Additional information
by Robert Leonhard (Author)
First Responder Finance$ was written to address the unique needs of public sector safety professionals. It recommends financial tasks based on career status and progression. It addresses personal financial planning, income tax planning, saving and investing, insurance, cash flow management and integration of social security and public sector pensions.
Author Biography
Robert L. Leonhard is currently employed as a full time fire fighter and paramedic and is the owner of Vital Signs Financial Services, LLC, a registered investment adviser and income tax preparation firm in Columbus, OH. He began investing in 1987 just in time for the largest single day drop in the history of the Dow Jones Average in October, 1987. Even so, He realized that this was a wonderful buying opportunity and that he had the greatest investing asset there is on his side: he was only 31 years old and he had TIME. He also learned that he had discovered another intellectual passion besides reading history. He joined the National Association of Investors Corporation, now known as Better Investing, in 1988 and he was named as a member of the Board of Directors for Central Ohio Chapter of NAIC in 1990, on which he served until it disbanded in 2006. He is a lifetime member of the American Association of Individual Investors; and he is a member of Financial Planning Association, the National Association of Enrolled Agents and the National Association of Tax Preparers. He earned a Bachelor's of Arts degree in History and Archaeology in 1987 from The Ohio State University while working full time and earned a Master of Public Administration degree in 1992 from The Ohio State University. He completed the comprehensive financial planning course work from the College for Financial Planning in Denver, CO in July, 2007 and in March, 2009 he passed the 10 hour exam given by the Certified Financial Planner(c) Board of Standards, Inc. This was his second attempt at this exam, which was the most difficult he had ever taken in any area of his academic career. He took and passed the Series 65 exam offered by the North American Securities Administration Association that which permits him to perform as a registered representative of Vital Signs Financial Services, LLC in Ohio. In 2013, he completed the IRS mandated coursework and passed the IRS exams to earn his Enrolled Agent license. In his spare time he likes to read about history, investing, and science. He and his wife love to travel and have visited many states in the United States and they love to go to warm places with beaches when it is cold. He is currently learning to speak Spanish.
