I didn’t plan on becoming a financial advisor.
Most people assume I mapped this career out early. The truth is a lot more straightforward than that, and it starts with an 11-year-old kid in Central PA with a lawn mower and a stack of homemade flyers.
In this short video, I share how I found my way into this work, what I saw early in my career that convinced me there was a better way to serve clients, and why that is still what gets me to the office every morning.
Transcript
From Childhood Entrepreneur to Financial Advisor
When I was 11 years old, I started my own lawn mowing and snow shoveling business. I called it Ekim Enterprises. Ekim is just my name spelled backward. I know, it’s super original.
I made flyers on an old Apple computer, printed them on a dot matrix printer, and put them in my neighbors’ doors. We didn’t grow up with a lot, and I learned early on that if you work hard, do right by the people that you serve, and genuinely care about the outcomes, you can build something worth being proud of.
That lesson has followed me all the way from Central PA to where I am today. And it shapes a lot of what we do here at Thrive. Let me tell you how I got here.
Meet Mike Ptaszenski, Co-Founder of Thrive Wealth Management
I’m Mike Ptaszenski, one of the co-founders of Thrive Wealth Management. And after college, I took a job at SEI Investments, fielding calls from investors holding mutual funds, which is about as entry level as it gets in this business. That’s where I met Steve Erfle, and our careers pretty much ran parallel while we were at SEI.
What Top-Performing Financial Advisors Do Differently
When I moved over to the advisor network, I could clearly see what separated some of the top-performing advisors from everybody else. They actually knew their clients’ lives. They weren’t just managing accounts, they were making decisions alongside the people who trusted them completely.
Why Mike and Steve Started Thrive Wealth Management
Steve and I both ended up leaving SEI and landed at the same advisory firm, one that Goldman Sachs would go on to acquire a few years later. But in 2013, we gave up those safe, stable jobs to start Thrive. We believe there was a better way to serve clients than what we had experienced.
One that’s built on quality planning, that truly was impactful. Over more than a decade working with executives and affluent families, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern. People who have done everything right, built a career, accumulated real assets, and stayed disciplined for decades often face their most complicated financial decisions just when they have the least amount of time to deal with them.
How Consistent Saving Can Build Long-Term Wealth
What surprises many people is that the wealthiest clients we do serve today didn’t all earn enormous salaries or have major liquidity events. Many saved thousands of dollars a year, consistently, and never disrupted the compounding. The discipline was the strategy.
Thrive Wealth Management’s Approach to Financial Planning
Our job at Thrive is to protect that discipline, to build a plan around the full scope of someone’s financial life, and be the person who answers the phone when a decision needs to be made. That work looks different for every client, and the relationships that come from it are the reason that I still love what I do. The part of this work that I find most fulfilling is watching clients enjoy what they’ve built.
Helping Adult Children Without Putting Retirement at Risk
With the cost of living and housing exploding since 2021, a question I hear very frequently from our clients is whether someone can help their adult children without putting their own financial future at risk. It comes from a place of real love and concern, and through planning, we can almost always show them a path that supports both.
Financial Planning for Women Navigating Major Transitions
Over the years, we’ve also built a strong relationship with women navigating major financial transitions, whether that’s a divorce, the loss of a spouse, or simply reaching a point in life when they want their own way, their own advisor focused entirely on their situation.
Why Personal Relationships Matter in Wealth Management
The common thread across it all is that people want someone who will be straight with them, and who genuinely has their back. I got into this profession because I grew up understanding what money means to a family, not just the numbers, but the stability, the confidence, and the freedom it can provide for the people that you love. That understanding shapes how I show up for every client every day, and it’s why Steve and I built Thrive the way that we did.
Connect With Thrive Wealth Management
As your financial picture grows more complex than you’d like to manage on your own, I’d be glad to have a conversation with you. You can schedule a meeting at thrivewealth.com or call us at 215-376-5530. We look forward to connecting.
