Principal
Ask Leveraged Solutions Principal Harold Sanes about himself and he immediately starts talking about the Sanes’ three generations of financial professionals. “My father Bill Sanes, who is retired now after 50+ years in the industry, was a hard-working, disciplined man–and my role model. My son Matthew Sanes has all of our talents and skills multiplied three times over,” says Harold Sanes.
Harold has been in the financial services industry for 46 years. He originally set out to be an attorney, but instead took up his father’s invitation to join his successful business in Miami–a decision he’s never regretted. So rather than practicing law, Harold began his career in financial services in Florida working for his father, literally starting out in the mailroom. He learned all the technical aspects of insurance and financial planning from one of his dad’s most brilliant agents.
“We ran a traditional mom-and-pop insurance agency, meeting with clients over their kitchen tables at night. After a few years in the business I decided to do things differently. I think like an attorney; my talent, if you will, is the ability to digest complex concepts quickly and boil them down into plain, understandable terms. I developed specialized expertise in estate planning strategies and helped other financial professionals with this aspect of their client presentations all over the country, working out of our offices in South Florida and Chicago” said Harold Sanes. “At one point in my career, I did something else which was completely unique at the time: I became one of the leading fee-only insurance and estate planners in the country providing clients with consumer-friendly, no-load insurance products to help them achieve their financial goals,” he said.
What Harold focuses on now is providing clients with “sleep-well-at-night” retirement income strategies that are designed to last a lifetime. He accomplishes this by teaching people about Social Security claiming methods and the most efficient way to partner them with planning that will cover their lifestyle expenses regardless of economic conditions. He loves teaching and is the main speaker at Leveraged Solutions’ popular seminars. “Whether I’m speaking to 50 or 1,000 people, I have a lot to share from my real experiences with clients. I’ve seen people’s lives truly changed for the better through multiple generations. It has been a very gratifying career,” says Harold.
Harold celebrated his 35th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day with the love of his life, Mary. He spends a lot of time with Matthew and his wife Jennifer, and his parents, Bill and Fran, both 91, who live close by. Thanks to Mary’s inspiration, he makes sure to stay fit by working out early every morning, still weighing what he did in high school. Harold says, “I love spending time with my family, but I can’t imagine not working. Running the company with my son Matthew is an absolute joy. I recognize that I am a very lucky man.”