George M. Bowen, CFP^®, AIF^®, AEP^®

It may sound crazy, but I knew at an early age I wanted to be a Financial Planner. It started when I received Burton Malkiel’s book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” for my 12th birthday. Yes, 12th birthday! Coming from a long line of accountants, numbers were in my blood. My grandfather had started his own CPA firm after working at the IRS in 1946. My father and uncle took over for him in the 60’s, and my sister joined the firm in the 80’s. I worked there throughout high school and joined the firm after college in 1992.  But back then you couldn’t be an accountant and a financial planner, so I left to start my own journey. Not a great day for my dad, but he supported me 100%. I think he appreciated the fact I was chasing my dream. 

After owning and running a bar in Manhattan (yes, I have plenty of stories to tell), I moved to Massachusetts and started with Merrill Lynch. Their training program was great, but the fit wasn’t. I was fortunate to land with an independent firm and truly began working as a Financial Planner. That was 2002, and I haven’t looked back since. You could say Charted Wealth is the culmination of all that hard work. I’m looking forward to continuing this journey on my own ship! 

Janet and I got married in 2004, and were blessed with Grace in 2006, and Anna in 2008. I quickly became outnumbered in our house!  We both grew up skiing with our families, and so the girls learned at the age of 3.  They can now rip up the ski slopes and enjoy skiing with our extended families (grandma and grandpa’s) as well! In the winter you will find us on the ski slopes in Vermont or New Hampshire almost every weekend.  

I grew up plying the waters around Montauk, NY, and still spend as much time as possible there. A typical weekend for us will include paddleboarding, fishing, and cooking big family meals. My father loved to surfcast, and fortunately passed that on to my brother and me.  In 2005 I caught the Holy Grail, a 50lb striper from the surf! And the best part was that my brother was there with me! I’m happy to say that my daughters have grown up fishing too. In fact, Grace holds the IGFA World Record for Summer Flounder in the Junior Female category. Although I think her and her sister’s favorite part is eating the catch! 

I truly feel blessed to be where I am in life and strive to pass that along to everyone I meet. For the past 10 years I have been involved quite a bit with my alma mater, St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT. What started as a talk on retirement, has expanded to roles as a mentor, career advisor, panelist and speaker. My involvement with these students has driven me to do more in the areas of financial literacy and diversity in financial services. Stay tuned to Charted Wealth for more on this topic!