Chris Everett is a financial planner, author, and the president and founder of Everett Wealth Solutions, Inc. an independent registered investment adviser offering clients fiduciary financial planning and asset management across the nation. A strategic and creative professional with an incisive communication style and a passion for helping others, Ms. Everett came to the financial services industry through a nontraditional route. She studied at the University of Illinois and initially began her career in advertising. Early in her career, she balanced working full-time at a large advertising firm while also fronting a successful rock band. After several years, she placed her music career on hold to focus on her husband and raising their children. She soon rose to become an office manager, was added to the strategic planning team, and was encouraged to take an account management position. But Ms. Everett recognized her desire to transition out of the advertising industry and pursue a different career path.
During this period, Ms. Everett was first exposed to the insurance and financial planning field when her husband made an appointment for an insurance sales agent to visit them at home. At the time, she had little familiarity with the nuances of insurance underwriting or how to assess their family’s insurance needs. Naturally curious and a seasoned professional, she began asking the agent numerous questions about the business, policy writing and other topics in order to better understand the process. Upon returning for a second appointment, the agent told Ms. Everett that she would be a perfect fit for the insurance industry and that he hoped to recruit her to the business. Interested, in 1988 she met with a series of managers at the firm and was eventually convinced to try her hand in the field.
Ms. Everett’s early experiences with what she recalls as “unscrupulous managers” helped cement her professional emphasis on mentorship and transparency and helped form the core of her client-centered approach to financial management. In 1998, she formed Everett & Associates, Inc., a brokerage insurance agency offering insurance from many highly rated insurance companies. She sought the advice of some of her clients when she wanted to add fee-only fiduciary financial planning and asset management. They encouraged her to maintain her brokerage insurance agency. They told her businesses and families needed someone they could trust who understood insurance and investments as well as planning.
In 2009, she founded Everett Wealth Solutions to work with people who want honest, fiduciary conversation and a strategy that leads to the best financial decisions for them. Ms. Everett says this is how they help people avoid the common knowledge trap. When you fall into this trap, you are likely to “leak” a lot of money, unknowingly and very unnecessarily. Most wealth leaks have been built on cookie-cutter thinking. You are a unique individual and should be treated as such.
Ms. Everett’s team are committed to integrity and a personal approach to the industry. In addition to individual and business planning services, she is a syndicated financial planning columnist and regular guest on WBBM radio’s Noon Business Hour program. The firm has created podcasts and other resources for clients that continue to demonstrate Ms. Everett’s personalized approach to wealth management, and she has taught classes and seminars for industry professionals and laypeople throughout her career. In 2020, Ms. Everett released an Amazon bestseller with co-author Shon Peil called “The Prescription for a Healthy Retirement.” She states that understanding your financial options begins with a proper diagnosis.
Ms. Everett is a longtime member of the Forest Chamber of Commerce and the Oak Park Chamber of Commerce and has been involved in various community organizations, including the Parenthesis Family Center and the Historical Society of Forest Park. She has been recognized for her professional excellence with a 2012 Federally Employed Women Private Sector Award, among other honors. Ms. Everett credits her success to the work ethic and values that she learned from her parents and to her commitment to treating others with integrity and transparency. She is a member of Reflexion Church and considers her faith to be a key part of her identity and professional journey. In the coming years, Ms. Everett looks forward to continuing to grow her firm and plans to write another book, emphasizing that she is as passionate as ever about her firm and career.