Brian Waddell Advisor

Brian Waddell Advisor I help business owners and successful families make smarter financial decisions so their wealth actually lasts.

I hold degrees in business management and finance, have been
appointed with the Retirement Income Certified Professional
(RICP®) designation from the American College, and I serve as an
Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®). Outside of my professional capacity I am passionate about
restoring trust and personal development, in 2022 I founded Dads
in Business™, a community organization aimed at building better
foundations for family and business. In 2023 I launched The DREAM
Team™ in partnership with Make-A-Wish foundation to help deliver
real experiences and memories to families with children battling
critical illness. I am blessed with an intelligent and caring daughter
Aleksandra who grows too fast, and am a longtime resident of West
Hartford. I enjoy golf, guitar and mountains are my happy place

It was 530am and I had maybe two hours of good sleep. But that doesn't mean you can't still have an amazing conversation...
10/10/2026

It was 530am and I had maybe two hours of good sleep.

But that doesn't mean you can't still have an amazing conversation with an amazing human being.

She was going to Chicago for an annual trip to speak to two congregations of primarily Black women about faith and domestic violence.

Her energy, her composure, and her spirit were so uplifting…

It didn't make a difference that I was tired, that kind of energy is contagious and inspirational!

Thank you for one of the better conversations. I’ve had recently First Cavalry Church Cheshire ct

I look forward to spreading the good word about family financial conversations!

So the next time you're on a plane, don't forget to say hello to the person next to you.

Who are the best people you’ve met while flying?

Good golfers play every hole backwards.They pick where they want the ball to finish, and then they choose the club off t...
10/07/2026

Good golfers play every hole backwards.

They pick where they want the ball to finish, and then they choose the club off the tee.

Your business works the same way, and many owners never decide where they want to finish.

That was the heart of my panel this week, how owner’s compensation, ownership structure, tax planning, key person retention and exit planning all work back from the finish line.

Then we tested that theory on the course after at TPC River Highlands.

Some exit strategies take years of planning, ours took about four and a half hours…

Business is a lot like golf, and you play better with the right partners in your group!

Regret compounds faster than interest.I've never seen that on a financial statement but I've watched it destroy more wea...
10/01/2026

Regret compounds faster than interest.

I've never seen that on a financial statement but I've watched it destroy more wealth than any market crash ever did.

The client who waited one more year to retire and never got there.

The couple who kept putting off the conversation until there was nothing left to plan around.

The dad who told himself he'd be more present once things slowed down.

Things never slowed down.

Here's what nobody tells you about regret.

It doesn't show up all at once.

It builds the same way wealth does, quietly, in the background, one small decision at a time, until one day you look up and the math doesn't work anymore.

Except with regret you can't rebalance the portfolio.

You can't dollar cost average your way back in.

The time is just gone.

I've sat across from people who had more money than they could spend in three lifetimes and couldn't sleep at night because of the years they didn't get back.

And I've sat across from people who had a fraction of that and lived with more peace of mind than anyone I've ever met.

The difference was never the number.

It was the decision to stop waiting for the right moment and start designing the life they actually wanted.

The most expensive strategy in life is waiting.

And unlike a bad investment, you can't recover the time.

We obsess over rate of return and ignore the return on living fully right now.
Both compound.

One of them you can get back.

If you've been waiting for the right moment to figure this out, this is it.

I'm not afraid of bad markets.I'm afraid of the guy sitting across from me who has more than enough and still can't slee...
09/24/2026

I'm not afraid of bad markets.

I'm afraid of the guy sitting across from me who has more than enough and still can't sleep at night.

Nobody tells you that building wealth and enjoying wealth require completely different skills.

Building wealth rewards sacrifice.

Delayed gratification, discipline, saying no, running lean, reinvesting everything, grinding when nobody's watching.

Those are the habits that get you there.

And then you get there.

And those exact same habits start working against you.

Because now the skill you need isn't accumulation.

It's permission.

Permission to take the trip without checking the portfolio first.

Permission to write the check for your kid without running the numbers three times.

Permission to enjoy what you spent thirty years building without feeling like you're doing something wrong.

I've sat with people who had more than they could spend in two lifetimes and still winced at a restaurant bill.

The discipline that built the account was now quietly standing between them and their own life.

This is the conversation nobody in this industry wants to have because it doesn't sound like financial advice.

But it's the most important thing I do.

Because a technically perfect financial plan that leaves someone afraid to live is not a good plan.

The goal was never the number.

The goal was always the life on the other side of it.

Building it is one skill.

Actually living it is another.

If you've spent your whole life getting good at the first one, it might be time to work on the second.

That's exactly the conversation I'm here to have.

Fourteen years in, and the best parts of this business are standing next to me in this picture.We had 125 clients with u...
09/18/2026

Fourteen years in, and the best parts of this business are standing next to me in this picture.

We had 125 clients with us at Saint Clements Castle in Portland, CT this week.

This is the team that keeps raising the bar on the experience we deliver, and they raise it on me too.

When you surround yourself with the right people long enough and improve a little bit every day... anyone can get lucky once in a while!

The most rewarding part of this journey will always be the growth of the people around us.

Thank you to everyone who is a part of ours!

Nobody prepares you for the silence after the biggest win of your life.Decades of building something from nothing.The la...
09/16/2026

Nobody prepares you for the silence after the biggest win of your life.

Decades of building something from nothing.

The late nights, the payroll stress, the deals that almost didn't close….

And then it works… so much that it’s worth more than you thought…

And then the offer comes in at a number you can't say no to.

The wire hits and for about seventy two hours everything feels exactly like you thought it would.

Then Monday comes.

No meeting to run.

No team waiting on a decision.

No fire to put out.

And the phone that used to never stop ringing gets very quiet.

Business owners don't struggle financially when they exit….

They struggle emotionally.

Identity, purpose, the feeling of being needed by something bigger than yourself.

None of that transfers with the wire.

Selling your business doesn't automatically buy your freedom.

Freedom takes as much design as the business did.

And most owners spend twenty years designing the exit and twenty minutes designing what comes after it.

The financial plan is the easy part.

The life plan is what most people never build.

If you're building toward something, let's make sure it's worth arriving at.

There is no present more valuable than your presence.I forgot that for a while and I'm not afraid to admit it.I was walk...
09/02/2026

There is no present more valuable than your presence.
I forgot that for a while and I'm not afraid to admit it.

I was walking my dog at the reservoir in West Hartford this afternoon.

Beautiful day.

Perfectly blue sky.

I walked past a bench where a mother was sitting with her son.

Both on their phones.

Both with AirPods in.

Opposite ends of the bench.

Together and completely alone.

I'm not here to judge.

Because I've been that person.

I used to be pretty disciplined about keeping my phone away when I was with my daughter.

That discipline slipped and I didn't even notice until I saw it from the outside looking in.

That's the thing about habits.

They don't disappear loudly.

One of my first Strategic Coach workshops a coach told a story about almost dying in a car accident.

In that moment of crisis all she could think about was the day before at a mall on her phone while her son walked beside her.

She thought if that was her last day that's what he would remember.

We don't get the days back.

Every day we have is our legacy.

We never know what the last thing someone is going to remember us for is.

Put the phone down.

They won't always be this little.

All the money in the world won't get you bungee jumping at 90.Most people are saving for a version of life they won't be...
08/27/2026

All the money in the world won't get you bungee jumping at 90.

Most people are saving for a version of life they won't be able to live.

Here's a question I ask clients that changes everything.

Imagine $1 million on the table right in front of you.

You can only spend it on personal enjoyment, adventure and experiences with your family.

What do you do with it?

You probably think of a few things fast.

Trips, experiences, memories that last generations.

Now fast forward 30 years.

Same $1 million, grew to $2 million.

Same deal, only spend it on enjoyment and adventure.

What are you actually going to be able to do at 90 that you can do right now?

I posed this to a client recently and watched his whole face change.

That's the life present value of a dollar.

Even though it's worth less today financially, it goes a hell of a lot further toward actually living.

We are not always advocates for maximum deferral.

There has to be a system in place that shows you exactly how much you can enjoy today without sacrificing tomorrow.

Because even your kids, if you ask them, would probably rather have a little bit of you and your resources right now than everything you saved when you're gone.

None of us are taking it with us.

The question is how much of it you're willing to enjoy while you still can.

If you've never had someone show you that number, that's where we start.

08/14/2026

The biggest growth lesson: you don’t have to row the boat alone.

As Joel Russell of Eimagine puts it, partnerships can open doors, build credibility, and help small companies compete in a much bigger pond.

There’s plenty of work to go around. Think abundance, not competition.

The right partners don’t make your piece of the pie smaller. They make the pie bigger. 🤝

08/10/2026

We spend so much time trying to be available to everyone that we end up being fully present for no one.

Address

65 LaSalle Road Suite 200
West Hartford, CT
06107

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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