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This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advice.
Effective retirement investing involves two key components. First, you need to be willing to invest, but prioritizing retirement investing requires elevating your future needs over your immediate wants.
Second, you need to know how to invest wisely.
Aaron Cirksena, Founder and CEO of MDRN Capital, was 18 years old when he learned what can happen when both factors — willingness and knowledge — are not in play. His parents were willing (but not necessarily knowledgeable) when it came to retirement investing, and followed some bad advice that caused them to struggle financially throughout their retirement.
Cirksena’s experience launched him on a journey to acquire the knowledge he needed to avoid his parents’ mistakes. Soon, however, he realized he could use that knowledge for a greater good.
“I dove into my study of finance so I wouldn’t have the same problems my parents had,” Cirksena shares, “but as I became a financial advisor and started meeting with clients, my outlook quickly changed. I saw the huge need in our culture for solid investment advice and realized I could help other people avoid the problems my parents had. The first time a client told me how much peace she had knowing that she was properly prepared for retirement, I was hooked.”
Throughout his career, which began in late 2012, Cirksena has taken several steps to improve the quality of advising he offers his clients. His most recent move led to the launch of MDRN Capital in 2023 and involved an innovative, fully virtual approach to advising that provides the capability to pass on both knowledge and savings.
Offering efficiency and convenience through virtual advising
Cirksena’s idea for virtual advising hit him as the world was under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. His advising practice had gone completely virtual and their advising meetings were handled via Zoom with clients logging in from the comfort of their home or office.
After the pandemic, Cirksena expected to shift back to business as usual, but his clients had other ideas.
“My clients made it clear that they liked the comfort and convenience of virtual meetings and didn’t want to switch back to in-office advising,” Cirksena explains. “No one missed the hassles of sitting in traffic and searching for a parking space. Even the clients who lived only a few minutes away said they preferred Zoom to a face-to-face meeting in our nice Class-A office space.”
Cirksena quickly realized the new approach his client wanted could be a win-win. It would make advising more convenient and less costly for both he and those he was serving.
“MDRN Capital emerged when I understood that becoming fully virtual would allow me to meet all of my clients’ needs and pass the savings on to them,” Cirksena notes. “The technology innovations that emerged during Covid gave us everything we needed to serve our clients virtually with exceptional service and efficiency.”
Passing on savings through virtual advising
Cirksena’s clients embraced virtual advising because it saved them time and trouble. As the approach matured, however, Cirksena was able to save them money as well.
“When we did away with the overhead expenses that stem from operating a brick-and-mortar office, we were able to create a fee solution for our clients that is lower than the typical advisor,” Cirksena explains. “On average, our investment management fees on the entire client portfolio tend to run 30 to 40 percent lower than your typical advisor operating under a conventional model. Additionally, we add in things like estate planning, tax planning, and tax preparation at no additional cost to our clients.”
MDRN Capital’s philosophy is to give clients everything they need — and only what they need. Cirksena calls it precision advising. The firm’s only agenda is leveraging every available tool to build a custom financial strategy that meets its clients’ specific needs.
“Once our client’s goals are established, we guide them through a refined retirement process designed to translate their retirement dreams into clear action steps,” Cirksena says. “We remove all the barriers so nothing stands in the way of building an ideal financial future that considers exactly where they want to be.”
Cirksena’s vision for fully virtual advising appears at the perfect time. Recent reports show most Americans aren’t ready for retirement, despite being willing to invest, and only about half of those working today say they are contributing to their 401(k) plans.
However, many who are willing to invest continue to lack sound guidance. A recent study shows two-thirds of individuals are reluctant to seek out solid financial advice to improve their retirement situation.
Cirksena and MDRN Capital offer a solution to that problem. Their fully-virtual advising, coupled with their commitment to precision planning, make it easier than ever for investors to build a solid plan that will provide a comfortable retirement.
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Photo provided by the author.