, focus and clarity. And I think that the young ones don't have the call it the patience and the faith that if they work every single day and do it repetitively and stay focused on what they want. They could have anything they want. So I'm a big fan of taking your time, being focused, having goals and having clear goals and then watch the magic, you know, kind of unfold. The other thing I would say to young emerging leaders is read books, listen to podcasts and know that life is a journey and it takes a lot of twists and turns. And be open minded to the twists and turns as they show up because that's the lane that you're going to end up in one day that's going to give you your future.

[Scott Becker]

Chad, I want to thank you. It's amazingly impressive what you've built over the years. The intellect, the energy, the common sense, the thoughtfulness. I just love getting a chance to visit with you again. Chad Coe is joining us today. Chad, the name of the company where people could find out more about Chadco.

[Chad Ko]

Co Financial Group cofinancialgroup.com I'd be remiss if I didn't say happy birthday. Happy birthday, Scott. It's I think it was yesterday. We want to wish you happiness and longevity and really thank you very much for taking the time to share and talk with me today. It's been just fantastic.

[Scott Becker]

It's a little bit like old home week and a total pleasure. Chad, thank you so much for joining us and thank you very, very much. You're going to make me blush on the happy birthday stuff, but thank you.

[Chad Ko]

Take care, everyone. Take care.

[Scott Becker]

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