Chris Everett is a financial planner, author, and the president and founder of Everett Wealth Solutions, an independent financial management firm offering clients a broad range of services for planning their futures. 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 raising her children and excelling in advertising, and she soon rose to become an office manager at her firm. While anticipating a promotion to accounts manager, 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, 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 1988, she founded Everett Wealth Solutions, where she strives to provide each client with “fiduciary financial planning to fit your life.” She offers comprehensive retirement planning, college planning, and long-range financial planning services tailored to each client’s unique background, current situation, and future goals, and has worked with clients of all ages and life stages, from new parents to current retirees and aspiring entrepreneurs. Ms. Everett leads a team of six financial and administrative professionals who are committed to integrity and a personal approach to the industry. In addition to individual planning services, Ms. Everett is a Life Underwriter Training Council fellow and offers classes, client advisory, consulting, and financial literacy education opportunities. The firm has created numerous ebooks, 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.
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 keystone of her identity and professional journey. In the coming years, Ms. Everett looks forward to continuing to grow her firm and to writing another book, emphasizing that she is as passionate as ever about her firm and career.
