BEHIND THE NUMBERS By: Andrea Van Essen | Photos By: Shane Monahan Photography
With over a 20-year career in financial advising, Travis Krueger stands out not just for his experience, but for his deep-seated commitment to developing personal relationships with his clients. As an independent advisor, his philosophy is simple: to offer a full spectrum of opportunities that align with his clients’ aspirations, whether they’re navigating the early stages of wealth building or managing a multimillion-dollar portfolio. It’s a career he has fallen in love with over the years because of the varied relationships he gets to build and the unique stories he hears sitting across the table from his clients. “I love hearing people’s stories and getting to know what they truly care about. Easily the best part of this career is the relationships I’ve been able to build with clients, their children and now some of their grandchildren,” Travis adds. “It always amazes me how willing people are to open up and share not only their successes, but also the struggles they’ve endured to get there. Getting to hear these stories and learn from them at a young age has helped me personally as I’ve built my businesses. I’ve always said that I’ve benefitted just as much from my clients’ stories about building businesses, generational farms, and raising children as they have from me on personal finance.” He adds that the connections he has made over the years are a fulfilling aspect of the job, not to mention a key avenue that he has been able to grow in his career and build his business.
“He’s the one who really got me interested in the business at a super young age, and I really followed his advice,” Travis shares. This early exposure to the financial industry, paired with additional pivotal relationships along the way, laid a strong foundation for his career. Travis went on to attend Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, where he played football as a free safety. While in school, he also landed his first internship at Northwestern Mutual at age 19. “They’ve got an incredible internship program, and it was a phenomenal experience,” Travis shares. He worked at Northwestern Mutual throughout college. Upon graduation he found a role at Reliabank as a financial advisor in their Raymond James division. “Working alongside lenders was a great way to build a clientele and develop a more rounded understanding of all aspects that makeup a client’s financial picture.” Driven to broaden his options, he pursued a role with Swenson Commodities after being referred to Brad Swenson. Brad and his son Matt had an established a long-term commodity business and had enlisted the help of Mike Teslow with a financial background to build out a financial planning division, later named Swenson Wealth Management. “This was around the time that ag estate planning was becoming a very hot topic,” Travis adds. “This is an area I’m passionate about and I saw a path for ownership in an independent firm.”
“I love the fact that here in South Dakota, everyone’s so intertwined. It’s such a small world, and I love tying relationships back to other people,” Travis says.
Though he has nothing but positive things to say about the companies he worked for along the way and the lessons he learned; Travis appreciates the variety afforded to him by owning his own firm. He says every day brings something new to the table.
His own journey into the world of finance began as a teenager, growing up in Norfolk, Nebraska, where his mom, Carla, worked as an administrative assistant at an Edward Jones office. As a teenager, Travis would come into the office and help out with various projects, and it was there that he met Kent Friedrich, who owned the office and would become a key mentor to him.
“What’s nice about my business is I can be working on a $15 million ag estate plan in the morning, and then going and doing a 401k rollover for a retiree in the afternoon, and the next morning I’m writing term life insurance for a young couple just starting off,” he shares.