Finding the parallels between flying a jet and helping people develop financial plans may be difficult for the average person, but for Larry R. Frank Sr., the similarities between these two activities are crystal clear.

1. F
inding the parallels between
flying a jet and helping people
develop financial plans may be
difficult for the average person, but
for Larry R. Frank Sr., the similarities
between these two activities are
crystal clear.
As a command pilot for the U.S.
Air Force, Frank flew helicopters,
high-performance acrobatic jets, and
mobility aircraft across 47 countries
and five continents. Each of those
engagements required a flight plan
detailing the aircraft’s planned route
or flight path; how it would be fueled
along the way; and contingency
plans for handling any emergencies
that arise.
As the owner of Roseville,
CA-based Better Financial
Education, Frank takes a similar
tack when developing comprehensive
financial plans for the 73 families
with whom he works. “A flight
plan is a springboard into financial
planning, where investment is the
‘fuel’ that gets clients to where they’re
going,” said Frank, who retired
from the Air Force in 1994. “And
the ‘plan’ provides the underlying
foundation for achieving their goals
BY BRIDGET MCCREA
PR ACTICE PROFILE
(e.g., paying for college, planning for
retirement, etc.).”
The journey to finance
While in the Air Force, Frank says
his MBA coursework sparked an
initial interest in personal finance.
As part of his graduate financial
concentration, Frank learned more
about how companies are financed;
how stocks and bonds are issued; and
the challenges that people encounter
when attempting to navigate these
complexities.
“As I was completing that
coursework, I got interested in
investing for myself,” says Frank.
As that interest in personal finance
deepened, and as Frank’s military
retirement neared, he started exploring
career options in personal finance. An
older cousin who worked in insurance
sales served as a mentor for helping
Frank segue into that field.
Frank says, “I quickly discovered
that the sales approach and
the insurance focus were not
really my cup of tea.” Wanting
something different, Frank
decided to earn his CFP® and
use his newfound knowledge to
help others chart more successful
financial journeys.
“Financial planning became my
underlying interest or hobby, so to
speak, during my first career,” he
explains, “that I then used to launch
my second career.”
A natural progression
Frank founded Better Financial
Education in 1997 to educate clients
about money management and
personal finance, and help them make
better-informed decisions. He also
taught a four-week, 12-hour program
at local high school adult education
programs for about 10 years.
Better Financial Education started
out commission-based, later added
fee-based services, and then switched
to being completely fee-only in
2010. “I slowly grew the AUM side
of business,” Frank explains, “along
the way reducing my commission
approach. By 2012, I had joined
NAPFA and was funneling all of my
focus into fee-only planning through
management or hourly fees.”
Frank says his decision to run a
fee-only practice aligned with the
natural progression taking place in
Charting his
path in financial
planning
Larry R. Frank Sr. of
Better Financial Education
20 NAPFA ADVISOR JUNE 2021

2. PR ACTICE PROFILE
“Fee-only and fiduciary seemed to
become more popular in the 2000s,”
says Frank, who feels fortunate to have
been on the leading edge of the trend,
having earned his CFP before that
acronym became more recognized by
the general public.
As a NAPFA member, he says
he enjoys the camaraderie among
members and the steady stream of
client referrals that he receives through
the organization’s website. “My
membership in NAPFA has become
the major source of new clients from all
over the country,” says Frank.
No product pitches
Today, most of Better Financial
Education’s clients are either retired
or transitioning into retirement
and seeking real answers to their
concerns “without being pitched
product solutions,” says Frank. They
want answers to questions like,
when should I claim Social Security?
How do I extract income from my
portfolio? What should my allocation
be? And, should I be mortgage-free at
this point?
With about $32 million in assets
under management, Frank generally
uses Dimensional Fund Advisors
(DFA) and Vanguard when investing.
He works with a mix of military and
civilian clients, including a large
number of government (federal,
state, and county) employees.
Having served in the military,
and now being a civilian, he has
firsthand experience bridging
some of the financial gaps that
military and government personnel
face when trying to set up their
financial futures.
“I saw how the civilian federal
system worked and am familiar with
both the military and the civilian
end of the equation,” says Frank.
“The federal government and the
state government are becoming very
similar to the military, so it’s just a
matter of learning the nuances.”
Cutting the cord
As part of transitioning from
commission to fee-based to fee-only,
Frank says one of his biggest
challenges was finding back-office
support. “When you’re in the
“I slowly grew the AUM side of business, along the way reducing my
commission approach. By 2012, I had joined NAPFA and was funneling all of
my focus into fee-only planning through management or hourly fees. … The
profession followed the commission-based to fee-based to fee-only slowly
over that same time period and I am part of that trend.”
—Larry R. Frank Sr.
the financial planning profession at
the time. “The profession followed
the commission-based to fee-based to
fee-only slowly over that same time
period,” says Frank, “and I am part of
that trend.”
Getting on the radar screen
Frank started noticing more interest
in the CFP certification while he was
teaching his high school course, and
he says the media was also providing
more coverage on fee-only versus
fee-based versus commission-based
planning opportunities.
Location: Roseville, CA
Website: betterfinancialeducation.com
Year founded: 1997
Number of staff: None
Number of clients: 73 families
Amount of money managed: $32 million
Description of typical clients: Those who are transitioning into
retirement or are already retired, as well as business owners and
growing families.
Typical client needs: Real answers and planning solutions to meet their
needs, such as how to handle Social Security, investment portfolios, and
estate planning.
Favorite financial planning website: us.dimensional.com
Favorite non-financial planning website: sciencealert.com
Piece of advice to fellow NAPFA members: “Simplify your business so
that you have more family time for yourself. This has been my goal all
along, and it’s worked out very well in terms of a second career. Also,
be sure to put the technology in place that can help you save a lot
of time and effort, and not have to work on your business 24/7. This
will allow you to focus on your family and on interests outside of your
business, such my numerous research papers published in the Journal of
Financial Planning.”
Better Financial Education, at a glance
NAPFA ADVISOR JUNE 2021 21

3. I also learned that various business
functions could be handled remotely.
That aligned perfectly with my
preferred company structure.”
Planning ahead
As he looks to the future, Frank
will continue to grow his practice
while also keeping an eye on
succession and his own retirement
planning. He’d like to avoid
becoming the planner who “hangs
around too long” and who is affected
by the “diminishing financial
capacity” phenomenon all humans
go through.
“I’ve seen that other, older advisors
enjoy what they’re doing, but you can
see that their finance and planning
processes have slowed down,” says
Frank. “They may suffice in the
insurance world, but the planning
and investment that ‘fuel the plan’
needs to be sharper than that.”
Keeping that in mind, Frank
says he keeps close tabs on his own
capabilities, and is putting his own
plan in place to address diminished
financial capacity if or when it
emerges. “The challenge is knowing
when it’s happening because it’s not
always easy to recognize,” says Frank.
“It’s really just about being aware of
it and having a plan in place so that
someone else can pick up where you
left off, just in case.”
As he looks to the future, Frank will continue to grow his practice while also
keeping an eye on succession and his own retirement planning. He’d like to
avoid becoming the planner who “hangs around too long.”
As of the U.S. Census’ last count, over 76% of U.S. companies have no
employees. Better Financial Education is one of them, and that’s exactly
how Larry R. Frank Sr. planned it when it he opened the doors to his
practice in 1997.
“I’m a sole proprietor by choice,” says Frank, who was seeking a more
flexible, balanced work style after retiring from a very structured military
career. “I wanted the freedom of personal and family time. In the
military, you miss out on both.”
As a fee-only planner, Frank can set his own schedule, meet with
clients on specific days, and leverage technology tools like GoToMeeting
(for videoconferencing), ShareFile by Citrix (for online file sharing),
and AdvisorWebsites (for digital marketing) to streamline his business
processes.
Frank says he’s pleased with the way his second career choice turned
out, and is looking forward to a time when he can safely travel to see
his four adult children and nine grandchildren, who live in California,
Virginia, and Illinois, and other family in El Salvador. “Once leisure travel
is safe to do,” he says, “we have a lot of visiting to do.”
Solo by design
PR ACTICE PROFILE
commission world, the firms you
represent provide a lot of support—
be it on the insurance or the
investing side,” he explains. “When
you cut the cord, drop those licenses,
and register directly, that support
structure goes away.”
An intentional sole proprietor
with no employees (see sidebar),
Frank turned to his study
groups for help with this issue.
He also turned to Buckingham
Strategic Partners (BSP), a wealth
platform that gives a nationwide
community of financial advisors,
including other firms employing
NAPFA members, resources
for delivering holistic wealth
management solutions.
Then known as Reinhardt Werba
Bowen (RWB), the organization
was using DFA and providing
planners like Frank with back-office
paperwork processing capabilities.
“From these different resources, I
learned how to structure a completely
independent fee-only firm,” says
Frank. “As the internet developed,
INDEX TO ADVERTISER S
Center for Financial Planning����������������������������������������19
www.centerforfinancialplanning.org/napfa
LLIS���������������������������������������������������Outside Back Cover
https://llis.com
Ryan Insurance Strategy
Consultants������������������������������������� Inside Front Cover
www.ryan-insurance.net
NAPFA is grateful to all of the advertisers for their support of NAPFA
and the NAPFA Advisor. However, readers should understand that
NAPFA can undertake no duty to perform due diligence about the
claims and promises made by advertisers. Furthermore, admission
of a company as an advertiser in the Advisor does not constitute an
endorsement of its services or products by NAPFA. Readers should
perform their own due diligence on any products or services that
they use or recommend to their clients. Nevertheless, an advertiser
is expected to advertise only services and products that have
economic viability and that fully comply with applicable law and
NAPFA’s professional standards.
22 NAPFA ADVISOR JUNE 2021