Michael J. Welker

Born in Bountiful, Utah, Michael J. Welker is the third of four children. His childhood interests ranged from soccer, to weightlifting, racquetball, and music. He attended school at Brigham Young University, where he became a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society, participated in the Marching and Symphonic Bands, and traveled with the Ballroom Dance Company to Russia, China, and the Ukraine on performance tours.

While at BYU, Michael recognized that he enjoyed teaching and helping others, working his way through college as a Teaching Assistant for the Department of Physics. He served a mission for the LDS Church, working with the hearing impaired. Upon his return, he changed his educational focus to human communication; majoring in Speech Pathology and Communication Disorders, and minoring in psychology. After winning a Presidential Award in Research from BYU, Michael eventually completed graduate school, earning a Masters of Science Degree from Southwest Texas State University. Michael obtained his Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing-Association, and has worked as a Speech Pathologist at several of the local hospitals, including the University of Utah Hospital, LDS Hospital, and Salt Lake Regional Hospital. Michael has also worked as Adjunct Faculty for Salt Lake Community College teaching courses within their social dance program.

In January 2000, he developed an interest in financial services and began to apply the 'medical model' (i.e. perform an assessment, make a diagnosis, then develop a treatment plan) to finances while helping families and small business owners to set and achieve their financial goals.

Currently, Michael is a Financial Advisor with Intermountain Financial Advisors. He is a registered Principal with the National Association of Securities Dealers for mutual funds and variable products, and has Utah State professional licenses for Insurance (Accident and Health, Casualty, Life, Property, and Variable Contracts), and Mortgage Lending. He is working towards a Masters Degree in Finance and also obtaining Certified Financial Planner® credentials at this time. He is a member of the Utah Mortgage Lenders Association, the National Association of Financial & Estate Planning, and has most recently founded Mortgage Education Connection Inc., an organization dedicated to the protection of the general public through quality education. With over sixteen years of teaching experience, and specialized training in learning psychology, he makes learning fun with his energetic, informative, and entertaining teaching style.

Michael lives in Riverton, Utah and has a beautiful wife, Nina, and four children all under 8 years of age: Amanda, Monique, Bryan, and Brandon. He writes poetry (once winning an Editor's Choice Award from the National Library of Poetry in 1997), develops course training materials, participates actively in his church and the Scouting program, and focuses his time toward his young family when not at work.