Ever worry you’re playing it safe with your finances—only to regret it later? Discover the surprising ways high achievers miss out on living life fully, not by failing to save, but by misunderstanding what financial independence truly means. Too often, fear and old habits keep us stuck, focused on building wealth rather than enjoying it or making real impact. What if your risk isn’t running out of money, but growing old with regrets for not using your resources sooner?

In this episode, I sit down with Matt Heckmann, a seasoned financial advisor and the founder of Heckmann Financial, whose 25-year career has centered on helping families gain true peace of mind through education-focused financial planning. Matt is known for making complex concepts simple and relatable, empowering clients to make confident decisions and live their most fulfilling lives. We’ll unpack his philosophy of “responsible confidence,” discuss how humor and storytelling can deepen client relationships, and learn more about his innovative Financial Independence Planning Program designed to help other advisors amplify their impact.

Episode Highlights

03:41 – There’s a few people. I’ve always kind of put it in the category of mentors. The four in particular would be my dad, Nick Murray. I’ll come back to John Wooden and my faith. So Jesus is that fourth. And there’s so many elements of the Christian faith that apply to our business because ultimately, it’s a great instruction manual for how things are supposed to work professionally.

12:25 – Part of why you’re not fully confident right now is because these things are bubbling around the back of your mind right now that you haven’t even been able to articulate yet.

14:35 – We need to have a clear vision for what that even means to me, because what it means to me might be different than what it means to you and so on. We need to have perspective, which is really a fun one for us, around our financial capacity and trajectory. And then we have to have a very good direction or roadmap that says, okay, I’ve got some tax planning and some asset management, some risk management. I’ve got all these different things going on in my life. How do I make sure it’s all working together and pointed towards my vision to achieve the best outcome possible.

19:10 – It’s actually waking up at age 85 with a fantastic balance sheet and then saying something like, hey, had we known it was going to look this amazing at age 85, a little earlier, we would have done things differently with our time. And now it’s too late.

Contact

Heather Price Consulting

Matt Heckmann