The Power Of Perseverance

Kroskey says he spent about $1,000 to get his business off the ground. "You can start your business on a budget if you need to," he says.

He relied on self-marketing and community outreach to find clients. He did a radio show on financial topics for a short period, and taught retirement planning seminars at local universities. "I met a lot of people through that and that's how I really grew my business," he says. "I'm still doing it, and I'm still getting clients from it."

Flying solo, he worked out of executive offices where he paid for the space as needed. Later, he subleased space from an insurance wholesaler while doing some work for them. "I needed commissions coming from somewhere because I didn't have any cash reserves," Kroskey says, adding he also did some mortgage loans to bring in income.

Today, True Wealth Design is a fee-based shop that emphasizes holistic advice and comprehensive financial planning. Less than 10% of its revenue comes from life insurance commissions.

Kroskey is a modern portfolio theory guy who believes the market is pretty efficient at the asset class level. "We think it's possible to add alpha by managing client expectations and at the allocation level," he says. "It ties back to the financial plan and when they'll need the money."

On the equity side, Kroskey uses mostly funds from Dimensional Fund Advisors. On the fixed income side, he deploys both individual bonds and bond funds--their use determined by a client's asset level, time horizon and cash flow needs. He'll also incorporate some alternative investments, such as the iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX exchange-traded note that tracks a VIX futures index.

Kroskey says most of his clients are midlevel managers or professionals between the ages of 55 and 65. The average client has roughly $500,000 in investable assets, and the firm has about 15 millionaire clients. "Most of my clients aren't dealing with behavioral issues like spending too much money," Kroskey says. "It's more about building portfolios and minimizing taxes, and tying it back to their financial plans and doing distribution planning."

The firm also provides fiduciary services to employer-sponsored retirement plans, which is a small piece of the overall pie that Kroskey expects to increase over time.