Name: Stephen Weatherby

Title: Certified Financial Planner™

SH&J team member since: September, 2012

Having grown up in Texas, what prompted you to move to Colorado? Have you carried any specific Texas traditions out here with you?

My family was one of those “Texas Families” that clogged the roads in Colorado during the summer. We would vacation here every year. I always said that one day I would live here. After graduating college, and working in Austin for a while, I just decided to make the move. I love everything about Colorado, but miss the BBQ and Tex-Mex food from my home state.

Being someone who loves the outdoors, what are some of the activities you enjoy most? Do you have a favorite memory or specific moment that stands out for you?

I love to camp and go fly fishing. Some of my favorite memories are doing both of these with my son, Jack. One of my favorite memories is when Jack caught his first fish on a fly rod outside of Silverton, CO a few summers ago.

What do you love most about living in Colorado Springs?

I like the small town feel with the convenience of a larger city. There are also a lot of parks, trails, and beautiful scenery to enjoy on the weekends.

Living in Colorado Springs, and commuting to Denver every day for work means you spend quite a bit of time in your car. What helps you pass the time?

Audio books! I listen to a lot of books. Some of them are educational, but admittedly, most are for entertainment.

You have an extensive background in financial planning. Tell us a bit about your career path, including your work with the military, and how that ultimately led you to Sharkey, Howes & Javer.

I graduated with a very specific degree from Texas Tech University. The degree was in Family Financial Planning. While it had the traditional Finance, Economics, and Accounting classes, it really focused on the people aspect of financial planning. We really dug deep into trying to understand people and their relationships with money, and how that affected all aspects of their lives. I knew I wanted to be on the Fee Only side of the business before I began my career.

One of my previous stops was with a government contractor that provided financial education and training for all branches of the military. This was appealing to me for several reasons. It allowed me to provide education and financial planning services to a group that traditionally may not have had access to financial planning that wasn’t geared around a product sale. It also allowed me to travel to places that I would most likely have never been able to travel to on my own. I loved every minute of the work during this job, but I was hardly ever home. I made the choice to start looking for a more traditional position with a fee only firm in Colorado. I looked for over 2 years before I found Sharkey, Howes, and Javer. After interviewing with SH&J, and hearing about their client relationships and how they approached financial planning, I was sold.