E90: Tim Gottus Shares how Valent Wealth is Changing Financial Planning for Good

What makes Tim Gottus with Valent Wealth a good neighbor? 

What happens when a wealth manager decides to break away from an industry filled with "salespeople disguised as advisors"? Tim Gottus of Valent Wealth joins the Good Neighbor Podcast to share his journey from financial instability in childhood to building a wealth management firm that truly puts clients first.

Growing up in what he calls a "financially instable household," Tim developed an early curiosity about money management that eventually led him to finance. But unlike many who enter the field, he took the harder path—building an independent practice where he wouldn't be tied to specific products or companies. "I wanted the ability to offer everything to my clients and not sitting at company X, that means I have to sell product X," he explains.

This philosophy forms the foundation of Valent Wealth, a firm composed of advisors with decades of experience who've deliberately chosen a more ethical approach to financial planning. Tim's passion for serving rather than selling comes through as he describes his "personal CFO" approach—sitting on the same side of the table with clients while coordinating with insurance agents, CPAs, business advisors, and other professionals to create truly comprehensive financial strategies.

Tim doesn't mince words about his industry's shortcomings, noting that "this game is stacked against most people." He highlights how unregulated financial advice proliferates on social media while fiduciary advisors face strict limitations on what they can claim. "Finance is one of the most intimate things in somebody's life," Tim reflects. "It can transcend into relationship issues, physical, mental issues, stress." This understanding drives Valent's holistic approach, recognizing that financial wellness affects every aspect of well-being.

Ready to experience a different kind of wealth management? Visit ValentWealth.com to learn more about their educational approach and relationship-first philosophy that's changing how clients view financial planning.

To learn more about Valent Wealth go to: 

http://www.timgottus.com/

Valent Wealth

[phone]

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.

SPEAKER_01 (00:13):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a wealthmanagement firm and financial
coach?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
Tim Goddess with Valent Wealth.

SPEAKER_02 (00:29):
Tim, how's it going?
It's going well.
It's going well.
I appreciate you having me ontoday.

SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Yeah, thanks for being here.
We're excited to learn all aboutyou and your business.
So please tell us more aboutyour company.

SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
Sure.
Yeah.
Valent Wealth was born basicallyout of the desire to create an
organization to fulfill on somany shortcomings our industry
has.
Obviously, lead with an ethicalfoundation with our clients.
And you can think of us as abunch of typically one to two

(01:04):
decade, 10-year advisors thathave been through the tumultuous
uh financial industry and chosea better way and a better path
forward.
That's what we think the worldreally needs.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Very good.
How did you get into thisbusiness?
I know you said you have ahistory in finance.
Can you expand on that a little?

SPEAKER_02 (01:27):
Sure, yeah.
Um during, well, rewind wayback.
I was always interested infinance.
Uh, we I grew up in a we'llcharacterize it as a financially
instable household.
Um up to a certain age, wethought all landlords were evil,
me and my brother.
And then I realized, oh, well,when you don't pay the rent,

(01:50):
that's what it looks like.
So, you know, just reallycurious in finance.
I've always been curious aboutit.
Um, I've always seen thefinancial, I'll call it
affliction, you know, in myfamily.
Uh, so it was important to me tolearn more about it.
And as I went through school andcollege, I got a little closer
to it and then had uh chose mycareer and jumped into it.

(02:13):
So that's kind of how we gotthere.
Um you know that that's adifferent route too.
Uh passionate about serving andhelping.
I never really liked sales.
Our industry is filled withsalespeople under the disguise
of advisors.
So I often don't we'll just sayI don't really like our industry
much.

(02:33):
But you know, I took a routewhere nobody pays you an income,
you just have to figure it out.
And it was a harder route, but Ididn't want like the I wanted
the ability to offer everythingto my clients and not sitting at
company X.
That means I have to sellproduct X.
So that's kind of how it gotgoing.
Um tough industry, it was atough build.

(02:55):
So first 10 years were weredifficult, and you know, after
that just got a lot of momentumand and kind of built in a we'll
call it like a personal CFO typeservice, which was really trendy
terminology back in 2004 orfive.
Um, but you know, I really justlike to sit on the side of the
table with the client and makesure that whether we're looking

(03:18):
at dealing with their insuranceagent, their CPA, their business
advisor, their group benefits,you know, we could serve in all
those capacities.
And we have a lot of thoseprofessionals at arm's length to
help serve.
So I think that was kind of whatchanged a lot for me, and that's
what really led me down thefeed-based planning side and
getting away from relying oncommission based and

(03:41):
product-centric.
And that's why I opened with WeAre Product Agnostic.

SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Very cool.
So, really wanting to offer thatall-encompassing service to your
clients is great.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (03:54):
Oh, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
No, that's all right.
Um, are there any myths or maybemisconceptions in your industry
that you'd like to talk abouttoday?

SPEAKER_02 (04:03):
Uh about 80% of it.
But uh, but yeah, I I I thinkthe uh the problem is kind of
like I alluded to earlier.
I mean, people are, I'll say itthis way: this game is stacked
against most people, whether itcomes from cash flow planning,
whether it comes from investing,the information that's out there

(04:24):
is not great.
And we actually do a lot ofeducation.
So our clients are educatedabout everything we do before we
dive in and implement anything.
Um, and walking through that,they quickly understand and
realize how the informationworks against them.
And people just to me, I'll saythis to me, finance is one of

(04:47):
the most intimate things insomebody's life.
It can transcend intorelationship issues, physical,
mental issues, stress.
Uh, so it touches every area ofa person's life.
And that's kind of what alwaysfired me up is being able to sit
on the same side of the tablewith them, help them in all the
areas that are specific to them.

(05:08):
Uh, where, yeah, Google and chatcan offer some insight, but how
does that really fit into aperson's life?
And I feel like that was somissed in our industry.
So that's kind of been theemphasis of our model of how we
interact with clients, whetherthey're individual professional
clients or businesses.
So, you know, the TikTok spaceand social media space is filled

(05:34):
with people that can make anyclaims out there.
And our industry is very flawedin the fact that to make certain
claims, if you're licensed as atrue uh professional, and that
comes in the context of uh manydifferent designations, etc.
But if you're a fiduciary, youcan't go out there and say those
things you can on social media.

(05:56):
So there's a ton of horrific badadvice or just general blanket
advice that an individual, youor me, we might look similar in
certain fashions, but thefinancial world is so different.
So that's kind of the emphasison I think what what kept us
running, what drove us togetheras a as a firm, uh, independent

(06:18):
people that kind of felt thesame way about our industry, had
enough of the older big brokerdealers that are just
product-centric and limit whatwe can and can't do with our
clients, even if it was reallybeneficial to them.
So that's how we, you know,Valent Wealth was born, and
that's how we operate still.

SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
So as you're looking for these individuals and these
corporations that want theservices that you're offering,
and we're thinking aboutmarketing as the heart of any
business, right?
How are you attracting them tothe firm currently?

SPEAKER_02 (06:52):
Well, there's a there's a number of ways.
I I've been in this uh capacityfor 23-ish years.
So a lot of the people that Imeet come from word of mouth
from my personal clients.
Um, in the business space, wework with many business planning
professionals across thecountry.
So a lot of that is, you know,when an owner gets to a specific

(07:14):
time, whether it's an exit of acompany or selling something
highly appreciated, we have taxstrategies that are very centric
to that transaction and limitingand diminishing as much as
possible.
So that word spreads fast.
So we get a lot of introductionsfrom maybe CPAs, uh attorneys in
that space that deal withbusinesses, etc.

(07:35):
Uh, so that's typically how wemeet people.

SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
Gotcha.
Have you ever thought aboutmaybe doing your own podcast to
reach your audience?

SPEAKER_02 (07:44):
I have, yeah.
I have done that.
And and you, you know, it's it'sone of those areas where I would
like to do that.
I think it's fun.
I've I've done interviews withclients before and use that in
uh like a large industry advisorsession when we're doing
coaching with multiple advisors.
Uh, but it's just that wholetime, you know, just trying to

(08:05):
find the time and a busypractice to do it.
And and that's not a greatexcuse.
And I feel like today you canjust take out your cell phone
and do it.
So, you know, don't need to havea whole studio, but sometimes
perfection gets in the way oflike good.

SPEAKER_01 (08:20):
Sure, sure.
Yeah, and sometimes done isbetter than perfect, but I
understand that.
So, outside of work, what do youdo for fun?

SPEAKER_02 (08:28):
Oh well, travel a lot.
I do a lot of business travel.
Um, I do enjoy spending timewith clients.
I mean, we'rerelationship-based, so clients
are like friends after a while.
So that's a lot of fun.
Um, pretty big in the personalhealth space.
So working out, doing thingslike that are great.
I've had previous poor healthissues in the 30s that came out

(08:50):
of nowhere that caused me to behyper focused on it.
And I've got two kids.
One's in college right now,second year at the University of
Alabama.
That keeps us busy.
It's nice to go down there andcatch some SEC football.
And then my youngest son, I'vealways coached all his sports.
Now he's deep into high schooland beyond my coaching
abilities.
So it we have a good time goingto sporting events and doing

(09:13):
things like that as a family.

SPEAKER_01 (09:15):
Oh, very cool.
Very good.
So, Tim, please tell ourlisteners one thing that they
should remember about ValentVal.

SPEAKER_02 (09:25):
I think one thing is we are outside of the industry
norm.
I think that's you know, spokena lot.
Every firm says they have uniqueabilities, capabilities, etc.
But, you know, we are justreally in tune with the
relationship and being involvedin that.
Products, all those things comeafter the fact.
So, you know, we look for, andand I myself, I don't like

(09:49):
transactional business.
I like the relationships.
That's why I think we thrive sowell in that personal feed-based
planning space.

SPEAKER_01 (09:57):
Absolutely.
And how can our listeners learnmore about Balent Wealth?

SPEAKER_02 (10:02):
Um, our website is a good resource.
Uh, Visenvictor, A-L-E-N-TWealth.com.
Uh, we do constant coaching, wedo education through there, we
do whether it's a niche likeinvesting, we'll do a couple
podcasts or I'm sorry, we'll doa couple presentations per
month.

(10:22):
Uh, so they can always come inand register for those things.
That's a great way to learnabout us and get experience with
hey, these people actuallyeducate, they're not
salespeople.

SPEAKER_01 (10:33):
They know what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 (10:35):
That's right.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (10:36):
Very good.
Well, Tim, I very muchappreciate your time today and
having you as a guest on theshow.
We wish you and the business thevery best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 (10:47):
Oh, thank you.
Same to you, and it's a pleasuregetting a chance to share a talk
with you today.

SPEAKER_01 (10:52):
Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on the
show, go to gnppittsburgh.com.
That's gnppittsburgh.com or call412 561 9956.