About a decade ago, serial tech entrepreneur Calvin Williams Jr. was looking for a financial adviser to help him manage the windfall he’d received from selling a startup. He didn’t get very far.
“I wanted someone to build a path to building more wealth, but I didn’t meet their minimum,” he said. “That’s when I realized the difference between wealth management and wealth building.”
Williams’ frustration led him to launch Charlotte, North Carolina-based Freeman Capital to provide personal financial planning and a wealth building platform for people traditionally ignored by the industry. He started the firm with an advisory board of certified financial planners. A diverse chief financial planner now oversees a team of five diverse planners.
The basic features of Freeman’s services include:
- The ability to work with a human financial planner.
- No contract and low monthly fees. The $50-a-month plan allows for services such as unlimited access to the financial planner.
- Investment management. Betterment builds customized client portfolios to Freeman’s specifications.
Part of the approach involves giving clients wealth-building steps to follow. There are major foundational steps that fall into 10 different categories with hundreds of steps, explained in one-on-one educational conversations with planners, Williams said.
Clients feel an emotional impact.
“They feel a burden has been lifted; their financial anxiety has become lowered,” Williams said.
Contact Calvin Williams, CEO and founder, at calvin.williams@freemancapital.co to learn more about its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.