Optional Financial Strategies, Inc. is a small corporation made up of everyday people like you who are passionate about helping fellow Americans achieve financial independence and economic freedom.
Optional Financial Strategies, Inc: Company Biography
Optional Financial Strategies, Inc. opened its offices in 2024 with a goal of providing customized financial budgeting & planning services, investment guidance, and retirement support services to You – individuals, and small to mid-sized companies who are often overlooked by bigger investment firms and advisors due to their smaller account size.
Our company provides a wide range of financial advisory services to individuals and businesses that are designed to help clients better understand their financial health, develop budgets and investment strategies to improve their overall situation, and take concrete steps to reach their goals.
Since our company is pretty new, it doesn’t have a lot of history behind it, but don’t let the short time frame the company has existed minimize the experiences, skills, and aptitude our team members possess and demonstrate daily. Keep on reading to get a better idea of Who Optional Financial Strategies is!
Optional Financial Strategies, Inc.: Team Members
Our service team is comprised of regular, everyday people, just like you, who are dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled in the areas of financial services. Our employees’ goal is to provide an innovative customer experience addressing a variety of client financial needs and concerns; to encourage clients to become more confident in their financial abilities; and to develop their own personalized Intentional Investment Plan that encompasses as many of their goals as practical.
Optional Financial Strategies, Inc. is proud to present our team:
Joel A. Minner, EA
Joel is the Founder and President of Optional Financial Strategies, Inc., which began operations in August of 2024. Joel is also the VP at Encompass Financial Services, Inc., a sister company to this one.
Joel earned his Associates Degree in Accounting from SUNY/Empire State College back in 2002. He took that degree, and his passion for numbers, and opened his first company, Minner’s Bookkeeping in 2002. Joel understood that his accounting degree was only the beginning of his professional development and over the next several years he earned his Enrolled Agent designation from the IRS. He subsequently obtained his financial advisor’s license (Series 7/ Series 66) in 2017 and then became a fully licensed insurance agent shortly thereafter.
During his two decades of work in the bookkeeping and tax preparation fields, Joel saw a lot of people who had very poor relationships and experiences with their financial advisors, which led him to expand into this exciting field. He knew that there was a better way for investment clients to be supported than what he was seeing, so he set about building a program to put his thoughts into action.
Joel obtained his securities licenses which allowed him to join a Broker/Dealer firm called H.D. Vest in 2017. Between 2018 and 2024, that company would go through numerous changes in ownership. Feeling that the changes weren’t in the best interest of his clients, Joel took a big leap of faith and opened his own Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm in 2024.
When Joel isn’t trading on behalf his clients, or fighting on behalf of our tax clients, he loves to spend his time with his beautiful wife of 33 years, Sharon, and their youngest daughter, Renae. He also loves taking time out to enjoy watching their oldest daughter, Sara, being a wonderful mother to her two children. In whatever spare time that remains, Joel can be found riding his motorcycle with Sharon, fishing with Sara, playing Switch with Renae, or flying a plane to gain perspective.
Optional Financial Strategies, Inc.: Who would make a Good Client? Intentional Investors!
Just like you’re evaluating our firm to see if we’re going to meet your personal and professional investment needs, as a business, we too must carefully evaluate our potential clients for the quality of the relationship. Many investment firms try to be everything to everyone, but we’ve found that we get the best results for our clients when we work with clients that exhibit specific attitudes and characteristics. For us, our ideal client:
- Wants to learn about the stock market, about investing successfully, and retiring well, but doesn’t want to spend all their time doing that kind of work;
- Effectively communicates with our staff providing us with the requested information in a timely manner so we can do our job as efficiently as possible;
- Asks questions about how we are performing our services without questioning everything we do based on what they saw on social media channels;
- Wants to sit down and look at their financial numbers to better understand their current budget, and how they can save for tomorrow without sacrificing everything today;
- Develop concrete steps to implement their Intentional Investment Plan;
- Takes action and makes Intentional Decisions to positively affect their investment portfolios.
Personal and professional behaviors, attitudes, demeanors, and mannerisms are what make each client and company unique, and ours is no exception. That also means that we’re not going to be the right company for all clients. So, while we’ll always treat every client with respect and courtesy, certain clients are a better fit for our business model than others.
