Crystal Lake financial firm credits success to holistic financial planning

The financial planning firm Crystal Lake Tax & Financial is located in a modest office space off Coventry Lane in Crystal Lake.

The firm serves almost 350 clients with a team of eight, including founder Michael Stewart, his wife and two sons. Together, they provide services from advising to tax management.

And that is exactly why Michael Stewart thinks his firm has grown more than 200% in revenue in the past three years.

“We have all the services in-house,” Stewart said. “Our mission is to be the white knight for our specific client.”

Crystal Lake Tax & Financial provides a “one-stop shop” of financial advising, Stewart said. The firm helps clients with retirement, IRA & 401K rollovers, estate planning and tax planning.

“It becomes less about more, and more about protecting what you have.”

—  Michael Stewart, founder Crystal Lake Tax and Financial

Stewart credits the firm’s success to providing “holistic planning” during the COVID-19 pandemic that shook up a lot of people’s financial lives.

“Interest rates went from zero to 5%, caused a lot of upheaval in people’s portfolios and people’s lives,” he said. ”A lot of people reassessed what they’re actually looking for in a financial relationship.”

The firm recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, Stewart said. The firm has had its fair share of challenges since it was founded in March 2008 and had to survive the 2008 financial crisis.

That time of financial uncertainty helped shape the principle of developing financial plans, especially for retirement, rather than simply making money, he said.

“It becomes less about more, and more about protecting what you have,” Stewart said.

Crystal Lake Tax & Financial was recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America this year, a list that also included Crystal Lake-based General Kinematics. Wealth & Finance Magazine also named Crystal Lake Tax & Financial as this year’s best financial planning firm in Illinois. Both are first-time awards for the firm.

“It’s humbling to see the work and the time that you’ve put in be recognized, not just by your clients but by the industry and your peer groups,” he said.

Inc. listed Crystal Lake Tax & Financial at No. 146 nationally in financial services and No. 106 in all industries across the Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana region in its annual Inc. 5000 feature.

The firm ranked at 2,451 of 5,000 nationally among all industries.

In order to qualify in the Inc. 5000 rankings, businesses must have made at least $2 million in 2022.

“It was an overnight success 15 years in the making,” Stewart said. “We’ve probably grown more in the past five years than we did in the past 10.”

Crystal Lake Tax & Financial grew 224% in the past three years.

Crystal Lake Tax & Financial office manager Deb Baudin has seen the company grown exponentially in those three years. She was the third employee after Stewart and his wife, Karen Stewart. From there, five more employees have joined the firm in the past three years.

As the team and business grew, the small family-feeling atmosphere remained, she said.

“As we continued to grow and the rate we’ve grown is just unbelievable,” Baudin said. “We’re all about family, treating our clients like family, and I thrive in that atmosphere.”

Despite the recent growth, Stewart said the firm’s priorities are client retention and services before business development and getting new clients. More than half the new clients are introductions from current clients.

The firm published two books on retirement success, one is available for free on their website. Stewart also gives financial advice on a weekly radio show, “The Retirement Success Blueprint” on WIND-AM 560.

Crystal Lake Tax & Financial will move to a larger office in the next few months, Stewart said. The new office will be off Exchange Drive in Crystal Lake and be about double the size of the current office.