Your Financial Life Partners

Helping you live your best life and protect against the unexpected.

You are the focus of our firm and the reason we exist.

Just as we want to get to know you, we figure you ought to know something about us. After all, we’ll be the ones serving as your dedicated partner through life’s transitions and trials. Helping individuals, families, and business owners make real, tangible progress over the years gives us great satisfaction and meaning as a firm and as individuals. We tend to think of our clients as an extension of our friends and families, and we hope you’ll feel the same way about us.

Curtis L. Matlin, CLU®, ChFC®, CASL

President

Curtis L. Matlin, CLU^®, ChFC^®, CASL

President

Curt’s professional mission is to help his clients achieve their financial goals and have greater peace of mind. He enjoys the personal bond that forms with clients and their families through mutual trust and a positive outlook for success.

Curt founded Matlin Financial Services in 1990. Through the years, he has enjoyed working with multiple generations of families by helping them build financial security and create a legacy for succeeding generations. He is currently working with the fourth generation of a family having advised the great-grandmother and her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This multi-generational experience is fulfilling for both Curt and his client’s family through the continuity, respect and trust among all involved.

A lifelong learner, Curt is an avid reader of books on success and finance, starting in his teenage years. He soon learned that the definition of “success” is not simply about accumulating wealth. His favorite book on finances, The Richest Man in Babylon, was written in the 1920’s by George Clason. Curt has distributed many copies of this book to clients and colleagues alike, to inspire a comprehensive meaning of a successful life. Curt attends professional financial seminars each year to stay current on the latest information on financial strategies. He has attained three designations from The American College:

ChFC

A Chartered Financial Consultant is a professional designation representing the completion of a comprehensive course consisting of financial education, examinations, and practical experience. Chartered Financial Consultant designations are granted by the American College upon completion of seven required courses and two elective courses. Those who earn the designation are understood to be knowledgeable in financial matters and to have the ability to provide sound advice.

CLU

The Chartered Life Underwriter designation is one of the oldest and most respected credentials in financial services, dating back to the late 1920s. It represents a thorough understanding of a broad array of personal risk management and life insurance planning issues. The program also stresses ethics, professionalism, and in-depth knowledge when delivering advice in the areas of life insurance, business planning, and estate planning.

CASL

Chartered Advisor for Senior Living is a professional designation for individuals whose advice helps older clients achieve financial security. A CASL certification is often held by financial advisors who have demonstrated a commitment to helping clients who are middle-aged and older achieve and preserve financial security through wealth management, wealth preservation, and wealth transfer planning. This designation includes broad knowledge of Social Security and Medicare issues.

Three events in Curt’s life (among many) helped transform him into the person he is today:

Joining the Swim Team in Seventh Grade: As the struggling kid “in lane one” who barely survived in a no-cut program, Curt didn’t quit. Over many years of hard work, he became a Minnesota All-State swimmer and record-holder at his high school. Curt learned the lesson that setting and achieving long-term goals is possible with patience, persistence and great coaching.
Joining a Drum and Bugle Corps in High School: At age fourteen, Curt joined a local drum corps and spent the next seven summers touring the U.S. while living on a bus and sleeping in school gyms with 127 other youth. He eventually went from bugle player to drum major (conductor) of the world-champion Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps of Rockford IL. This experience reinforced in him the importance of teamwork, cooperation and confidence to achieve success in the highly competitive world of drum corps.
Choosing a Great Life Partner: The best decision of Curt’s life was marrying his wife, Elizabeth, in 1990. After years of marriage, Curt learned what every married person eventually comes to know: that a successful relationship requires not only love, but compromise, patience, forgiveness and staying the course. It’s life’s challenges and how you face them together that define a relationship, not just the joyful moments. Elizabeth’s encouragement and advice have helped Curt build a successful firm while maintaining a healthy work/life balance. Elizabeth is also our office manager and handles accounts payable for the firm.

In his spare time, Curt enjoys biking, running, swimming and golf. Curt is active in his professional association, MDRT, an organization with 60,000 members in 100+ countries. He has chaired the MDRT International Ethics Committee and served as chairman of the Finance Committee for the organization’s charitable arm, The MDRT Foundation. He is also Board VP for Salute, Inc., a charity that aids veterans and their families.

Andrew R. Schumacher, CRPC®

Financial Planner

Andrew R. Schumacher, CRPC^®

FINANCIAL PLANNER

Grew up in Northwest Indiana
Graduated from The College of William and Mary with a degree in business and a concentration in marketing
Worked for several years as a marketer in the automobile industry
Made a career change after realizing that financial planning was a more meaningful and fitting path
Teamed up with Curt Matlin; resonated with his relentless pattern of putting his clients first time and again
Earned his Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠ designation & is pursuing his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation
•Blessed to be married to the most amazing wife and to be “Daddy” to an inventive 8-year-old and a joy-filled 4-year-old.

Early Life Adventures

I was born in Northwest Indiana, right down the street from my grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousins. As a kid, I enjoyed playing sports, singing in the church choir, tinkering and “inventing” stuff, playing golf with my grandpa and studiously saving my money. My mom is a former elementary school teacher and my dad was an attorney who taught me the importance of prioritizing time with family. Both of my parents taught my sister and me the value of living within our means and being frugal.

In high school, I played varsity tennis, participated in speech and debate teams, as well as performed in musicals. When it was time for college, I ventured off to The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. There, I majored in business with a concentration on marketing (since there was no financial planning program offered at that time). Later, my wife and I met through our campus ministry, and my life was forever changed for the better.

Adopting a New Perspective

After a childhood of being really into cars and spending a month-long summer in Germany studying Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, I graduated and decided to pursue my dream of marketing for the automobile industry. I then moved to Detroit and worked for a media/communications agency dedicated to General Motors and its $3 billion advertising dollars. After working on GM for seven years and the Wrigley Company two years after that, I turned 30 and realized — for the first time in my life — that I didn’t want my boss’s job.

My wife and I were thinking of starting a family, and I saw how leaders in the corporate world often had little control over their work/life balance. If I was going to be a father (and a really good husband), I wanted to be like my own father — home for dinner at a reasonable time and in charge of my own schedule. But just as significantly, I realized over time that helping my marketing clients sell more Cadillacs and Skittles wasn’t bringing me any personal satisfaction the way it seemed to for my colleagues. I couldn’t see myself telling my future child that this was what I did for my 40-year career. Life is too precious and short for that.

After some introspection, I realized my true dream career had been in me all along: from being the nine-year-old kid who saved and budgeted to the twenty-five-year-old married guy thinking forty years ahead. With the exception of health, nothing impacts our lives more than money — for better or for worse. I can provide impactful, meaningful advice that helps people achieve positive outcomes in their financial lives while maintaining control of my own destiny (and work/life balance). I was meant to be a financial planner.

Driven by Distinction

Not all financial planners and advisors are created equal. I talked to people in the industry — from the traditional investment “wirehouses” to insurance companies to small and large independent firms. My guiding principle along the way was simple: Provide objective, no-stone-left-unturned financial advice with a model focused on accountability. I later met our president, Curt Matlin, through a friend’s planner. It was clear to me that Curt had a track record of relentlessly putting clients first for almost three decades. Additionally, his clients are like his family. We teamed up, and the rest is history.

Leveraging Curt’s knowledge and experience from day one — coupled with financial planning-related coursework and securities licensing — allowed me to hit the ground running. I completed my Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor℠ designation and I am currently pursuing my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation.

Maximizing Every Minute

I’m “Daddy” to an eight-year-old daughter who loves creating things in the kitchen, growing veggies in her garden, and inventing games for all of us to play. And then there’s our four-year-old daughter who loves singing, snuggling, and everything to do with her big sister. I’m blessed to have family in Northwest Indiana, including my parents. I’m also very lucky to have married into a fantastic, loving family in Maryland. Faith has always been central to my life, beginning with singing in the church choir when I was just five years old. Additionally, I served as a leader in our local church in Chicago. Now we’re getting more involved as members of First UMC in Evanston.

I’m the guy who volunteers to take the lead when no one else will, which meant serving as president and treasurer of our condo association for many years when we lived in Chicago. Free time is hard to come by at this stage in life, but I enjoy tending to our native pollinator-friendly garden, grilling out and fixing things in our Evanston bungalow. Spending time with family and friends and regular getaways to Michigan, Florida, and Maryland make like pretty sweet. As the kids get older, we hope to get back to traveling further afield.

Hannah Pankey

Client Relationship Manager

Hannah Pankey

Client Relationship Manager

Hannah Pankey has been a client relationship manager at Matlin Financial since March of 2011. In this role, she works with clients to ensure the seamless coordination of services and implementation of their financial goals. She proactively organizes and oversees a variety of client service needs and initiatives to keep the practice running smoothly. Hannah is devoted to being an instrumental part of the process in helping clients reach their financial goals by providing an indispensable level of service.

Hannah graduated from Western Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. After graduation she obtained her health and life insurance license in the state of IL. She is also a notary public in the state of IL. Hannah has a passion for lifelong learning and is a recent graduate of Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. She obtained a Graduate Certificate in Financial Psychology & Behavioral Finance. This certificate program provided a unique opportunity to study the psychology of financial decision-making through a business lens. Over a two-year period, she studied this emerging field that examines the intersections of behavioral finance, financial psychology, and financial planning theory. She enjoyed exploring and researching concepts such as how deep-seated financial beliefs established early in life can subconsciously drive our financial decisions and behaviors.

In her free time, Hannah enjoys spending quality time with her husband, Jake, their family and friends. Hannah has a passion for traveling and exploring new and exciting places. Belgium, Spain & Italy have been her favorite destinations so far! Hannah is a dedicated hotline volunteer for the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, RAINN. She received extensive crisis-intervention training, and every single month she provides hours of much-needed support to victims of sexual assault and their loved ones.

Despina Hobitakis

Client Relationship Associate