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Meet Cody | Interview with Cody Kowalski
55 Plays7 days ago
Phillip Ramsey hosts the latest Uncommon Wealth podcast episode featuring Cody Kowalski, the first-ever intern at Uncommon Wealth. Cody shares his journey, including his recent marriage and honeymoon, his passion for financial planning, and a potential career in ministry. Cody discusses his current role and responsibilities as an intern, focusing on creating a one-page financial plan and formulating a marketing calendar. This episode offers insights into Cody's aspirations and provides a glimpse into the unique approach Uncommon Wealth takes towards financial planning.
Timestamp Summary
- 0:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
- 0:41 Cody's Background and Internship Choice
- 3:13 Phillip's Perspective on Cody's Role
- 5:03 Cody's Excitement and Responsibilities
- 7:06 Day-to-Day Operations at Uncommon Wealth
- 10:08 Cody's Future Vision
- 13:29 Reflection and Conclusion
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Transcript
Introduction to Uncommon Wealth Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker
We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
Meet Cody Kowalski, the First Intern
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello and welcome everybody to another episode of the Uncommon Wealth Podcast where I'm your host, Philip Ramsey. Today we have Cody Kowalski in studio. That's right. All right, dude. And the reason why we wanted him is because he's our intern for the summer. Uncommon Wealth's first intern ever.
00:00:44
Speaker
And it's Cody. And so I thought it would be fun just to be able to shoot a podcast. One, what did he why did he choose Uncommon Wealth? Let's start there. And then what he's excited about for the summer, how long he's going to be here, kind of what his core job description are.
00:00:57
Speaker
And then we're going to have another podcast at the end of this. So in two months, 10 weeks ish, we're going to have another podcast. What did he learn? What are the things that we are horrible at? You know, things like that. So you guys get a behind the scenes of what Cody does.
Cody's Background and Values
00:01:11
Speaker
Uncommon wealth from, I said, maybe for an intern's perspective could be kind of fun. So Cody, what? Welcome to the show. Hello. Hello. so where do you start? I'll start here. Okay.
00:01:23
Speaker
Cody just got married 10 days ago. When on his honeymoon came back and in his first day was uncommon wealth partners, which was yesterday. Yep. This we're currently shooting this at the end of May. It's May 25th, May 28th currently, but he got married. What was the date? May 18th, May 18th, 10 days ago. yeah Literally in Iowa, in Iowa. It was great. Married to the love of his life. yep Let's go. You know? Yep. Went to California on the honeymoon. Yep. Went to Big Sur, Yosemite, flew back. Here I am.
00:01:54
Speaker
Dana, we're glad you're on the trip with us. And she gets to be the one who talks about all this stuff when you get home. So that's his wife's name, Dana. I'm sure we're going to be able to reference her at some point. But let's go back to what is your, how do we meet? Let's go there.
00:02:07
Speaker
Let's go. How did we meet? So we met, um I found, no, we met at an FP&A conference. FPA, yeah. And I saw, FPA, and I think I Googled like Uncommon Wealth or something. And I discovered your podcast and I started listening to it. And I was like, in internship search, I was like, this guy is like, he's a Christian.
00:02:27
Speaker
yeah so I started learning about him and his Christian background and how he runs his practice. I was like, this guy would be sweet to your intern for me. I started listening to bunch of the podcasts and the videos. And then actually saw one of them that i really liked, which was about, like I think, Brandon McNace and something like that. Yeah, that whole thing. That was really cool. But that's how we originally met.
00:02:44
Speaker
So then saw the podcast. Then we met in person, got coffee. And then he thought I was just some random guy. And then I was like, no, actually really like what you're doing. And I like this and that. And then was talking about internships. So I told him I had an offer. And he's like, you know I might give you an offer. and Yeah.
00:03:02
Speaker
Right there. Yeah, there we are. I remember where we were at at the FPA meeting. We were at a vendor's like little table, like vendors come at this FPA, it's Financial Planners Association.
Choosing Uncommon Wealth
00:03:11
Speaker
And we were at a vendor table and this specific vendor, i knew that he had a uh about with cancer like that was kind of like a specific thing and i remember like hey how are you doing his name is keith was like are you doing how's the cancer thing like i've been praying for you and i remember you were right there and you're like really like that was kind of the impetus of like oh that's interesting and i think that's when you got to google me and that was where we're at so what's your current major at iowa was he's an iowa state student yep you're junior yep well i'm going to be a senior You're going to be senior. Oh, yeah. You're done with your junior year. You're going to be a senior. That's right.
00:03:46
Speaker
What's your major? ah It's finance and financial planning. Yeah. Minors financial planning. um It's a good fit, right? It is. But I would say this, that ah the reason why i liked you, one, we hit it off at the coffee shop. I totally agree with that. The other is you also have a passion to do ministry.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yes. So this internship is like, do I want to do financial advising or do I want to go into the ministry route? And I would say for now or... oh currently you're still like, I don't know what God has for me, yeah which I think is really cool. yeah So I thought it was a really good opportunity to one pour into Cody and then you to be able to see kind of behind the scenes of financial planning. What does it entail?
00:04:25
Speaker
But also, ah so you did have an internship at another bigger organization. ye And I didn't feel like one, I feel like uncommon wealth is its own ah diamond in the rough, like we practice way differently. So it's almost like a ministry. Like there's times in financial planning and all in all places and all financial advisors have to jump into the trenches. yeah ah But we do things at a little bit different level. which I feel like is really helpful to have a genuine heart to minister to people yeah and then also help them with their finances. yeah It's kind of where the two collide a little bit. And so when I saw that and I saw your heart and your passion to be able to serve other people, I thought this could be an actually really cool partnership that
Unique Financial Planning Approach
00:05:10
Speaker
we could help you. You can have an idea of what this does or how we practice uncommonly.
00:05:15
Speaker
And then we could see if this is a good fit or not. Yeah. So, um, so Dana, you've been married. now you come back yesterday was his first day yeah and it seems like it went really well because the conversation with Dina, it seems like it went a long time. Yeah. It didn't have much time to sleep ah because they're just excited about their life and we all have been there. Uh, don't you love it? So you have your whole life ahead of you.
00:05:39
Speaker
What do you feel like you were most excited about between uncommon wealth and and this other company that you guys were kind of talking through. Because dana Dana's part of the part of the family now. So trying to figure out which one take. Which one to go with. Yeah. So with Uncommon Wealth, so it's going to be fun. i haven't actually got to sit in on any planning meetings, any actual client meetings like in person yet. Yep. um Or virtually.
00:06:02
Speaker
So but even just hearing from the podcast, hearing about your interesting approach to want to not only find you planning for someone, but learn what makes their heartbeat, what they enjoy doing and to get them doing a job that isn't.
00:06:16
Speaker
um Not necessarily just to get paid, but something that they love to do and they actually don't even want to retire from. That's right. I was like, that's that's something I've never heard of. And if I want to be a financial planner, I don't want to do normal financial planning and just, you know say, work with uber rich folks. and you know And that's great. And I also want to help with that. But I also didn't. specific niche to be able to go directly and to figure out what people love and almost perspective their life and be like you're really good at this how can we get you doing this and make money doing what's your baseline i was like that is something i've never heard of and i was like let's just do it let's figure it out and it's cool that's kind of how i ended up picking i also like the idea that uh philip has that christian background and because he does it like the other company was more i would have um
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, it just didn't have that same yeah background. but We talked about this a little bit yesterday, but I feel like you could come and play Juco and you could start. Yeah.
Cody's Projects and Future Plans
00:07:09
Speaker
Or you could go to a big for you know ah big team. Yeah, you can you can have great practices, but basically you're going to be on the bench when it comes to like real life stuff. like this is The possibilities are endless here at Uncommon Wealth to not only sit in on the meetings, because I feel like our clients would love to have you part of that. Yeah.
00:07:27
Speaker
but also then take on some responsibilities that maybe you wouldn't have at other places. Exactly. So I'm super excited about that. So tell us what, so what does like the outline of your responsibilities look like here at Uncommon Wealth?
00:07:41
Speaker
What is like your big things that you're going to help us with that helped us over the next 10 weeks? And then what are your kind of current roles in a day to day? Now, again, this is your second day. So for you to be able to answer all this, you probably don't know. but Yeah, hit me. So big roles.
00:07:55
Speaker
As a company, Philip wants to implement a one-page financial plan. um And ah my job is to, okay, learn how to, what is it going to look like? How are we going specifically...
00:08:08
Speaker
ah you know format it. And then once you figure out what are we going to do, then i he wants me to then take that one page financial plan and then be able to create one for the clients that he already has. so that's what one big project yeah that we were reading a book about and he thought would be really helpful. The other one is create an entire marketing calendar to be able to find different areas and different times to add value for um clients. And so different quarterly value adds and then trying to move more towards more of a surge a client set schedule schedule where you have two different times where you really specifically nailing times to meet with clients and you can have more time to be efficient efficient.
00:08:46
Speaker
uh, have more freed up time to them, build the business and find different ways to grow the company. It's good. I couldn't have explained it any better. So those are your big rocks. And then just the day-to-day stuff, like yeah trying to understand, like, how do you open up account? Like, what is it that, what do we do on a day-to-day basis when we're not seeing in front of clients? How do you do trades for somebody and, um, take phone calls and things like that? Even prospect, I think it's going to be huge for you. You're going to be great at that. um But yeah, I would say that that's those are the biggest rocks.
00:09:16
Speaker
And then just being in meetings, be able to see like the flow of meetings, the onboarding process, how we onboard people, how we do like a plan reveal, talking through that and kind of see the client's eyes kind of light up.
00:09:30
Speaker
Because as you said, the kind of the intro is we do different types of planning. and And what we usually try to do when we sit down and try to get people's numbers, it's not just try to do this transactional what's in your account.
00:09:42
Speaker
but more of what are the goals that get you excited and not like, well, we want to buy a car in 10 or five years, whatever it is. It's more like what, how has God uniquely gifted you?
00:09:54
Speaker
And what is it that we can take steps towards in order to get you to that place where you can really dive in on that gifting and then be able to do that, you know, and serve God's people that way.
00:10:06
Speaker
That's a long story. So, okay. So Dana is currently doing what? She is working at ChildServe. Okay. In a week. And so it's kind of a good resume builder and a good opportunity to see if...
00:10:21
Speaker
Moving towards occupational therapy or a ministry or a counseling setting. Just trying to get more clarity with that. Right. So we are going to change the podcast schedule in order for this to come out soon.
00:10:34
Speaker
Okay. And then we're going to have another podcast at the end like middle of August. And it's going to be ah basically the same questions that we just asked now. So my question to you is where do you see your life in five years?
00:10:47
Speaker
Hmm. Gosh, that's a good question. and In what specific way? In everything? Yeah. Marriage, career. So I'm 21 right now. In five years, I'm going be 26. Yep.
00:10:59
Speaker
Does that sound old to you? It kind of does. yeah I get it. i It does. Um, We might have a child by then. I think you're probably right. Which is amazing. Yeah. So we'll have a child. We'll be, hopefully by then, if we're having a kid moving into a new home, yeah um I'll have more clarity. Either I'll be doing financial planning or I'll be pursuing minnesota pastoral ministry.
00:11:26
Speaker
Dana will either be doing one of the three things I said earlier, counseling, occupational therapy, or ministry as well. I mean, week I could be working for Phillip. I could be working for a different financial planning firm. I could be working for Cornerstone and doing a salt company pastoral trip to a different place to plant a salt company. yeah There's a lot of different things. I know. And it's up there. But I think the big one is um Yeah, probably going child. i Probably going to have a home. So I think those are of the big ones. responsibility. Yeah, where do I stand in five years for sure? Probably still in i love Iowa.
00:11:59
Speaker
I love the people here. Good. um And I specifically want to stay closer to like my mom and my parents for at least a little while. And then eventually it might go a little bit further if there's a door there and right it feels right. But love it here. It's fun to be able to see your life and how...
00:12:16
Speaker
where you're at, right? Cause we've all been there. Many of us were just newly married, have our whole life ahead of us. Again, you're going to be your senior at Iowa state and just thinking about how fun it is just to be able to plan and, and, and
Reflections on Life Changes and Contentment
00:12:30
Speaker
do those things. And so,
00:12:32
Speaker
Uh, my question for you is as you, you know, you have a whole life ahead of you, right? You're almost done with your academia. Um, what is the most like, I'm not saying scared concerning or things that are like, Ooh, that's interesting. We'll have to keep an eye on that or things that, that you're thinking about at night. Like, what do you think about at night? Do you have, you stress out about things? Do I stress out about things?
00:12:57
Speaker
um Honestly, i feel there's been moments of that, but I feel after getting married and having such a big rock, one of my friends asked me this. He's like, do you think your life is going to be more complicated or less complicated when you're married? and Everyone would have thought I would say more complicated, i was like, actually, I don't know. i feel more simpler a little bit because I have this huge rock and even just the clarity of like, she's the number two person in my life after Jesus. That's right. To love. And so there's a lot of clarity there.
00:13:29
Speaker
um and just having like wow i'm with this person forever and and having just like okay we're gonna have some year we're gonna grow we're gonna learn together so there's a lot of clarity there so um with that and then also between you know financial planning and pastoral ministry both i would love to do and they're both things i would really enjoy to do and so i'm not really stressing about that it's not like i'm just like i'm clueless it's good They're both things I would love to do. So i feel like in this season, I'm not stressing as much. I mean, I just got out wedding planning. That was, I was sitting like, holy smokes. Like we were arguing a little bit more and life's hard and there's conflict. And so it's like, whoa, that's behind you. I got out of there and I'm like, we got married. We went on amazing honeymoon and here we are. So I'm not stressed about a good a whole bunch right now. It's a good little season. I know it's a really good season. It is. And that's honestly like I was hoping you were going to answer that way. Right. Like you don't really have a lot of cares right now. And that's what I think when I look at you, I'm just like, oh, that those were great days. So I'm glad you're enjoying it.
00:14:31
Speaker
um I'm grateful that you chose Uncommon Wealth for your internship. I think we're going to benefit immensely. We already have. It's been a day. And I think that it's going to be beneficial to you. But yeah, so you're making an impact not only in my life, but our client's life.
00:14:44
Speaker
And so thank you for that. um So this has been just kind of a ah brief introduction to Cody. I'm sure a lot of our listeners and our clients are going to get more ah time with you. But anything else you want to end the podcast with before we close out?
00:15:02
Speaker
I can't think anything specifically. That's okay.
Closing Thoughts and Gratitude
00:15:05
Speaker
That's good. Okay. So you've been listening to Uncommon Wealth Podcast. I've been your host, Philip Ramsey. And then Cody. Cody, our new intern. We're super grateful to have you and excited to see what these next 10 weeks will do.
00:15:17
Speaker
Until next time, go be uncommon. Thanks for listening. That's all for this episode brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit UncommonWealth.com to learn more about our services.
00:15:30
Speaker
Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.