Wealth Manger and Succession Planning Specialist

Kevin Spafford, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, joined Ryan Wealth Management in 2016. He leads the firm’s advanced planning efforts and helps farmers, ranchers, and family business owners plan for succession. Kevin’s planning process is designed to enhance the family’s financial security, create a smooth ownership transition, and mitigate the tax consequences.

As the architect of the Farm Journal Legacy Project, Kevin effected consumer behavior and improved the way family business owners engage in the succession planning process. Through the Project, Kevin has:

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Published more than 300 columns in Agriculture’s leading magazines.
Facilitated workshops for thousands of farm and ranch families across the U.S.
Written multiple workbooks and created several client planning tools.
Produced weekly eNewsletters for subscribers across the country.
And, hosted five seasons of ‘Leave a Legacy’ TV.

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With a lifelong love of agriculture, Kevin Spafford founded Legacy by Design in 2005, a firm dedicated to providing succession solutions for farm families.

Over the last fifteen years, Kevin has facilitated 100s of live events, benefitting thousands of farm families across the U.S. Presentations are designed to be both informative and entertaining. They are never used as an advertorial; Kevin’s goal is to provide usable information, tools, and resources so a family may engage in the succession planning process and achieve results. Formats can vary from a keynote address to an all-day workshop, and the content may be customized to generate specific results.

As the architect of the Farm Journal Legacy Project, Kevin is proud to have served an integral role in this multimedia initiative, the largest ever in the ag community. The Legacy Project, including his ‘Leave a Legacy’ column, nationally-televised Leave a Legacy TV, and nationwide workshop series, earned the prestigious Grand Neal Award (2011) for excellence in business journalism.

Through Kevin’s work as an entrepreneur and in collaboration with the ag industry’s leading companies and organizations, Legacy by Design has formed bonds with industry leaders across the U.S. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Kevin helps farmers, ranchers, and family business owners plan for succession. His proprietary planning process is designed to enhance the family’s financial security, create a smooth ownership transition, and mitigate the tax consequences.

Kevin is the author of Legacy by Design: Succession Planning for Agribusiness Owners.

Before the publication of his book Legacy by Design: Succession Planning for Agribusiness Owners in 2006, Kevin founded Legacy by Design, a succession and financial planning firm dedicated exclusively to serving the succession planning needs of farmers, ranchers, and agribusiness owners.

Among a series of professional designations and licenses, Kevin is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and he’s earned a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Management with a concentration in Business, from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.

On a personal note, Kevin enjoys flying, fishing, hunting, and camping. He and his wife, Anne-Marie, have been married 38 years. They are proud parents of their son Drew and his wife Dana and their daughter Sara and her husband, Michael. In July of 2018, they welcomed their first grandchild. They live in Durham, CA.

* In 2011, the Farm Journal Legacy Project was awarded the Grand Neal Award considered one of the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism.