I started my professional financial career at Dain Bosworth in 1995 as a commission stock and bond broker.In 1999, I found a home in fee-based Financial Planning and fee-based investment management. Now I am an "independent financial planner and investment advisor” at Gruning Financial LLC and my broker/dealer is Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. (Fairfield, Iowa). My client relationships are fee-based for securities and planning advice and this makes me their ‘fiduciary’. This was a big change for me but I realized that removing the real or apparent “conflict of interest” with my clients was very important. As a Planner and Advisor, clients know exactly how I am compensated for the work I do. For financial planning work, I charge just like my attorney, my CPA, or my physician does, by the hour; everyone understands this.For instance, they know that when I make a change (buy or sell) to their investment portfolio my goal is to improve asset performance within their ‘personal risk tolerance parameters’. They know I am compensated for a fee determined by the value of their accounts. As the value of their investment accounts increase so do my fees, good we both “win”. This works both ways as there were large drops in financial markets with the tech crash 2000 - 2003 and more recently the crash starting in October of 2007 through March of 2009. My clients know that I have shared some of their pain during tough times.Specialties: Financial Planning (both comprehensive & project oriented), Financial & Investment Advice, Estate Planning, Strategic & Tactical Asset Allocation (with Monte Carlo Simulation), Personal and Property Risk Analysis.