Dave Bowen, CFP^®

David Bowen, CFP^® has specialized in working with retired and nearly retired people since 1996.

Dave worked for a major brokerage firm eight years before beginning his own planning and management firm in 2004. After advising clients as a sole practitioner for 20 years, Dave now joins SIA and brings his decades of experience as a financial advisor to those we serve.

Dave was raised in Nebraska and has a bachelor’s degree in industrial education. He has been a Certified Financial Planner® practitioner since 2003. Before becoming a financial professional, Dave was affiliated with a third world religious organization and lived in West Africa with his family for eight years.

When not working, Dave enjoys playing the piano, flying his small plane, exercising, and brewing beer.

Q&A

If you hadn’t become a Financial Advisor, what career would you have chosen instead?

I think becoming a lawyer would be at the top of my list. Many of the traits I’ve developed as a financial planner would be useful in the legal profession as well, such as analytical thinking, recognizing and managing emotions, and being able to see the big picture in my client’s situations. But questions regarding the law are something I regularly read books about and listen to podcasts on so I could see myself working in it.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?

Starting a new business is very hard, and I’ve done it twice. When my family was young, we together traveled the length and breadth of the lower 48 states, meeting with people to raise support for our living expenses in Ivory Coast, West Africa during the eight years we were there. Later when I began a financial planning practice in Tucson, I knocked on thousands of doors gaining clients by meeting with them in their homes. Both ‘beginnings’ required determination and persistence, and although I was often discouraged, I didn’t give up. Much success in life comes from simply not quitting when you feel hopeless, and I’ve had my share of that feeling.

What are some of your favorite books?

In non-fiction reading I’ve often got my nose buried in books about legal matters or history. I recently read Reforming Criminal Justice by Martin Martins and Midnight of the Summer Moon by SC Gwynne. Reading about things that helped shape us gives me understanding as to why we think and act the way we do. The hope is we’ll avoid making the same dumb mistakes again, but I’m not holding my breath on this.  For fiction reading, I enjoy novels about war but also about the American west. Favorites include books by Cormac McCarthy like Blood Meridian and All the Pretty Horses. One of my all-time favorite novels is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. I am always reading something, and often more than one thing at a time.