Our Story
After ten years working at a large broker/dealer firm, Brian Lahr recognized that his clients needed more than just traditional wealth management services. They needed a values-centered wealth management process, a coach, and solutions that could help them live life on purpose, get unstuck and make the most of their time and money.
To overcome the challenges and frustrations in his first decade as an advisor, Brian started One Life Financial Group, Inc., in White Bear Lake, MN. He developed processes, solutions, and systems that place a client’s values, life, and best interests at the center of the financial life planning process. This new process incorporates life coaching, detailed cash flow work, and systems to care for all of a client’s assets, including company retirement plans (a service many RIAs don’t offer).
One Life Financial Group’s only source of revenue is the fees clients pay directly to the firm. One Life doesn’t accept referral fees or sell or recommend products that pay commissions.
One Life Financial Group services the greater Twin Cities area, including St. Paul and Minneapolis. Our office is located in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and borders the city of Hugo. We also work with clients across the United States[1] over phone and video conferences.
[1] We are registered to offer advisory services in the following state(s): IA, LA, MN, SC, TX
Our Core Values
Core Value #1: People & Purpose Before Profits
- We are committed to avoiding, eliminating, and disclosing conflicts of interest (if they exist).
- We do not receive commissions or service fees for selling life insurance, variable annuities, mutual funds, or other investment products.
- We do not accept referral fees from other professionals (i.e., insurance or real estate agents, attorneys, accountants, mortgage planners, etc.)
- There is no policy for PTO (personal time off) at One Life. We trust our team will get their work done. The no PTO policy exists so that people can prioritize their life and family above work. They can take the personal time they need when they need it.
- If your advisor is engaged in any outside business activities that could result in a conflict of interest, those activities and potential conflicts of interest will be disclosed to you in writing for your review before signing your agreement.
- We provide resources to One Life team members to help them practice what we preach. We believe that taking care of our team will empower our team to better care for our clients.
- We recently started offering “bundled” pricing, allowing clients to receive financial planning and asset management services for one fixed fee. This option eliminates conflicts of interest: 1) where assets are held (401k vs. IRA), 2) to pay down debt, 3) to gift assets to charity or loved ones, and 4) to invest in a business using investment portfolio assets managed by the advisor.
- Officers of the company have a cap on their salary and bonuses. This allows the business to invest more back into our people, processes, and the technology needed to serve our clients well.
Core Value #2: Two Are Better Than One
Embracing the ‘Two Are Better Than One’ core value motivates us to create and sustain a culture of accountability for our team and those we serve. Why?
Creating a plan is relatively easy. Implementing the plan, performing administrative tasks, and following the plan is difficult for many people. We provide support and accountability to help those we serve get organized, develop a relevant plan, and turn their intentions to action.
While two can be better than one, we also believe a team of people can be more effective than just two people. Clients of One Life have access to a team of diverse people who specialize in different areas of service.
To save you time, we can collaborate with your accountant, attorney, insurance agents, others involved in managing your affairs to help ensure everyone is on the same page with your goals and current financial picture.
If you need a referral to an accountant, attorney, mortgage planner, insurance agent, real estate agent, or other professional, we can often make an introduction to someone that can help you.
Core Value #3: Practice What We Preach
One Life offers and encourages all team members to engage in the same conversations and exercises that you can work through as a client. We believe that this is a crucial element in providing excellent client service and discovering new ways to improve One Life’s services.
Core Value #4: Decisions for Decades
We believe that whatever we do as a business should make sense today and for decades to come. We use the “decisions for decades” framework to evaluate our tools, processes, and how we can improve the client experience.
Making decisions for today can be much easier than making decisions for yourself or your family 12 or 22 years from now. As your advisor, our role is to advocate for your life today and the life you will have in the future. We achieve this by helping people create a relevant vision for their life and then developing and maintaining a financial life plan to support that vision.
We are committed to using tools and technology that can stand the test of time and simplify your life. We regularly evaluate our technology solutions and periodically upgrade systems to improve the client experience.