Thomas Spray-Fry Interviews Brian Gracie, Founder & Managing Partner of Heritage Financial Consultants

Brian Gracie has been instrumental in the growth of Heritage Financial Consultants as both a Founder and a Managing Partner. He has worked in the financial field since 1989, specializing in asset management, estate planning, and financial planning for individuals and business owners. He concentrates on the private wealth management arena, with a focus on multi-generational planning.

Brian’s clients include high net worth individuals and families, professionals, business owners, executives of private and public companies.

Brian is a lifelong Baltimorean, who resides in Reisterstown, Maryland with his wife. He is an avid golfer, enjoys all sports, and is active in the community serving on several charitable boards who have a mission of serving children.

Interview questions:

Personal Story: Brian, let’s kick things off learning more about you: how did you first get into the world of financial planning?

What sets Heritage apart: For a quarter-century, Heritage has made a positive impact on the lives of their clients, their families and their businesses, through innovative solutions and education. Can you please explain for the audience what sets Heritage Financial apart from others when it comes to helping each client with their own personalized financial planning?

Changes in the Industry: As the Founder and Managing Partner of Heritage Financial, you’ve seen a lot of changes in the financial industry and largely instrumental in the growth of the firm. What changes have you seen personally that have helped accelerate that growth?

Ways the Industry Has Evolved: Your career in the financial industry has spanned over 30 years – in what ways have you seen it evolve and how have you adapted to changes and trends to stay on the cutting edge?

The culture: Year in and year out, Heritage Financial continues to be honored as one of the Top Places to Work. The motto of “Work Hard. Play Hard. Make a Difference” rings true every day… Talk about the culture at Heritage Financial and why you think the organization is so special.

Benefits to Selecting the Right Planner: Getting back into the financial planner aspect. There’s a misconception among outsiders looking in that selecting a financial advisor is for only the wealthy, which simply isn’t true. What are some of the benefits in selecting the right financial advisor and why is it so important?

Year End Planning: Turning our attention to another topic important to individuals: Year End Planning. There’s emphasis on ROI, but there’s so much more to it with regard to estate planning. Explain to the audience why this is important and in what ways do you personally help clients prepare for this each year? Has this process evolved over time?

Charitable Interests: As we wrap up our conversation Brian… You are a big advocate for charitable interests in the Baltimore area and quite active in your spare time with the Franciscan Center, Catholic Charities of Baltimore and through the Baltimore branch of The First Tee, which is an inner-city Baltimore program, devoted to building character and teaching young people respect through a favorite hobby of yours, golf, in different city neighborhoods. It’s clear you’re deeply connected to the community and through your faith. Talk to us about this important aspect and how that balances you?

Important Components to Financial Planning: Speaking of Charitable Giving, it is an important component to financial planning. What are some of the motivational factors behind client giving, what ways do you help them understand where their assets go and why does it need to be an on-going conversation throughout the year?

The Inspiration: Finally – is there someone along the way who helped inspire you to get to where you are currently?

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn

Thomas Spray-Fry:

Thomas Spray-Fry, a Certified Financial Planner ™ practitioner, is an associate with Heritage Financial Consultants, LLC. Tom has been affiliated with Lincoln Financial Advisors as a Financial Planner since 2000.

Tom’s Mission is to obtain the most relevant and advanced financial planning education and designations to best serve his clients in the areas of comprehensive financial planning, retirement planning, qualified retirement plans for small organizations, and investment planning. His dedication has earned him President’s Cabinet Status within Lincoln Financial Advisors. Additionally, Tom is a member of the Resource group, an elite group within Lincoln Financial Advisors honoring the top 200 planners.

Tom’s Passion is for his family and for serving his Maryland community. Tom was born and raised in Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He currently lives in Phoenix, MD with his wife, Jessica (who owns a local law firm and a title company) and his sons (Ben and Luke).

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