About Tony

Tony and his wife of more than 26 years, Susan

Tony Walker was already a successful insurance salesman and financial advisor when the fateful day of September 11 changed his and millions of other Americans’ lives.

Pictured here on the set of WAVE3 TV, an NBC affiliate based in Louisville Kentucky, Tony Walker as been answering live call-in questions for the past three years.

"That day brought me face to face with risk," Tony remembers. "Up until then, I’d always advised my clients to hang in there despite the ups and downs of Wall Street. The idea that my clients could sustain significant, genuine losses just wasn’t real to me. September 11 made it real."

Tony immediately changed his approach and set about the difficult task of reshaping his business. "My clients were worried and they had a right to be," Tony recounts. "I, and all the other Financial advisors representing Wall Street, had little reason to care — we got paid whether our clients made money or not...that just didn’t seem right to me."

Tony’s strong sense of ethics and commitment to his clients sprang from his humble upbringing in Central Kentucky. "I didn’t realize it until I got a bit older, but worry had always been a big part of my life," Tony says. "My family constantly faced financial uncertainty. My parents divorced. I moved from living with one parent in one town to living with the other parent in another town."

As Tony grew older, his worries only increased. "I started my career with my father-inlaw's established business, but that didn’t work out. So, with a wife, child, mortgage and a dachshund named Hans, I started my own business. Worrying about money pretty much consumed me."

Armed with a keen understanding of his clients' fears based on his own' experience, Tony set out to find a better way. "Most of the people I talked to were confused," Tony says. "The financial world presented itself as this highly complex system that only experts understood. They wanted people to keep saving more and more money…to hit some magic number they prescribed for retirement. And why did they preach this? Because they profited, that’s why."

The other major challenge Tony faced was eliminating risk for his clients. "I wanted to help my clients create, protect and here's the key word… enjoy their retirement savings."

After extensive research, The WorryFree Retirement® was born. Today, with nearly three decades of experience and thousands of happy clients, Tony's WorryFree approach has spread throughout the region. Every week he appears on local TV and radio stations offering free advice, encouragement and tips for retirement planning. A prolific author and writer of numerous articles, his most recent book titled "Don’t Follow the Herd®" provides serious advice in a light-hearted, easy-to-understand way.

A devout Christian, husband, father and coach, Tony holds a degree from Western Kentucky University, numerous, advanced certifications in financial planning, is a member in good standing with the National Ethics Bureau and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

"My mission," Tony concludes, "is to help people sleep better at night knowing that their money is safe and secure so they can relax and enjoy their retirement. If I can help someone beat their worries, that to me, is the greatest satisfaction of all."

Read Tony's 10 Resolutions