In this interview on the Authors Unite Show, Andrew Rosen, president and partner of Diversified Lifelong Advisors, discusses his firm’s holistic approach to financial planning that integrates wealth, health, and happiness. He shares his personal backstory—how his father’s illness and the family’s reliance on solid financial planning sparked his career. Rosen explains his short ebook, Doomsday Financial Planning in the Age of Downturns, Disease, and Disasters, which urges clients to rethink traditional advice such as maxing 401(k)s and to maintain liquid assets for emergencies. He identifies common financial mistakes before and during the COVID‑19 crisis, noting over‑reaction to short‑term shocks and, previously, greed during a long bull market. For those in financial distress, he advises focusing on controllable, small steps and maintaining optimism. Rosen differentiates constructive versus destructive debt, advocating for debt as a strategic tool when used purposefully (e.g., education, home purchase, business investment) while warning against high‑interest consumer debt. He addresses the fear of taking on debt, emphasizing perseverance, self‑belief, and supportive networks. The conversation then turns to the firm’s comprehensive services—tax, investment, insurance, scenario modeling—all delivered under one roof with a client‑centric focus on happiness and goal fulfillment. Rosen highlights the firm’s online presence, especially the lifelongadvisors.com blog, as a resource for prospective clients. The interview closes with a call for listeners to work with a fiduciary who prioritizes their overall well‑being.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Authors Unite Show. Today we have Andrew Rosan. So welcome to the show, man.
Thanks for having me, George. How you doing?
I'm doing great. Thank you for coming on. So can you kick us off and tell us a little bit more about you and what you do?
Absolutely. So I am the president and partner at Diversified Lifelong Advisors. We are a full-service financial planning firm that focuses on our clients' wealth, health, and happiness. Our objective is to look at things holistically, provide everything under one roof, and be the advocate for our clients to take the worry and peace of mind that they deserve to help them get their goals accomplished. So we don't believe in just setting goals. We are firm believers in actually accomplishing them and seeing them through with our clients. So that's, that's a little bit about our firm. We're based in Wilmington, Delaware, and we love what we do.
Okay, awesome. And what type of clients do you work with? Personal clients, business clients?
Mostly individuals and families. I tell people we predominantly work with professionals, executives, and retirees or approaching retirees. So that, that generally seems to cover our niche marketplace pretty well.
Okay. And what got you into this industry, Andrew?
It's a great question, George. So I went to college to pursue the American dream, which was not to start a company, but to take over your father's company, which is what I thought I was destined to do. Unfortunately, my father got sick when I was in college, a freshman in college, and the, the saving grace for our family was good financial planning, and foundation was laid for us. And that piqued my interest. I was always good with numbers and finances and money and things of that nature. And then when I graduated, I figured, well, if I'm not going to pursue the American dream, I'll start my own American dream and try to I wanted to give back what was given to my family, which was a sound financial plan, which helped us out both good times and more importantly, bad times. And so that really gave me the conviction to get into this business and stay in this business for a long time, which it was, it was not always easy and glorious, but it's been impactful and meaningful both to my life and the lives of those that I'm lucky enough to work with.
Okay. So tell me about your book, Doomsday Financial Planning in the Age of Downturns, Disease, and Disasters. So tell us what made you write it and why you wrote it and what it talks about.
Sure. So it's a short ebook, 15 to 20 pages, that really stresses financial planning in today's environment. So we— there's a lot of industry staples and rules of thumbs that we've been accustomed to knowing. And when you see a black swan event like this COVID pandemic that has shaken our— not only our local and domestic, but also international world, it has you reassess priorities and has you refocus on the basics of financial planning. For instance, we were always taught, just put money in your 401(k). Right? That was, that's, that if you asked me 2 years ago, what's the one best piece of financial advice? I would say max out your 401(k). Today, it may be worth considering keeping not as much money in a 401(k) for events like this. Maybe we still fund it and we can also fund liquid investment accounts or accounts that are easier to get our hands on should something like this happen again. So I think that looking at our cash position, 3 to 6 months cash, right? That's something we always rule of thumb, right? 3 to 6 months your expenses, keeping cash. And again, you go through something like this, can you build internal firewalls to your financial planning? And maybe you have your cash portion, but there's liquid investment dollars that, that can cover another 6 to 12 to a year worth, because we still don't know the fallout of something like this. And, and so it helps you really reprioritize. I also think it helps really focus on the importance of financial planning as a profession and an industry and a service. Because in times like this, I can tell you, having a professional that is unbiased and not going to get emotional and keep your interest, your interest, your best interest at heart, I think it's critical to have that voice and that guidance to keep things in perspective. I've talked a lot of clients out of some crazy thoughts and notions they had because they're scared or they're reading some paper or, or publication. And, and the voice of common reason has really been incredibly beneficial in their lives.
Yeah, going off that topic, what are some common mistakes that you've seen people do Well, there's a two-part question. What are some common mistakes you've seen people do with their finances now in the, in the midst of the crisis and before the crisis?
Yeah, it's a great question. I think now you see people overreact, and not that this isn't scary, and not that we even know where this thing ends, because it is scary and we don't know where it ends. But when— but I've seen people have a tendency to want to make massive shifts in their long-term planning because of what will eventually be a short-term issue. Whether COVID lasts a year or two or five, you're doing financial planning for decades, for a lifetime, George. And so I think staying the course and making— not, not that you can't make tweaks along the way, but not overreacting, not giving in to fear or greed, which probably these days you're seeing fear be the predominant factor, again, because of unknowns. And I would say, interestingly enough, before this pandemic, it would probably be the opposite. I think we've been in a 10, 11-year bull market, and you have people who are on the other side, who are letting the greed pull them, which is they're building financial plans that can't sustain a downturn like we saw, and they don't have enough liquidity. These individuals who don't want to be selling when the markets are down 30%, 40% in March, April this year would have been best served aligning their investments with their goals versus being pulled to what seems hot or trends or you can't lose in the investment world. I always joke, I text with a, I have a text group with a couple buddies and they always would, none of them are in finance group and they would always text about a stock they purchased and how Lyft is doing so well or their Netflix purchase, right? And I would always just joke and say, you guys are awesome. I tell you who I haven't got a text from in 6 months about their stocks is anyone in that group. So quite the opposite, right? Now, no one's bragging about their brilliant picks, and they're licking their wounds. And I get it. I mean, it's been a trying time for everyone. But so that's how I would answer, I think. You've seen sort of the opposite effect, which is why planning and financial planning and balanced holistic focus, looking at all areas of your finances makes sense. And working again with a professional, I think yields a lot of benefit and return that is nearly impossible to do yourself.
Absolutely agree. And what would you say to the people who maybe are not in the best financial situation, but they want to get out of it? Maybe they got struck by COVID and their business is down, or maybe they never had a lot of money in the first place, but they want to, they want to get on the right track. What would you, what would you tell them?
I would tell them two things. One always gives me comfort, which is life has a funny way of working out, right? You're not— most of these people, I should say, aren't going to end up homeless, aren't going to end up bankrupt and, and begging for change. Life works out and good things happen to good people. And so I firmly believe that. I see it all the time. You may not be able to see the outcome and see the, the forest through the trees, if you will, but life works its, its, its way out. And the other thing is think small. Don't try to think about 20 chess steps ahead, about how when this thing's over and you're gonna make all these wonderful things happen, because then it becomes overwhelming. You're thinking of this thing to the next, to the next, and you realize there's 30 things you have to do to get in a better position. Think small, one thing at a time. You can't worry about the next 19. Focus on the thing you can do, focus on the thing you can control, I'm a big believer of control the controllable. There's things out of our control. And so if we can put our attention to an easy digestible step, the next logical one in this chain reaction, I really believe you'll be in a much better position to get out of your hardships.
Yeah, that's pretty powerful. I like that.
Thanks, George. Me too.
Yeah, you should. You're the one preaching it.
That's it. I'm making it up as I go.
Yeah. So tell me about debt. Maybe, you know, maybe that's not your best place of expertise, but that, do you think people should have debt? Do you think that works in great ways or do you think people should stay out of debt as a financial endeavor?
Yeah, it's a great question. So I think debt is a, a necessary and valuable tool to a financial, a successful financial house, if you will. It's, I also think there is good and bad debt. I say constructive and destructive debt is what I like to refer to. So what do I mean? George, you got a nice job, you work here or here or here, and you were able to do so because you went to college, which you couldn't afford with out debt, and now you have student loans, which may be sizable and cost you real money each month, but it was what got you here. Conversely, you really wanted that sharp Porsche or BMW, you can't really afford it, and— or that new vacation or whatever it is, and you're building up credit card debt that is not going to get you anywhere. You're sort of living outside your means. And that's destructive debt. That's debt that comes with a 15%, 20% interest rate, snowballs and becomes impossible to get out of. So by and large, there, I think it's important to categorize the why you're acquiring debt. I mean, most of us can't buy a house cash. It's very hard to do, to have 3, 4, 5, $800,000 to do. And if it's smart and calculated and we can afford it, I think debt is a useful tool. If you want to start a business, most of us don't have the equity to go start a business and it takes capital and some great things can be done because of it. I heard a quote once, which was, rich people don't get rich using their own money. And by and large, it's true. The wealthiest people I know usually acquired a decent amount of debt to get there because they were able to get financed using someone else's money at a very low, reasonable rate. And again, it was calculated and they were able to afford it. So that's, that's my take on debt, if you will.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. What you said about wealthy people getting rich off other people's money, I think a lot of people who want to become financially successful, they they have this fear, maybe irrational fear of, you know, not being able to pay back that debt, or it's just maybe something bad happens in the economy and then, you know, everything falls apart and now they have this big debt with no basis to pay it back. So, uh, how do you get over this fear of taking debt to make money?
Yeah, I think perseverance is probably the biggest key. It and belief in yourself and surrounding yourself with the right type of people. I mean, the debt you're talking about is debt to go start a business or invest in yourself. Think of it that way. You're, you're taking, you're taking a bet. And I've done it myself many times. And, and instead of betting on someone else, I've, I put that bet on my ability to persevere through and to do what it takes to succeed. Not everyone succeeds, plenty of people fail. And that's okay, too. You've always— we've always heard you learn more by your failures and your mistakes. And I certainly have done so myself. And so if you are inclined to do so and willing to understand the risk and the reward, I'm a big proponent. I think that's what makes our country great and our economy great is that this ability is out there. It's— that is— we joked when we started, that is the American dream. That would be what most people immigrated to our, our beautiful country and started and wanted to do, is that is the land of milk and honey, and you can build what you want, and there are no restrictions. So I think it's, it's beautiful, and it's an integral part to our financial system. Our economy.
So absolutely. And yeah, so tell me about Diversified Lifelong Advisors. How do you help your, your clients? Uh, do you help them with investments, or do you just help them, um, manage their finances? How do you help them out?
Yeah, so we, we really believe in that everything under one roof, but it starts by understanding a couple things. We want to understand where clients are at We want to understand what goals we're going to accomplish to get there. We want to understand who they are as people and what makes them happy. Because I, I'm a proponent of trying to align those things together so that they can live this life that, that is wealthy and healthy and happy. And so we want to be our clients' guides to, again, give them the peace of mind to know they have an advocate, a fiduciary, a friend, a partner in us to get them from point A to all their goals being accomplished, because we all deserve to be happy. And it's something that I preach, we all preach at our firm. It's important. It's important to them. It's important to us because that's why we're doing any of this. I'm not waking up early and working long days and taking risks to be miserable, right? And it's different for everyone. So making a ton of money is not always everyone's end goal. It's, it's— and so if we can understand those things, we can keep them front of mind. And as we get to these milestones, we can be there. We have the capabilities at our firm to look at everything from their taxes to their investments to their insurances to modeling out different scenarios, and we come back to that each time, and then we implement the solution. So that's, that's how we attack it. I think it's refreshing, and it puts what's most important front of mind, which is client's happiness, client's goals getting done, not just set. And so we really feel we deliver on that, and it's important. There's not, not much in this world that makes you feel prouder in my business than to watch someone you care about accomplish their goals and get them complete, because then you see real happiness, then you see their dream play out. And to be a part of that process is— it's invigorating.
Yeah, I really like your, your mindset here that you put happiness in that equation. It's very rare to see, at least from, from my experience, it's rare to see like financial advisors who are concerned with that, concerned with other people's goals. It's not just about the money. Yeah, yeah, I like that.
The money comes, that the money comes. And so I'm not— it's— that is far from my biggest concern. If I have thousands and thousands of clients through our firm that are happy and singing our praises and accomplishing their goals, that's better than any, any money I can ask for.
I like that. And where can people find you, Andrew?
So they can find me in lots of dark places. No, I guess the best way is they can go to my website, our website, our company website, lifelongadvisors.com, where we have a lot of great resources for our clients. Because we do believe in, and prospects, we do believe in putting out good content. I have a blog there. If you put backslash blog or click within the website, you can get my weekly blog, which goes out to thousands and thousands of people. And I think they like it. I get good response. And we, it's not your regular boring blog. I don't think it touches on a lot of different topics and many of which we talked about today. And it's fun. It's been a labor of love for the past couple of years and has grown substantially. And so those are probably the best places to find out more about us or connect with me or one of my partners. And it's, yeah, it's a fun little thing we got going on here.
Okay. And do you have any closing remarks?
Yeah, I think that anyone listening that is not working with someone, certainly we're here to help, but that my main focus is I hope you are working with someone or working with someone that has your needs at the core of the relationship and your, your, your goals and your, your physical and mental well-being and your happiness. And if, if you don't, you should. And if you do, that's fantastic because this stuff is pretty important. And I think everyone deserves to have an advocate, a guide in their pocket so that they can focus their time on what they actually care about and where they should.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on, Andrew.
George, it's been a real pleasure. Thank you so much. It really has been.
