Brent Brodeski: Committed to Lifelong Learning

Wisdom - we all want it, but so few of us reach it before our time ends. Wisdom comes from experiencing things around you. Being wise does not necessarily mean you're the most intelligent person in the room; it means you're the most curious, a lifelong learner. By being committed to learning and experiencing new things, you understand that there are no wrong turns, just lefts or rights with some potholes along the way. Because the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know. Brent Brodeski embodies what it means to be a lifelong learner. Brent is the Chief Executive Officer, Financial Advisor, and Member Owner of Savant Wealth Management. He has been involved in the financial services industry since 1988. Brent earned a bachelor of science degree in finance and economics and a master's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from Northern Illinois University. Brent is a co-founder and past president of Zero Alpha Group (ZAG), an industry association. He is also a co-founder of the Alliance for RIAs (aRIA), a prestigious industry group that together manages nearly $50 billion. He was a long-term participant in Vistage (previously known as TEC) and The Strategic Coach. He is currently a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and serves on the boards of the Northern Illinois University Foundation and the Rock Valley College Foundation. Brent was named by Chicago magazine as the #1 independent financial advisor for the Chicago area in 2009 and one of the nation's top professional advisors by J.K. Lasser. He represented Savant for the seventh year on Barron's list of the "Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors" in the country and in 2017 was ranked by Forbes as #40 on their top 250 wealth advisors list. From 1997 until the survey ended in 2008, Brent appeared on Robb Report Worth magazine's "The Nation's 100 Most Exclusive Wealth Advisors" list. In 2011, Brent was named the nation's 10th "Most Experienced Independent Financial Advisor" by Bloomberg Businessweek. Brent was named "one of the 17 people advisors should watch in 2017" by Financial Planning magazine. He is a regular columnist for Financial Planning magazine, is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events, and is recurrently featured in local, industry, and national media, including the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. In this episode, Brent shares the wisdom he's gained as a lifelong learner.