Notes About Me

I’m not 100% sure why, but I feel like this is a good time to share a few personal items about myself. It is not connected to financial planning, investment management, taxes, or anything directly in my world of financial planning. However, the timing feels right. So, here goes.

• I grew up in the house my grandfather built and my mom was also raised in. He built it during the Depression when he was a factory worker at Firestone.
• After my mom passed away my brother bought the house as I was living in west Michigan.
• He eventually sold the house as he had to live in Cleveland for his job as a Cleveland police officer.
• We discovered a few years ago the family that bought it is one of my older son’s closest friends and they did not meet until high school (my kids were not born when my brother sold the house). Akron is just one small town where everyone knows one another. Point – be careful who you flip off in traffic in Akron.
• I did undergrad at Kent and grad school at OSU. It drives my wife crazy that I did not study as hard as she did in undergrad and still made it into a top ten grad program.
• This was all after I went to St. Vincent – St. Mary for high school.
• Luigi’s Pizza is overrated. Pierre’s Brooklyn Pizza in Kenmore is so much better.
• My first “real” job was transforming a $200 million budget. I was 23 and fresh out of grad school. No pressure.
• My wife and I met right when I was finishing grad school. We had the long-distance relationship before we married as we were 500 miles apart.
• If you see my DISC profile it is a high CD. This basically means I am highly organized, detail-oriented and can be rather assertive. Typically this is connected with physicians. However, I barely made it through science in high school so never ask me a medical question.
• I don’t get the obsession with Great Lakes Christmas Ale.
• I used to own a sport bike at Kent. Katana 600. I sold it to buy a computer and printer for grad school. That was a cold welcome to adulting.
• My wife is a nursing professor.
• When we were first married she said – “You can go to bed. Never wake up. And no one will ever know why.” After 25 years I am still not sure if she was joking.
• Both boys are now in college. No more swimming for either of them.
• Neither boy went to St. VM for high school.
• Before I moved into this profession I spent over a decade in local government. Pretty much doing anything and everything with finances.
• I credit this public sector background with why I charge a flat fee. I charge based on my knowledge and experience instead of my ability to sell. It seems more fair.
• The best ice cream in Akron is Skoops, which is actually in Barberton.
• I deer hunt. Well, mostly it is sitting in tree stands. My sons wanted to learn how so I first had to learn. Basically, it is an excuse for me to be outside.
• Most weekends you can find me on a hiking trail around Akron. The Chuckery Trail is my favorite.
• Frank Turner puts on the best live concerts. Go see him and you will agree.
• Anytime I am in the car with my family and we drive through where I grew up or went to undergrad I start on the “Daniel P. Johnson Memorial Tour” where I share stories of my youth. They hate it, but I am convinced my kids will do the same thing when they get older.
• I’ve started something new I want to accomplish every year. This year it is hiking Half Dome. Actually, as you are reading this I have just returned from Yosemite.

I’m Dan Johnson, CFP®, founder of Forward Thinking Wealth Management. I run a flat-fee financial planning and investment management firm located in beautiful Akron, OH. Although I am in Akron, OH, I work with clients regardless of location. I cater to owners of equity compensation positions who are looking to organize their financial lives, keep more of what they make, and do the things they want in retirement and even now.