About Michael . . . . . .

Hi, I’m Michael Ruger. I’m the managing partner of Greenbush Financial Group and the creator of the Money Smart Board blog. I created our YouTube channel and blog because there are a lot of events in life that require important financial decisions. Our primary goal is to help individuals avoid big financial missteps, discover financial solutions that they were not aware of, and to optimize their financial future. I have been fortunate enough to be featured in the Washington Post, ABC News, The Seattle Times, Fox Business, and other national media outlets.

I spend most of my day working with clients on fee-based financial planning, tax planning, and managing their investments. I truly enjoy helping individuals and their families to map out a comprehensive plan to achieve financial stability and growth, sometimes that means identifying a tax strategy that they didn’t know about, other times it’s creating a distribution strategy in retirement, it’s fun because each day is different since each client has financial needs and financial goals that are unique to them.

My Background…………..

I genuinely love finance. I have been in the financial planning and investment industry for over 20 years. My career started in the investment department of a bank that specialized in employer-sponsored retirement plans. I later obtained by CFP® designation and expanded into personal financial planning and investment management. At the age of 26 , I became the Chief Investment Officer of Greenbush Financial Group and over the past 15+ years we have grown the firm to over $485,000,000 in client assets. I maintain the following well-recognized designations:

Certified Financial Planner™

My Family & Hobbies

Family wise, I’m married to my wife Joelle and we have three daughters, Maddie, Ellie, and Mia. The only other male in the house is my French Bulldog named “Knox”. We are fully emerged in what I have come to call the “organized chaos of life” juggling work, kid’s sports, house projects, homework, family gatherings, etc. For fun, I’m big into running and anything fitness related. I’m also a super early riser. My day typically starts at 4am with a run or workout and then the work day begins from there. Love it!