There’s a moment in every long relationship, whether it’s a marriage, a friendship, or a career, when you look around and realize the people beside you aren’t there by accident.
They stayed on purpose.
That’s the feeling I keep coming back to as Financial Symmetry approaches its 25th anniversary. For nearly twenty of those years, I’ve had the privilege of being part of this team and watching it grow.
Twenty-five years of clients trusting us with something deeply personal. Twenty-five years of people joining our team, finding their place, growing into new roles and, in many cases, becoming owners themselves.
Twenty-five years of choosing to build this place together.
Ownership Enhances How We Show Up
Every firm can tell you what it does. Fewer can tell you why in a way that actually changes how decisions get made.
At Financial Symmetry, we believe the people doing the work should have a real stake in the outcome of that work. Today, more than half of our employees are invested as owners of the firm, representing financial advising, tax planning, operations, and portfolio management.
Our commitment to extending ownership reflects something we’ve believed for a long time: ownership enhances how we show up. It creates a different kind of accountability for the decisions we make today and for the firm we’re building for tomorrow. Because our advisors and shareholders are also Financial Symmetry clients, we experience our work from both sides of the table.
Choosing to Start Here and Stay
Today, 55% of our team has been part of FSI for five years or more. Several of our advisors and leaders have built careers here spanning 15, 20, 25 years. Our founder, Bill Ramsay, has spent more than 30 years serving clients as a fiduciary advisor and providing the vision behind what Financial Symmetry has become today.
There’s something incredibly meaningful about looking around a company and seeing people you’ve worked alongside for five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years. Over that time, many of us have celebrated milestones together, both our own and those of our clients. We’ve also been there for the quieter moments that are simply part of life.
After nearly twenty years here myself, I don’t think that kind of tenure happens by chance.
People stay when there is still room to grow. When their role can evolve as they do. When they trust the people around them. And when they feel like they’re part of something worth building.
I hope our clients feel the impact of that longevity, too.
Some of the advisors sitting across from clients today began their FSI careers in support roles, helping with onboarding and learning our approach to wealth management. Over time, they grew into advisors helping clients make decisions about their futures.
When we look ten years down the road, we want the people around the table or on the other side of the screen to continue knowing you, your family, your history, and what matters to you. Continuity is its own kind of care.
Growing the Next Generation
There’s another 25th anniversary at FSI this year: our internship program.
It has been part of Financial Symmetry since the beginning, and today, more than half of our team began their FSI careers as interns. Some are now senior leaders and shareholders.
They started where our interns still start today: learning different parts of our business, contributing meaningful work, and discovering where their interests and strengths might take them.
Not everyone follows the same path. Someone may begin on our Client Service Team and discover an interest in Portfolio Management. A member of our Tax team may decide to pursue our Advisor in Training program. Someone else may build deep expertise in operations or financial planning.
That flexibility is intentional. We want people to see paths forward without assuming there is only one path worth taking. When we invest in people early and continue investing as their careers evolve, we are developing future leaders. For some, that also means becoming future owners of Financial Symmetry.
What I Hope 25 Years Means
If you’re a client, I hope our anniversary offers a quiet kind of reassurance. The people helping care for your wealth at Financial Symmetry have a meaningful stake in the firm serving you. We’re thinking beyond the decisions in front of us today. We’re also thinking about our people and the organization we want to be for you years from now.
And if you’re considering where to build your career, I hope our story feels like an invitation. You don’t have to know exactly where your career will take you on day one. You should have the opportunity to learn, explore, develop your strengths, and find work that matters to you.
Twenty-five years in, we could celebrate a lot of numbers: assets under management, clients served, employees hired, and years in business. Those numbers matter.
But as our team plans our anniversary celebration, I keep coming back to something simpler: I’m proud of the people who have chosen to build their careers here, and deeply grateful to the clients who have chosen us along the way.
Twenty-five years of choosing each other. Here’s to what we build next.
