In 2024, my wife, Kat, and I spent two weeks in a camper van trekking around Iceland. While there, we saw many sheep everywhere we went, and they were always in groups of three.
It wasn’t until the end of the trip that we spoke with a farmer and asked why the sheep were always grouped in three. His response, “because it’s the right number of sheep.”
Thankfully, he didn’t leave us hanging there; he explained that every late-spring/early-summer, Icelandic farmers release their sheep into the highlands to roam free for several months. When they are first released, farmers always group up newborns two newborns with one mother. After nearly 1,000 years of shepherding, they realized that this was the “right” number for the herds because the groups of three tended to thrive best.
Fast forward to a dinner where my wife and I discussed my goals for the business.
Two tenets were evident:
- The kind of work I want to do requires a deep professional relationship.
- There is a limit on the number of deep relationships that a person can maintain.
What emerged was the conclusion that there is a “right” number of relationships that I can maintain regardless of the technological tools at my disposal.
Happily, Kat called out exactly what I was looking towards, “three sheep!” The name stuck ever since.
Three sheep, photographed on the opposite side of a ravine while hiking in the highlands. Don’t ask me how they got there.
I consider myself a 65 year-old with great skin. I listen to vinyl records, I must tell everybody about the great deals I get when I go to Costco, and I will never get on board with using a QR Code at a restaurant.
I’ve been working in the financial planning world for just nearly a decade, previously working with two large, local, Registered Investment Advisors. First, in Sacramento starting in 2016, and then in Monterey starting in 2019. I’ve been CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional since 2018.
Throughout my career I’ve worked with hundreds of individuals and families, with investment assets ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to over ten million. Every person I’ve worked with has a unique definition of what financial security and stability means to them.
I think I have the best job in the world. I get to help people feel more comfortable with a very anxiety-inducing subject, finances. One minute you feel like you have things figured out, and then a global pandemic hits and you’re wondering if you can still retire. Maybe you are just finding your stride in a career, and then a family member dies and you’re the one managing their affairs. Maybe you’re blowing out the candles on your 65th birthday cake, and wishing you remembered what you did with all those Medicare mailers.
Sometimes, there may not even be a “solution” to these situations, but it sure feels good sometimes to just talk about it and plot a course for what can be done next.
Outside of work, I play the violin with the local Hartnell Orchestra, I enjoy swing country dancing with my wife, and I serve on the boards of the Carmel Public Library Foundation and California Arts and Sciences Institute.
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