Helping Define Others' Futures: Taylor Schulte '07 BSBA (Business Management)

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Taylor Schulte is a native San Diegan, but when it was time to prepare for college, he wanted to look outside of what he knew. “One of my priorities was to get out of San Diego and experience another city for college,” he said. “I had a friend who was at the UA and got a chance to visit. The moment I stepped on campus, I knew it was right for me.”

The strict admissions for Eller undergraduates appealed to him, as did the college’s reputation in entrepreneurship – both of his grandfathers were entrepreneurs. Schulte gravitated to business management for its broad nature, but his personal experience managing some stock his grandfather gave him kept financial planning on his radar, too.

“Getting back to San Diego was important to me,” he said, and his professional interests came together in an initial position with Morgan Stanley. “It was a great place to learn the ropes and begin my career,” he said. After five years with the firm, he moved on to Beverly Hills Wealth Management as a wealth management advisor. In that role, he launched the company’s San Diego operations.

The experience also led him to understand that it was something he had built the skills to do himself.

Last June, Schulte launched his own firm, Define Financial. The independent, commission-free financial planning firm specializes in investment management, retirement and college planning and charitable giving. Schulte is particularly passionate about helping young professionals accumulate wealth and plan for retirement. 

“My vision is to be the next go-to financial planning firm in San Diego,” he said. “There are more financial planners over the age of 70 than there are under 30. It’s an aging industry. I want to leverage technology to cater to a younger demographic, with the idea that the planner is going to stick with the client through all their different stages of life. My second vision is to help influence younger people to consider financial planning as a career.”

Earlier this year, Schulte was awarded SD Metro’s Metro Movers award for his contributions to the financial planning professional.

“Both of my grandfathers were entrepreneurs and were extremely influential to me,” he said. “I knew if I put my head down and worked hard, great things would happen.”