John D. Folkert
Business & Estate Planning Specialist|CLU®
Personal
In his spare time, John enjoys spending time with his family, working out, biking and riding motocross.
Professional
John Folkert is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a degree in Business. John was recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award from Grand Valley in 2001.
Although based out of Grand Rapids, MI & Dallas, TX, John’s practice focuses on Advanced Executive Compensation & Wealth Transfer/Estate Planning on a national basis. John’s goal with each client relationship is to become a valuable addition to the client’s financial "brainstorming team."
John engages throughout the U.S. with employees of large privately held and publicly traded corporations ranging from $50M-$30B+ in annual revenue. With privately held firms, the focus is often on creating tax and cost-efficient strategies to incentivize, retain, reward, and recruit the executive team. Our team has experienced success implementing strategies to help deliver superior yield, credit quality & tax efficiency…with the goal of material positive P&L/Balance Sheet impact in both the short & long-term.
John's clients appreciate the opportunity to be fully aware of what's possible, and also appreciate the efficiencies that are possible as a result of being strategic. He has also discovered that his high net worth clients (even those who have excellent estate planning attorneys, CPA’s and financial advisors) don't know ...what they don't know.
Lending a hand in my community.
In the past, John has been an avid supporter of The Lone Survivor Foundation, where he served as an Executive Officer, Board Member and Treasurer. In 2012 John received the Community Service Award from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation for his commitment and service on The Lone Survivor Foundation. He has also served on the Board of Governors for The VanAndel Institute.
Northwestern Mutual community involvement.
As part of Northwestern Mutual, John is proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with:
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)
ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.
Beads of Courage
Beads of Courage is an art-in-medicine program that helps kids with cancer tell their unique treatment story through colorful beads that are symbols of their courage.
Here are my areas of expertise
Financial Planning
Insurance Protection Strategies
Life Insurance Strategies
Retirement Planning & Income Strategies
Education Planning & Funding
Disability Planning
Multigenerational Planning
Estate Planning
How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.
When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.
Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.
It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.
