Edwin R. Baldrige IIICFP®

What sparked your interest in financial planning? What fuels you every day in your work?

In my first financial career, I was a floor trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Commodity Exchange in NY and I noticed how some traders were wealthy and the next day they were broke. It became apparent that one of the big missing pieces for many of the traders was a plan for saving, investing and using more of the tools to build long- term wealth.  I began to focus my personal energies on being a good steward for myself and others and it still energizes me when I see clients and their families achieving their best financial lives.

What’s the one thing people say you’re best at?

Listening and being able to understand what matters to clients in their lives and coordinating those concerns with their finances.

How do you do good in your community?

I’ve been involved in many local boards and organizations in the Lehigh Valley area over the years including Board President for Communities in Schools of Eastern PA and Lehigh Valley Arts Council. I was also an adjunct professor at Muhlenberg College for over a decade teaching portfolio finance and serving as advisor for the student investment committee.

Currently my focus has been on environmental and conservation issues. I am serving as the Board Treasurer for Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the oldest raptor preserve in the US with a worldwide network of birding research and conservation. Also I am the Board Treasurer for the Sustainable Food Alliance, the US sister organization for the UK based Sustainable Food Trust which focuses on soil and healthy food.

When you retire you’re going to…?

Retirement still seems a long way off for me even though many of my friends are heading in that direction. If you love what you do, why retire?

Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?

I grew up in the Lehigh Valley and after college worked in Chicago and New York. When we were expecting our second child, we moved back to the Lehigh Valley to our family farm near Kutztown, PA. As my Pennsylvania German ancestors would say, “Bloom where you are planted.”