Financial planning can be daunting, but Levi Cutler believes his connection to Oregon means something to his clients and makes the continuous, life-long process a bit less stressful.
After he graduated from Wartburg College in 2006, Cutler eventually founded and became the chief executive officer of Cutler Financial Group in 2008. He decided to find an office space for his company in the heart of the town he grew up in.
“There’s… power in person,” he said. “It is definitely a strength, a kind of peace of mind for people knowing that we are here in downtown Oregon… knowing that they do have a place to go and talk with somebody.”
The firm was founded on a “long-term” approach to investment management, retirement planning and group retirement planning. Instead of trying to time the market, to get in-and-out at the slightest hint of movement, the group wanted to offer stability to their clients’s financial duties and be trusted advisors.
“We manage accounts with discretion and have the authority to make changes as needed. But at the same time, we’re not trying to do any drastic changes,” Cutler said. “We just believe that if you use strong investments, from strong investment management companies that have competitive costs and fee structures, long term, that’s where we have the best opportunity to help people.”
Cutler also noticed an industry shift of responsibility onto individuals when it comes to 401ks and other “defined contribution plans.” The days of pensions started dwindling, but people still continued to hold onto misconceptions of tradition and failed to start saving. “I would say there’s more responsibility on Americans to save for their retirement themselves, than there ever has been,” he noted.
“It’s maybe out of sight, out of mind. Everybody these days is just continuing to be busier and busier–between work life and personal life and things like that. There’s maybe not as much time and energy spent on talking about things like retirement savings investments,” he said. “One of the things that you hear is people will spend more time planning out their summer vacation… then they will when it comes to their investment management and retirement planning… So that’s where we can come in to help people, to take on some of that responsibility for them.”
Aside from financial assistance, though, the group made concerted efforts to be further involved in supporting the community that Cutler, his wife, two sons and two other employees within the business–Operations Manager Jake Torpy and Client Service Association Hudson Kugel–call home. In the past, they’ve sponsored youth sports teams and events. They also helped Oregon focus on public housing efforts for older populations.
“Having a team built of people from this area is important to me and to our organization. Because we do strongly support local,” Cutler said. “These are the places where we grew up. And this is the place where our kids are probably going to grow up. And so being here and having the opportunity to work inside of a great community like Oregon is very important to us.”
