South Carolina Business Review

Living your “best” life

By Mike Switzer

Published March 8, 2022 at 5:30 AM EST

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Most financial planners will tell you that the overall goal of a good plan is to help you live your best possible life. But our next guest says that many of the families he meets do not really understand what that looks like. Joining Mike Switzer by phone from Greenville is Rick Van Der Noord, a certified financial planner with over 40 years in the profession.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

See stories by Mike Switzer