At two years old, it was a family tragedy that helped set the course for Vaughn Sparks’s professional life.

After working in a family business for several years, his father began driving an 18-wheeler as his brother and many cousins did.

“My father was a truck driver when I was younger,” Sparks said. “When I was two, he was killed on the road, so I was raised by a single mom with my sister.  Growing up we had very limited means as my mother worked part time to raise my sister and me. I saw the real world impact that an unforeseen tragedy can have on a family, especially without having a solid financial plan.  As a kid, my situation was just normal to me.  Bad things, good people and all of that.  But as I advanced through college, I realized that my story (and that of my mother and sister) could have been dramatically different if they had had some sort of financial plan in place.”

Helping families set and achieve goals and putting together financial plans has become the mission of Sparks’ professional life since college.

“When I first got into the business, it was tough.  I didn’t come from money, I didn’t know many people with money, and the ones I did know were hesitant to give me a shot. Over time, I was able to build a practice through hard work, continuing to better myself through continued studies and a becoming the central trusted advisor to my clients and their friends,” Sparks said. “When you are advising someone on their future or their investments, you really have a unique relationship with them, and it is so important to build and maintain that trust.”

Sparks currently serves on a financial advisory team for MavenCross Wealth Advisors.

The vision of the practice is to be “the obvious choice for guiding clients to joyfully steward their resources.”

Now, Sparks focuses his work in helping others with more complex situations such as retirement planning strategies; wealth management strategies; estate planning; retirement planning; tax planning; or charitable giving.

“A new client for me is likely to have had some sort of triggering event in their lives,” Sparks said. “Most commonly, these triggering events are the sale of a business, a job change, an inheritance situation, taking care of an elderly parent, a premature death of a friend or family member, being named as a trustee or executor of an estate, or a divorce situation.  Often times these events occur and people realize that it is probably a good time to call in a professional to help them with these situations.”

Sparks has spent his entire career of 20 years with Ameriprise Financial, 15 of which have been with MavenCross Wealth Advisors, which is a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC.

Sparks works to help his clients with whatever life may bring their way.  He holds 6 different specific industry certifications but is most proud of his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation.