As a teenager, Blake Miller took interest in his mother’s investments. At first with his allowance and then with his earnings as a barista, Blake started making investments of his own. He asked questions, read library books and studied YouTube videos to learn about financial markets and retirement plans and how investments grew.
“Learning about dividends was just one of the coolest things,” Blake says, “how you get a dividend and you can just reinvest it and it compounds like a snowball effect.”
Blake kept serving coffee as he worked his way through business school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As he observed coworkers and fellow students, he saw a need for more financial education.
“I thought everybody was good at finance,” he says, “and then I figured, why don’t I try to help people with that?”
Out of college, Blake got a job assisting mutual funds and other institutional clients of a large financial firm. He hired on at Landaas & Company because he wanted to work with individual investors.
“It’s so much more personal when you’re with somebody and it’s their investments,” Blake says. “It gives you a level of satisfaction yourself, knowing that you can help people complete their goals.”
Blake grew up in West Bend and lives in Shorewood. He enjoys running, biking and playing golf.