GulfCoast Financial Services
John, Brent and Blake Kuykendall
Family Owned & Operated Since 1992. By Hayli Zuccola
Since its founding in 1992, GulfCoast Financial Services has operated on the basis of treating everyone from their employees to their clients like family. After maintaining a 20-year career in the banking industry, John Kuykendall decided to go into business for himself and opened GulfCoast as a mortgage brokerage business in Bradenton. When his dad fell ill, he moved further north to be with him and ultimately planted new roots in Lake City where he and his business have remained for the last 28 years. Today, GulfCoast Financial Services has become a threegeneration family business located in the heart of downtown Lake City and though they’ve stepped away from mortgages, they’ve grown into a full-service investment and planning firm John Kuykendall Financial Advisor CEO and Founder
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specializing in everything from tax preparation and retirement income planning to social security, wealth management and everything in between. “It’s been an evolution of where we are today just picking up services, going to classes, learning, finding out how things are going,” John Kuykendall said. “It’s a business that evolves, and you have to evolve with it.” Aside from being the only locally registered investment advisor in Lake City, what sets GulfCoast apart is the individualized attention and customized planning they provide to each client. “It’s never a one size fits all—I mean, we learned that a long time ago—and so I think it’s really more of finding the niche, finding what works for each individual person,” said Brent Kuykendall, who is the current President of GulfCoast and represents the second generation of the family business. “It’s always been about the need of a client so we’re trying to do what’s best for our clients when they come in.”
