Financial writer Jonathan Clements joins Leawood-based Creative Planning

Creative Planning Inc., a Leawood-based wealth management firm, has hired nationally known personal finance writer Jonathan Clements as director of financial education.

Clements is best known for his work as a personal finance columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He has written several books on the subject and plans to launch a financial website.

Clements, who lives in the the New York City area, no longer writes for Financial Planning magazine and has stopped teaching a college course to pursue the new website and the work for Creative Planning, according to his personal website.

“I now sit on Creative’s board of directors and investment committee and will be writing occasional financial commentaries for the firm,” Clements wrote on his website.

Creative Planning said in an announcement that Clements will speak at events the firm holds and develop “exclusive newsletter content” for the firm’s clients.

“I remember reading his stuff decades ago,” said Peter Mallouk, Creative Planning’s president and chief investment officer. “He cuts through the clutter pretty clearly.”

Mallouk said that he and Clements share an investment philosophy and approach to portfolios and that Clements quickly embraced the idea of teaming up with Creative Planning.

Clements’ advice typically is direct and seeks to unravel the confusion that often surrounds financial choices. Here, for example, is one of the 51 things his website says not to do: “Don’t have children if you hope to retire early.”

Creative Planning is owned by Mallouk and a family trust. The firm has $18.6 billion in assets under management, representing more than 50,000 accounts of mostly individuals and high-net-worth individuals, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It has clients in all 50 states.

The filing shows Clements joined the firm in June.

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Financial writer Jonathan Clements joins Leawood-based Creative Planning."