Ben is the founder of Brockman & Associates and serves as the Wealth Advisor for the firm’s clients. For over a decade, Ben has been blessed with the privilege and responsibility of guiding and advising successful individuals, families, and business owners in making wise financial decisions. Ben enjoys working with those who are in the accumulation phase of life, but also those nearing or in retirement, as they make decisions around retirement planning and the distribution phase of life. Ben also has a heart for helping widows and divorcees who need assistance navigating their financial lives during their years of transition.
Ben offers advice in the areas of cash flow/retirement planning, investment planning, college education planning, estate & wealth transfer planning, and family & business succession planning. Ben is passionate about knowing his clients and assisting them in efficiently pursuing and accomplishing their financial objectives.
Ben has developed a team of individuals to assist with the day-to-day operations of the firm to ensure clients receive the optimum service experience.
Emilee joined the Brockman and Associates team in 2022. She provides support to Ben in a number of areas including client service, calendar management, file and database management, new business paperwork, and meeting preparation. Emilee enjoys getting to know our clients and takes pride in strengthening the advisor-client relationship.
As a Houston native, she attended the University of Houston to receive her bachelor’s in business with an emphasis on management and marketing. Prior to joining the team, she ran the Children’s Ministry for her local church, created & organized major fundraising events, and worked in Oil & Gas. Emilee is married with two children and we are blessed to have her as an asset to the team.
Allison Brockman Marketing Associate
Allison has been providing support to the firm in various capacities since 2009. She currently plays a vital role in our marketing and branding efforts and does so while standing on her head and juggling 3 beautiful young children.
As a dedicated wife and mother, Allison can be found engulfed in various family activities, volunteering at church and school, and brightening people’s day.
Our Guiding Principles
We believe in cultivating strong, trusting relationships, and it is through these relationships that we can fully understand our clients’ values, needs, and desires.
We believe risk management is a priority, and it’s important to establish protection strategies at the core of a strong financial plan.
We believe people matter, and we’re committed to authenticity, kindness, transparency, and genuine care at all times.
We believe our clients’ goals should drive our planning strategies, and those strategies should determine the products we recommend—never the other way around.
We believe insurance solutions and investment strategies complement each other, and that when integrated, can produce optimal outcomes.
Education and Background
Ben is a proud dual-graduate of Abilene Christian University and Texas A&M University, where he fulfilled a dream of playing collegiate baseball as a pitcher at both universities. As a starting pitcher at ACU, after walking on as a Freshman and red-shirting in 2002, Ben developed into one of the nation’s top pitchers and was honored as a 1st Team All-Region & Honorable Mention All-American in 2005. The summer after Ben’s Junior season at ACU, he realized there would never again be an opportunity to pursue big-time Division I Baseball, so he took a leap of faith and asked for a release to pursue that opportunity. Ben immediately wrote down a list of schools he was interested in and began making phone calls. Texas A&M was first on the list, but they were going through a coaching change and he did not have a connection to the incoming staff. En route to the airport to visit a school in Arkansas, he received a phone call out of the blue from the head coach at Texas A&M to come in for a visit. Needless to say, Ben’s head was in a different place during that visit to Arkansas! The visit to College Station and the immediate buy-in to the coaching philosophy made it an easy decision for Ben to become an Aggie for his Senior year. Though Ben suffered an injury soon before the season began requiring Tommy John surgery, he was honored by his team with the prestigious Marion Pugh Spirit Award for dedication to team and excellence as a teammate throughout the season. The following year in 2007, Ben was honored with the privilege of serving as the Student Assistant coach for Texas A&M while finishing his degree. He then returned to ACU, where he finished his degree there and served as the Student Assistant baseball coach for ACU and his former head coach. Ben highly values the academic education he received at both of these highly respected institutions, but will forever benefit from the personal growth and disciplines gained from his successes and failures as a dedicated collegiate athlete and coach.
Awards and Designations
Ben is a believer in Theodore Roosevelt’s adage, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Once clients know how much you care, they will then care how much you know. To add value to his practice and to his client relationships, Ben thrives on being competent and continues to expand in his knowledge of financial services. To date, Ben has attained the following designations and completes annual training to keep his certifications active:
Chartered Life Underwriter
(CLU®)
Since 1927, the CLU® has been the respected risk management credential for advisors. Designees have completed eight or more college-level courses representing an average study time of 400 hours. Topics for required courses include insurance and financial planning, life insurance law, estate planning, and planning for business owners and professionals. CLU® designees must meet experience and continuing education requirements and must adhere to a high ethical standard.
Certification in Long Term Care
(CLTC®)
This certification educates professionals in the fields of insurance, financial services, law and accounting about the severe consequences a need for care over an extended period of years would have, not on their client, but on the emotional, physical and financial wellbeing of those the client loves. The goal is to give these professionals the proper skill set to discuss those consequences, offer a plan to mitigate them, and when appropriate, recommend long-term care insurance as a funding source for that plan.
Life Underwriter Training
Council Fellow (LUTCF®)
This is a professional designation that marks an agent’s long-term commitment to professionalism on behalf of clients, establishes the agent’s competence and business experience, marks a commitment to the American College’s and NAIFA’s Code of Ethics and fosters additional professional development. A Fellow has successfully completed five courses of the curriculum, in addition to an Ethics Course and must be a member in good standing of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA).
- Ben also holds the following FINRA licenses: Series 7 / Series 66 / Series 6 / Series 63
- Ben is an active member of a National Study Group and a member of the Houston Estate & Financial Forum.
- Through Ben’s affiliation with New York Life, he has been awarded the following:
- 2012, 2013, 2016-2022 - MDRT Member (The Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), The Premier Association of Financial Professionals, is recognized globally as the standard of excellence for life insurance sales performance in the insurance and financial services industry.)
- 2018 - NYL Houston General Office Associate Agent of the Year
- 2012 - NAIFA Rising Star Award
- 2012 - NYL Houston General Office New Org Agent of the Year
- 2011 - NYL Houston General Office Rookie of the Year
Family
Ben is married to Allison and they have been blessed with 3 amazing children. Ben & Allison met while at Texas A&M in connection to the Aggie baseball team, where Ben was a pitcher and student coach, and Allison was a Diamond Darling. Allison is skilled in the area of photography and style, so she is the driving force in keeping the Brockmans fresh. Ben enjoys attempting to brainwash his family to like baseball and golf, while their son Ty enjoys trying to brainwash the family to like snakes. This is a tall order for all parties. There’s nothing they enjoy more than spending time together!
Community
Service to others outside of the office is also very important to Ben. He centers this service around his passion for his faith and baseball. Currently, Ben serves as a deacon at the local congregation he attends and volunteers to manage and coach Little League baseball.
Ben also serves as a local Political Involvement Leader for New York Life and meets with members of Congress, both locally and in Washington D.C., to advocate for policies that have a positive impact on our client's financial and retirement objectives.
Through Eagle Strategies, Ben Brockman provides fee-based financial planning, investment advisory services, and access to investment management programs. Eagle Strategies LLC is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an "Investment Adviser" and is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company.
Advanced Planning Group
The Advanced Planning Group collectively leverages years of practical experience and disciplines in law, accounting, and financial services, in order to provide New York Life agents with unparalleled assistance in estate, business, and life insurance strategies. Because the Advanced Planning Group supports agents who have a nationwide clientele, the group has insight consulting on estate and business plans at all levels of wealth across all 50 states. The Advanced Planning Group is called to action to advise on hundreds of business and estate plans each year; and that means Ben Brockman can bring experience, value, and insight to your situation. The Advanced Planning Group does not provide specific legal, tax, or accounting advice. Consult with your own advisors for legal, tax and accounting advice.
New York Life
Ben Brockman and his fellow financial professionals are proud to be affiliated with New York Life Insurance Company. New York Life and its wholly owned subsidiaries provide life insurance, fixed annuities, and long-term care insurance. A mutual insurance company, New York Life is one of the largest mutual life insurance companies in the United States, and holds the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody's Investor Service (Aaa), and Standard & Poor's (AA+). (Source: Third-Party Ratings Reports as of 9/12/19.)
Ash Brokerage
Ash Brokerage is an unaffiliated privately owned, family-operated insurance brokerage general agency. Ash provides us with a multitude of products and support for life insurance, long-term care, disability income, and annuities, not available through New York Life or its subsidiaries. Our partnership with Ash complements our mission to provide our clients with objective solutions to suit their individual needs.
If you don't have time to get it right, when will you have time to do it over?
- John Wooden
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Responsibility is the price of greatness.
- Winston Churchill
Eagle Strategies LLC
Advanced Planning Group
The Advanced Planning Group collectively leverages years of practical experience and disciplines in law, accounting, and financial services, in order to provide New York Life agents with unparalleled assistance in estate, business, and life insurance strategies. Because the Advanced Planning Group supports agents who have a nationwide clientele, the group has insight consulting on estate and business plans at all levels of wealth across all 50 states. The Advanced Planning Group is called to action to advise on hundreds of business and estate plans each year; and that means Ben Brockman can bring experience, value, and insight to your situation. The Advanced Planning Group does not provide specific legal, tax, or accounting advice. Consult with your own advisors for legal, tax and accounting advice.
calculators
Only 41% of U.S. workers have tried to determine how much they will need to save for a comfortable retirement. - Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2017
How much retirement income will you need? How much life insurance is enough? What type of IRA is right for you?
Our financial calculators are designed as educational tools to help you estimate answers to common financial questions. They are not intended to predict future returns or results. Simply click on one of the general financial topics below and you'll find a selection of easy-to-use calculators about related financial topics.
These calculators are hypothetical examples used for illustrative purposes and do not represent the performance of any specific investment or product. Rates of return will vary over time, particularly for long-term investments. Investments offering the potential for higher rates of return also involve a higher degree of risk of loss. Actual results will vary.
Often times the most important issues we need to address aren’t crying out at us. That’s one of the reasons our logo is a ringing bell. A bell, or alarm, can create a sound to get our attention and help redirect our focus to what’s important to us...our faith, our families, our health, our finances...our legacy.
The bell has additional significance in Ben’s life. Ben’s Aunt Ellen would give his family a silver Christmas bell every year for Christmas. The clear ring of the bell was one that would take him briefly away from the busyness of Christmas time and help his mind relax long enough to think about the significance of the season. Ben’s kind, steady, loving Aunt Ellen gave them their last Christmas bell in 2005 before she was called Home from this earth too soon in November that year. The bell, still boxed and wrapped, finds itself under the Christmas tree every year serving as an important reminder of her legacy.
