A life worth documenting, and a plan worth keeping.

Faith

Years ago, a couple asked Wendell a question that only had room for a yes or a no. He answered "yes, you can't" — and in explaining the joke, realized how often the real answer to a hard question is a choice, not a verdict. That idea became the root philosophy behind his firm's logo: every day hands you a fork in the road, and many of them are worth walking toward with faith rather than hesitation.

This section is about that kind of faith — the quiet, daily confidence that hard things are survivable, that choices compound, and that showing up again tomorrow is usually the whole strategy. As an active believer in his faith, with Jesus Christ at the center of that faith, he has a deep belief that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father, who truly wants what's best for each of us.

Family

Wendell and his wife Taunie have been married 35 years, they raised six children (mostly Taunie!) and now count soon-to-be seventeen grandchildren — which is to say, most of what he knows about long-term planning, he learned at a kitchen table before he ever learned it in an office. Loneliness research keeps confirming what grandparents already knew: connection isn't a nice-to-have, it's a measurable part of a well-lived life. Relationships matter. And family relationships matter most!

Here you'll find stories and field notes on staying close to the people who matter, and on planning finances in a way that passes down more than money — it passes down the values that made the money mean something.

Finances

This is the pillar Wendell has spent his career on — as principal of Yield Financial Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisory firm he founded in 2012, and before that as a senior financial consultant, and General Securities Principal; he has used his education, an MBA, Bachelors in Family Financial Planning and Counseling, and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) to assist families in reaching their goals. The work has never been to predict markets; it's to prepare for Life, so decisions get made from clarity instead of fear.

Money is emotional, it's really not numbers, numbers are just an expression of our emotions. What we have or don't have is based on our perception of life, the life we want to live. Where and how we use the numbers (money) reflects our priorities or the things we value most. Managing money (numbers) can come down to how we control our emotions.

Below are recent notes from the practice — on taxes, risk, retirement timing, and the financial decisions that quietly shape everything else.

Fitness

Not every fitness story starts in a gym. Wendell's own approach leans toward low-impact, sustainable movement — the kind that respects a body that's earned some mileage, and that you can actually keep doing for the next twenty years. Fitness began as a goal to keep up with a Boy Scout Troop he was leading years ago. It moved into running, walking and hiking. With a few injuries the idea of more gentle, consistent practices like low-impact exercises make the case better than any high-intensity fad: small, steady sessions compound the same way disciplined saving does.

Being able to enjoy the great outdoors is important to his photographic work, so staying active is part of that. He and his wife go camping monthly. Years ago on one trip, it rained seven of the nine days they were camping, that's when they created their camping motto: Embrace the Wet! We had a choice, get wet and see the sights we drove many hours to see, or stay in the tent and be miserable. Embrace the wet and go see things, it was an amazingly fun trip!

This pillar is about the parallel between physical fitness and financial fitness — neither one is won in a single dramatic effort. Both are won in the ordinary days nobody's watching and many little decisions.

Focus

Behind a camera, focus is a decision — you choose what stays sharp and let the rest fall away. Financial planning works the same way. Wendell's process is built around preparation instead of prediction: fewer, better-chosen priorities, reviewed on purpose, rather than reacting to every headline the news media produces this week. Many of those priorities work because of the compounding effect of the little decisions we make daily.

It's the same instinct in both crafts — knowing what deserves your attention, and having the discipline to let everything else stay out of frame. This takes a lot of intentional practice, because there is a lot of noise and distractions out there that can derail goals. There are millions of shiny objects all over, all want our attention!

Future

The workforce is aging, retirement is stretching longer than it used to, and "someday" keeps arriving sooner than people plan for. Wendell's work is ultimately about that horizon — building retirement income that lasts, valuing a business before you need to sell it, and putting a real plan behind the phrase his firm values: Secure Tomorrow.

The future isn't something that happens to you. It's something you prepare for, one honest decision at a time.