Meet Paul Michel, CFP® | Founder & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Michel, CFP® and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started Provident Financial Planning in 2017 because I felt that clients were frustrated with the national firm I was with previously due to the boilerplate strategy and constraints on advice. It was like I was hosting a dinner and guests were leaving early! I believe that what clients want is holistic advice for all things financial. They also want a partner who can integrate wealth management, taxes and estate planning. Most clients play the role of quarterback between these three areas of their life, but what they need is for someone to lead them and maximize the efficiency between these areas. That’s what I set out to do by creating Provident Financial Planning and that’s how we currently serve clients, through our in-house JD, CPA, CFP® advisory team. Oh, and clients want to receive the same common sense, straight-forward advice you would give your family members; we do that too.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started Provident Financial Planning in 2017. We are a fiduciary only, flat-fee, investment advisor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which means we are regulated at the federal level and can conduct business in all fifty states. We have several key differentiators. First, we have in-house JD, CPA and CFP® expertise which allows us to fully integrate investments, taxes and estate planning for our clients. Our second differentiator is our flat-fee. This model allows us to provide advice to clients with no conflict of our compensation increasing or decreasing. When advisors receive commissions or a percentage-based fee determined by the amount of money the client entrusts with that advisor, the advisor is immediately conflicted and the advice they provide could be influenced by the compensation the advisor could receive or would forego. Unfortunately, not all advisors are held to the standard of giving clients the “best” advice, which means they are are meeting their requirement when they simply provide clients “suitable” advice. Many people don’t understand these nuances, which is why we provide clients with a flat-fee model which eliminates this conflict of interest. Our third differentiator is our Christian faith. Colossians 3:23 compels us to “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.” We see our work as a ministry to others which is why we provide the same common-sense straight-forward advice to our clients that we provide our own family members.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We love living in DFW because of all the amenities, sports teams, shopping, entertainment. We live in Castle Hills, which is a community with 25 parks, multiple pools and lots of activities for the kids throughout the year. One of my favorite things to do is to escape from some of the busyness. Throughout the summer, we go as a family to Rockin’ S Bar and Grill at Hidden Cove Park in Frisco. The restaurant is out on the water over Lake Lewisville, attached to the marina. Boats come and go and the atmosphere makes you feel like you have escaped from the ordinary day-to-day routine. You get a taste of being at the lake without the expense of boat ownership!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I had many people take the time to give me candid advice along my journey. I think that’s one of the key elements, is to be sure you are asking direct questions to people around you who you trust. Once they respond, ask them to clarify and tell you more, so you fully understand their message. Next, you have to absorb their message, even when you don’t agree or like what is being said. Someone once told me, “never accept criticism from a person you wouldn’t seek out for advice.” My addition to this statement is that you need to listen and absorb the advice and criticism from the people you trust. Not a lot of people will become the “mentor” you might imagine, where they sit down with you for 90 minutes each quarter, but don’t let that stop you from building relationships with people you want advice from so that you can open the door in the conversation to get their opinions. Shout out to Denny, a mentor to me in 2008-2009 who challenged me to move away from working with clients in the traditional commission-based model. His wisdom set me on a much different course, which ultimately has positioned me to be the trusted advisor for all things financial to my clients.

Website: www.ProvidentFinancialPlanning.com

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/provident-financial-planning