Hello, and Welcome to my blog! I am Gary Gover, Founder and Principal Adviser of Gover Financial Planning, LLC. My firm is based in Puyallup, Washington, and we provide ‘fee-only’ financial planning to individuals, families, and businesses throughout the Puget Sound region. For more information about me, my firm, and the benefits of working with a fee-only financial planner, please visit my firm’s website at www.GoverFinancialPlanning.com.
I invite you to follow my blog as I periodically update it with casual observations and opinions on timely matters of personal finance. I hope to provide you with thought-provoking perspective at times, and good old fashioned ‘straight shooting’ on most occasions. Matters of personal finance do not require a degree, or even a course or two in rocket science, so I’ll try to bring a lot of this stuff down to earth. Keeping it simple and low-cost has proven to be a good formula for success.
As for the name of this blog, Gover’s City, I’m glad you asked! In my childhood town of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, my father was one of three generations of Govers who operated community-oriented retail businesses that served the needs of a smallish midwest town and surrounding region. The vast majority of his customers were of modest means, making their living from the land in agriculture or the ‘oil patch’ of central Michigan. Gover City, as my father’s store was named, was what used to be called a ‘dry-goods’ business - carrying work clothes, boots, outer-wear, fabrics, floor covering, and other essentials to the area’s hard working families. To me, my father captured and lived out the true spirit of customer and community service. I was always amazed by his ability to warmly address by name nearly everyone who walked through the door. It occurs to me that not only did my father have and show a great appreciation for his customers, but his sharp memory for names and faces was most certainly helped by the many times people returned to Gover City. This customer loyalty was born from his genuine care for people, excellent customer service, and reasonably priced merchandise.
All these years later far from my childhood home, and in a completely different profession than my father, I hope to capture and live up to the standard he set for building customer relationships based on trust and fairness. And as a Registered Investment Adviser and fee-only financial planner, I have a fiduciary obligation to my clients – that means acting in utmost good faith and serving in the client’s best interest at all times. In less words, this obligation to the customer is what Dad always knew was simply the right thing to do. So, I pen this blog in tribute to the man behind the original Gover City, and living out his commitment to the gold standard of customer care. Thank you Dad.
Again, Welcome to Gover’s City, I’m looking forward to our discussion!
Warm Regards,
Gary
