06/12/2026
A message from our Founder, Wealth Advisor Michael Jay Raymond ChFC®️, CEPA®️, FIC :
I’m sharing something personal as we prepare for our upcoming Own Your Future workshop.
I come from a long line of people who built things.
On my father’s side:
My great-grandfather, Benjamin Levi Raymond, farmed land in Missouri in the early 1900s. His son, Jay Lynn, ran a mechanic shop and gas station. My father, Kenneth Lee Raymond, built The Piano Man—a piano tuning and moving company in Mississippi—from nothing but skill and stubbornness.
On my mother’s side:
My great-grandfather, Cullen Eugene Vetter, owned a Ben Franklin dime store, a hardware store, and the Vetter Lumber Yard. His sons, John Oliver and Robert Eugene, took the lumber yard to New Orleans. John Oliver later moved to Mobile to build a real estate business.
My mother built something different—she was a published author. Her book explored the Christian faith and the founding values of this country. She built with words instead of timber. That counts too.
Farms. Garages. Dime stores. Lumber yards. Real estate. A piano shop. Books.
Two families. Multiple generations.
And not one of them had an exit plan.
No succession strategy.
No buy-sell agreement.
No valuation.
No roadmap for what the business was worth or how to transfer it without losing what had been built.
They were extraordinary builders. They just didn’t have anyone in their corner thinking about the finish line.
That’s the job I’ve given myself.
I work with entrepreneurs and business owners across Western North Carolina as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor—helping people who’ve built something real make sure it actually transfers, transitions, and lasts beyond them.
Eight entrepreneurs. Two family lines.
One lesson that took me a lifetime to be able to act on.
If you’ve built something, let’s make sure it outlasts you.
If this resonates with you, I’d invite you to join us for our upcoming virtual workshop -Own Your Future - on 7/16
This is a conversation for business owners who want clarity around what they’ve built—and what comes next.
I invite you to bring a guest or share this with someone you know who may not yet have an exit plan in place.
Register here: https://bit.ly/4uDDpKZ
No products will be sold. See thrivent.com/social for important disclosures.
