Growing up, Isabelle Clausen saw the positive impact her dad, financial advisor Robert Clausen, was having on the lives of his clients. It’s little surprise, then, that she decided from a young age that she wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Now, fresh out of college and working with clients of her own at Desert Wealth Management in downtown Fountain Hills, Isabelle is doing exactly that.

When asked about her goals as a financial planner, Isabelle pointed to the company motto: “We’re here to help you manage your investment goals so that you can worry less about tomorrow and focus more on today.”

The business is a partnership, with Robert drawing from his 35 years of experience to support Isabelle on her own journey into the professional world of financial management. Robert admits that Isabelle’s energy and enthusiasm is contagious, helping rekindle his own passion for the profession.

The family has another office in Idaho, where Robert has spent his career building relationships with his own clients. The team’s goal is to create that same kind of success here in Fountain Hills, but with Isabelle heading up the local efforts.

“I do a lot of the financial planning, budgeting, organizing and understanding the financial investment while my dad is right there to provide the support and experience from more than 30 years in the business,” Isabelle explained.

“I’m her business partner and also her manager,” Robert agreed. “In our business, you have to have oversight. She’s very smart, very detail-oriented and very caring and does a great job…Since she was 15, she said she wanted to work with me. So, this has been incredibly exciting for me, at age 63, getting my second wind in the business.”

Desert Wealth opened its doors in early September 2020 at 16626 E. Avenue of the Fountains, Ste. 201. Isabelle said she grew up in Fountain Hills and decided this is where she wanted to live and build her profession.

Isabelle was a home school graduate with the class of 2017, though local sports fans might best remember her from her top performances with the high school cross country team. Her education continued at Grand Canyon University, where she graduated in 2020 majoring in finance and economics with a minor in entrepreneurship studies.

“You learn a lot about your field in college,” Isabelle said. “…But in the period of time from last May until now, I’ve learned more in those months than I ever could in college just from the real-life experience in the field.”

Following graduation, Isabelle spent the next several months taking the required tests to become a licensed financial representative and, once that process was complete, she and Robert were ready to get Desert Wealth off the ground.

The business focuses on everything from investment management and retirement planning to education planning, budget building and preparing for the unexpected.

“I’ve always enjoyed math, current events and people, so what better industry to get into than the investment and financial planning industry?” Clausen said. “The current events will affect the investments; the math is needed for the investment management and I love working with people and diving into their lives. Money is one of the biggest factors in someone’s life and, if you control it properly, you’re able to worry less about tomorrow and focus more on today. I just want to help people live in the present more, and this business lets me do that.”

Robert agreed, saying one of their goals is helping young investors understand what they are doing and why.

“It’s not about the amount,” he said. “It’s about forming the habit. Once you establish the habit, then you can start increasing the amount as your income changes.”

Isabelle noted that while it’s becoming easier for individuals to invest on their own, that also means more people are becoming familiar with the pitfalls of not relying on a financial planner.

“That’s why I really like to work with young people and young families,” she said. “You don’t learn a lot about investing in high school or college and, if we were financially literate sooner, we could avoid a lot of losses. So that’s something I want to help with. I feel blessed and lucky to have learned so much about investing from my dad from an early age, and I want to pass that on to others.

“…I really just want to be a light and a positive influence for others. When we connect money to positivity, you can really change peoples’ lives.”

For additional information, visit desertwealth.net. Isabelle Clausen can be reached at 480-747-8696 and Robert Clausen can be reached at 208-243-0531.