YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Brad S. Pistole is a go-getter.
As CEO and president of Trinity Insurance & Financial Services Inc., he has served a large number of clients that continues to grow. Between 2019 and 2021, he went from individually selling $15 million in annual premiums a year to $40 million for a growth rate of 167%. By 2021, Pistole was managing 1,200 clients, up from 800 two years prior.
Pistole’s team specializes in Social Security, Medicare and estate planning, with clients including doctors, lawyers, dentists, tax professionals and business owners. He is a certified financial fiduciary, a certified annuity specialist and an Ed Slott Master Elite IRA Advisor – one of 400 in the United States, according to Pistole.
Pistole also just completed the Retirement Income Certified Professional Course through the American College, which will be formally awarded in October.
“A person can pass their financial exam and talk about stocks, bonds and mutual funds,” he says. “That’s fantastic, but if you don’t have the knowledge and the training that comes from, say, the Ed Slott Group, then you are just someone with a license giving someone advice based on your opinion.”
In addition to offering specialty insurance plans, individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s, Pistole is a specialist in tax-deferred accounts through Ed Slott and Co. LLC. He shows clients how to keep money protected from stock market fluctuations and how to move money to keep tax payments at a minimum.
“Teaching clients how to get rid of the taxes inside their retirement accounts helps provide them and their family members with income streams that will be tax-free for life,” says Pistole, who holds life, health, and property and casualty licenses in seven states. “This dramatically changes a family’s estate plan.”
Pistole is the weekly host of “Safe Money Radio” on KWTO 560 AM and KSGF 104.1 FM, where he gives financial planning advice and responds to retirement questions.
“It’s unique, doing this in Springfield,” he says of the show. “We will have people fly into our airport and then go to vacation in Branson and they hear me on the radio while they are here. Then I have people call me from Florida, California and others. So I have clients from all over the United States.”
He also is a financial author, most recently publishing “Bulletproof: The Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan” through Expert Press earlier this year, and writes for national outlets, such as Ed Slott’s IRA Advisor Newsletter, TheStreet.com’s Retirement Daily, MarketWatch.com, FoxBusiness.com, ThinkAdvisor and USA Today.
With that experience, he’ll speak to other professionals about how to host their own radio shows and write their own books. Pistole says he writes at least one article a week for various publications or groups.
Outside of work, Pistole is involved in charitable organizations. He is a financial supporter of The Way Church in Webb City and Breaking the Chains Ministry in Houston, Texas.
A 2023 Harvard Business Review study suggests significant positive changes when employees take sabbaticals, including greater self-clarity and management confidence.