Rick Adkins

Rick Adkins is the founder and CEO of The Arkansas Financial Group, Inc., a fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm he started in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1982 (the firm has offered comprehensive financial planning since the mid-1980s). Over a career spanning more than 30 years, he has built the firm around holistic, objective planning for individuals and families, with a notable concentration of physician clients. He holds the CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) and ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant) designations along with an MBA.

Adkins earned a Bachelor of Science from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas (1975) and an MBA from the University of Mississippi (1976). From 1990 to 1996 he served as an adjunct professor of finance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) College of Business. He has been a prominent figure in the development of financial planning as a profession, serving on the CFP Board's Board of Governors from 2000 to 2004 and as its Chair in 2003, and also chairing the Board's Board of Practice Standards.

Within his practice, Adkins developed the Risk Capacity Index™, a framework for gauging the appropriate level of portfolio risk based on a client's circumstances, and he has spoken at national financial planning conferences on ethics and portfolio design. His professional recognitions include Medical Economics magazine's "120 Best Financial Advisers for Doctors" and Worth magazine's "Best 250 Financial Advisers in America."

Beyond his firm, Adkins has served on the boards of several Little Rock organizations, including the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (Board of Directors and Board of Advisors), the Jones Eye Institute Advisory Board at UAMS, and The Anthony School Board of Trustees. He is married to Maureen, a retired music teacher, and has two daughters and grandchildren.

• Fee-only wealth management, not startup investing. Adkins's "investing" work is managing diversified, long-horizon investment portfolios for financial-planning clients on a fee-only basis — there is no public record of him writing angel/seed checks into companies.
• Holistic, planning-first approach. In his own words, "very few of us are equipped to make holistic, rational, objective decisions about money" on our own; his practice centers on helping clients see the complete financial picture before making investment decisions.
• Risk matched to the person. He created the Risk Capacity Index™ to calibrate portfolio risk to each client's actual circumstances rather than to generic risk tolerance.
• Values-driven, long-term portfolios. The firm publishes commentary on topics such as "values investing" and disciplined, behavior-aware investing rather than speculative or early-stage bets.