Before I ever sat down to build a financial plan, I spent seven years in the United States Air Force and then worked as a construction superintendent for United Contractors Midwest, keeping the many moving parts of a job site running on schedule. The move into financial planning came through Peter Monferdini, who was looking for someone to carry his firm forward after his own children chose different careers. Pete had known my mother-in-law professionally for more than twenty years, and she thought the two of us would work well together. I joined him in 2023, and in 2025 we co-founded Monferdini & Dirks Wealth Management.
My weeks are spent working directly with clients and building the systems that shape their experience with us, from the first conversation through the years that follow. Rather than leading with products or portfolios, I start with the questions that weigh on people most and build the plan around what matters to that particular family. There are no cookie-cutter answers here, so I take the time to explain why I'm recommending what I am and what we expect it to do. I'm also developing our Retirement Readiness Blueprint, a framework that lays out in plain terms what it looks like to prepare for retirement from every angle.
The part of this work I find most rewarding is the moment a plan comes together on paper and someone can finally see a clear route to the retirement they've pictured. I feel the same sense of purpose when I'm helping a spouse or family member get organized and find their footing after losing someone. I make a point of explaining things in plain language, keeping people informed at every step, and raising the considerations they might not have thought to ask about.
I grew up in Delavan and now live in Morton, the self-proclaimed Pumpkin Capital of the World. My wife Emily and I married in 2017 at Bethel Lutheran Church, where I serve as Treasurer and where we both help with Vacation Bible School and the nursery each year. We have four children, two boys and two girls, and most weeks include several family dinners, a project to help one of our relatives with, and more trips than I can count to Pinky's ice cream shop in Tremont. Emily and I stay active with running and lifting, our mini goldendoodle Winnie keeps pace with the kids in the backyard, and I'm a member of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. No two clients are ever the same, and I'm grateful to be the person families across Central Illinois can call on when they need answers.