Today we’d like to introduce you to Phillip Hulme.
Hi Phillip, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I enlisted in the United States Army after graduating from high school in the shadow of the events of 9/11. Coming from a military family I felt drawn to service. I enlisted as a signal soldier (25F) in 2004 and earned several awards and decorations including the combat action badge, parachutist badge, joint service commendation medal and global war on terrorism service medal among others.
During my time in service I witnessed the avalanche of financial hardships that buried many of my fellow service members and their families. Watching my colleagues and their families make tough choices and dredge through the financial hardships of deployments, training, constant moves and military spouse disruptions in employment all left a mark on me. While I had begun my own journey of self-study in the world of personal finance and investing I watched many of peers struggle. When the recession hit in 2008 things only got worse.
After seven and a half years of service, I transitioned to civilian life to pursue higher education knowing I wanted to work in finance. I earned a B.S. of Business in finance, magna cum laude, and MBA with concentrations in finance and strategy both from the University of Florida. I was recognized with a peer professionalism award, distinguished service award and a scholar of the year award during my higher education journey. While I was learning about finance at university I was also learning about the many struggles my friends and family members who were veterans were encountering now on the other side of their service.
Upon graduation from the UF MBA program I took a full-time role at Johnson & Johnson in their corporate finance organization. I worked in corporate finance there but quickly learned that corporate finance lacked the human element that I thrive on. I discovered about myself that I need to feel like I am making an impact on a personal level to feel energized. I later went to work for IBM in a sales role to pursue that more human to human interaction I craved but found that leaving my love for finance behind wasn’t going to work for me either.
On account of having been thrifty, frugal and an active investor, I found myself in the unique position of having reached financial independence at the young age of 34. That milestone left me with an uncomfortable question, “If I don’t have to work for money anymore, then what do I want to do with my life?”
After a few months of reflecting on what I was good at and most passionate about I decided that I wanted to help military and veteran families with their finances. It’s the community I love, and the type of career that allows me to be around people everyday making a person impact with a skillset I enjoy.
Unfortunately, I found out in quick order that the big financial institutions tend to avoid military and veteran families because they don’t fit into their business model. That is when I decided to create Stars & Stripes Financial Advisors, a financial advisory firm that puts military members, veterans and their families at the heart of everything we do. Stars & Stripes Financial Advisors launched in the beginning of 2022 and has been serving our community ever since.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Launching any business is a struggle and I experienced a fair share of my own.
The year I launched Stars & Stripes Financial Advisors was the same year inflation spiked and the stock market took a dive. As somebody who is leveraging an investment portfolio to live off of that is perhaps the worst case scenario. Luckily I had planned for a circumstance like that and waited to launch my firm until I had two full years of cash on hand to avoid a forced sale in my portfolio. I think one of the biggest reasons new businesses fail is not having enough cash upfront to absorb early shocks like we experienced in 2022.
In 2024 I got hit with another unexpected issue, Google had changed their algorithm. Almost overnight my website traffic had dropped by 90% and my new leads dried up with it. Luckily i had been tracking my KPI’s every month so I knew relatively quickly I had a problem on my hands and could begin addressing it. It was one of those experiences when you realize just how interdependent your company is on other companies to attract new clients and deliver quality service. That’s neve a fun experience.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Stars & Stripes Financial Advisors?
Stars & Stripes financial Advisors is a fee-only financial advisory firm that specializes in serving military members, veterans and their families. We operate a s a fiduciary which means we have to put our client’s best interest first always and if a conflict does arise we must resolve it in our client’s favor.
This is a very different model from the typical financial services company that charges fees for selling financial products because they are incentivized to convince people that their product will solve their problem. They get kick backs and commissions for selling you something. Stars & Stripes Financial Advisors on the other hand only sells our advice so we don’t get kickbacks or commissions which lets us give you the advice we believe is best for you without that financial incentive whispering in our ear.
We strive to make our services as accessible as possible by offering three types of services; hourly financial advice, ongoing comprehensive financial planning, and investment management services. By providing these services separately we are able to onboard clients without income or asset minimums which makes our services accessible to our community of service members and veterans.
I would say that I am most proud of our commitment to accessibility. It doesn’t matter what stage of wealth accumulation someone is at we can serve them. What that means is better financial outcomes for veterans and service members because they don’t already have to be wealthy to get financial advice.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Obviously, my wife Debbie has been a tremendous support. She was a big advocate for me venturing out on my own and always encouraged me to pursue my career and passions relentlessly. Even though I had the financial ability to not have to work, I think it still took courage on her part to support me as I made this transition to being more self-reliant. The fear of the unknown can be an obstacle for anyone.
Another crucial group who deserves credit is the XY Planning Network (XYPN). They have a real top notch community that works behind the scenes to help launch and support financial advisory firms such as my own. To say that they have been instrumental i my success would be an understatement.
Last but not least I owe a debt of gratitude to each and every client that has placed their trust in me. They are the ones that let me live out my dream and do the work that I do on a daily basis.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.starsandstripesfinancialadvisors.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starsandstripesfa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077038699913
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-hulme/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@starsandstripesfa
