Chris and Samuel Dixon are far from alone in the fact that they witnessed a loved one suffer dire financial consequences as a result of the Great Recession in 2008. What makes the brothers different from most, however, is that they were inspired to do something about it.

Having seen their beloved grandmother lose a significant portion of the savings she had worked so hard to accumulate through no fault of her own, the Dixons were fueled to take their complementary talents and use them to help others. They eventually formed their own independent financial services firm, Oxford Advisory Group, which has grown to four locations in Central Florida and has experienced unparalleled success in the six years since it was founded.

“Our main motivation for starting this company was because our grandmother, or ‘Nana’ as we call her, really got hammered back in ’08,” Chris Dixon says. “That made me quite angry, and it left a lasting impression on both of us. Our goal is to make sure no one else’s nana has to go through what ours went through.”

Offering a wide range of services, including wealth management and investment guidance, Oxford Advisory Group is a full-fledged planning firm that goes above and beyond just managing retirement accounts. Instead, its team works tirelessly to build a rapport with clients and devise a detailed, long-term blueprint for retirement that is tailored specifically to each person who walks through the door.

Taking the bold step to put this philosophy into motion and start their own business was really not surprising, considering Chris Dixon has always embraced an entrepreneurial spirit and his younger sibling has long displayed an interest in financial planning and sound strategies.

“We’re opposites,” Chris says. “I’m always on go mode and I’m big on ideas, inspiration and innovation. He’s more analytical; he likes to double check things and he’s able to pull the reins back a little bit when I want to go too fast. I get the projects started and he usually finishes them. That’s definitely what has allowed us to be successful, because it turns out to be a great balance.”

With a staff of high-character employees who have the same passion for treating clients like family members, Oxford has set out to change the landscape in financial planning. 

“We like to approach everything we do from an educational standpoint,” Chris says. “It’s more like the approach of a doctor. We’ll run tests and analyses and we’ll educate the client, and then we’ll diagnose after we see any issues from the analysis.

“We do a good job of explaining the hows and the whys. Because we don’t push products and because we’re serious about retirement planning, we’ll have four or five meetings with someone and make sure they understand what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Dixon, who works strictly with clients 55 and older, finds that many people have simply been feeding into a 401(k) plan through their working years without fully understanding how to invest. Since life expectancy has risen substantially in the United States in recent decades, it is critical for retirees to make sure they have enough money to live comfortably.

“Many people are left on their own on how to distribute that money throughout retirement and make it last, and that’s where we step in,” he says. “When you step on the football field you have plays that you have drawn up and you go out and execute. In retirement, it’s the same thing: You need to have plays drawn up.”

When Oxford is able to intervene and get clients on track for a secure future, there is no better feeling. Dixon shares the story of a woman they recently assisted.

“She was purposely not spending a lot in retirement because she’s just gotten started and she wants to make sure her money lasts,” he says. “She was living pretty meagerly, but after we got involved, now she’s able to spend about four times more money per month than she thought. That not only brought her peace of mind, but a lot of happiness and joy.”

Examples like that make it easy to understand how both Chris and Samuel Dixon were inducted into the Advisor’s Excel Hall of Fame, an honor usually bestowed upon those with two decades or more in the industry. Oxford Advisory Group has received numerous awards as a firm, as well, and is the official wealth management partner of the University of Central Florida.

But as impressive as those accolades are, nothing beats helping someone achieve his or her dreams for retirement, whether that be traveling, spoiling grandchildren or pursuing new hobbies.

“The object is to keep helping families and keep growing as a firm to be able to help more families,” Chris says. “We want to be that staple in the community, that refuge that people know they can turn to.”

Oxford Advisory Group

Locations in Orlando, DeLand, Clermont and Mount Dora

(407) 743-6468

OxfordAdvisoryGroup.com