In the long run, who each of us turns out to be is the result of the genome material with which one begins life, plus the environment and people we interact with as life unfolds. This writer has had the extraordinarily good fortune to have crossed paths with individuals who have, throughout his personal and professional life, both enriched his business efforts and become friends as well. The business model that has evolved out of these relationships has become one adopted by many in the personal financial advisory field, and appears to have lasting relevance as a format for the future. One is hard pressed to identify other professions in which the advisor interacts closely with both fellow employees and eminently compatible clientele who he looks forward to associating with each and every day.

Credit for initiating and supporting this TFC digital history project, and for her unstinting passion for TFC's client support philosophy, begins with CEO Renee Kwok's continuing efforts. Renee joined the firm 26 years ago, which turned out to be the beginning of a lengthy and highly gratifying succession plan. The firm, and our clients' finances, are in good hands for the future.

Thanks as well to Fred Pryor, who from the firm's inception had the presence of mind to see in the fee-for-service client advisory business model the potential inherent in TFC's adopted approach. In the early 1980s - the lean years - his insistence on adherence to the fiduciary standard put the firm on very solid ethical ground, in many ways out ahead of and anticipating today's regulatory environment. His early business development efforts bore fruit and many of those client relationships remain with the firm to this day.

To Steve O'Neill, many thanks for acting as an inside business coach throughout the firm's existence and for guiding our personal risk (insurance) client advisory posture. His insistence that client risk coverage be both economical and incorporate sensible investment characteristics formed the basis for continuing pragmatic solutions in this sometimes-incomprehensible variable in the financial services equation.

Great appreciation also to Warner Henderson, early partner and innovative thinker, developer of personal finance analytical techniques and, in the run-up period, creator of spreadsheet exhibits anticipating today's fully integrated personal cashflow, net worth, and portfolio accounting software. His firm, Aequitas, located in Hingham, has evolved into a major factor serving South Shore Boston.

Gratitude to Bob Wegner, one of the early solo players in the Personal Financial Planning discipline who, in addition to building his own practice in New Jersey and Texas, in the early 1980s helped this writer develop the fee-for-services model adopted by TFC and later by Applied Expert Systems. Bob and I also co-authored a number of early articles in the 1980s for the BNA Tax Management Journal on investment portfolio asset class allocation strategies, as well as presented this then newly emerging concept at a number of forums in Boston, New Orleans, San Diego, and Washington DC.

Thanks to Bob Marshall, who from the outset as outside corporate counsel has and continues to provide practical, reliable legal advice which is always on point both in corporate matters as well as relating to many client inquiries.

Acknowledgment goes to Josh Patrick, business coach extraordinaire, who for many years and in a number of important ways has influenced the firm's offering and held us accountable along a variety of tracks throughout the firm's evolution.

Special recognition to Stephen Kay, since 1974 General Partner and manager of the Goldman Sachs Boston office, who lived through the period described in what follows in Boston's financial district. His recollections and reflections on the DNA of the 1970s and 1980s have immeasurably improved the scope of this effort.

Thanks to Mark Tibergien, CEO of Pershing-BNY Mellon Advisor Solutions, who in his earlier career with Moss Adams spent consulting sessions with us to help refine our client service offering, and who with this author has created a curriculum for teaching personal financial literacy currently implemented at high schools in both Minnesota and Michigan.

Thanks to Dan Fuss, Vice Chairman of Loomis, Sayles. In the late 1960s, Dan, along with Andy Carter and Jack Doyle at Wellington, and Keith Brodkin at MFS, pioneered in the active portfolio management of fixed income securities and was one of the founders of the CFA program. Dan kindly shared his impressions of that era with this writer.

A note of great admiration to Charley Ellis, founder of Greenwich Associates, whose prolific writings and many presentations since his career began in the late 1960s while at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette have been a very supportive influence on us all. Charley was a pioneer in the field of research into institutional financial services, the investment decision-making process of individuals and particularly committees. His unbiased comments on manager conflicts and fee structures have bruised a few egos, but he, along with his fellow traveler Jack Bogle, always championed the individual investor's cause.

Appreciation to Jack Doyle, bond portfolio manager and 1970s associate of the author's at Wellington Management and Jennison Associates, and an early participant in the quantitative investment management movement while at State Street Global Advisors.

Thanks to Dan Kern for his careful assessment of our firm's investment approach. Dan has been responsible for subsequent evolutionary contemporizing shifts in client portfolio strategy and structure. His writing and speaking efforts on behalf of the firm make certain it is recognized in the nuanced manner appropriate to our intended role.

Plaudits for Connie Wyllie, who almost 40 years ago joined TFC, has become an integral part and manager of the firm's client servicing effort, and today serves as Chief Compliance Officer.

Applause for Betty Harris, who has for many years kept track of the firm's finances and enforced financial discipline where in a small firm such controls can often be lax.

Kudos to Fred Dalrymple, whose editing efforts untangling the sketchy prose with which he has been presented will be appreciated by the reader. A co-author of the forthcoming book, Cloud for Dummies, Fred's understanding of how to prepare a document like this for digital posting on client portals was essential.

And most importantly, to our clients, who often provide suggestions of best practices derived from personal experiences of their own, our profound appreciation for your on-going support.

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