Ricken Financial Team

My parents provided my five siblings and me with living examples of morals, Midwestern values, ethics, hard work, sharing, caring, and love. These immeasurable gifts have shaped who we have become as adults. Mom and Dad believed in the value of education but could not afford to assist us with college. One of my younger brothers and I worked our way through college, becoming the first of our generation to earn degrees, so education is very important to me.

After graduating with a degree in accounting, I spent five years with the public accounting firm of Ernst & Young in Kansas City with a concentration in the financial services sector. For the next ten years, I worked with mutual fund companies and credit unions in the areas of accounting, programming, shareholder processing, reporting, quality assurance, and securities safekeeping. This provided me with a basis for understanding the financial services world from a lot of different perspectives.

In the mid-90s, our family moved to St. Louis, and I began sharing my knowledge of financial services with families to assist them in planning. When asked “Where did you go to school?” my wife, Sheila, appropriately answers with, “St. Joseph’s Academy!” Her maiden name is Kriegshauser, and her family has been in St. Louis for a long, long time. We met at a Cardinals game in the early 80s and have been happily married since 1984. We are blessed with three daughters: Mary Beth, Barbie, Heidi, and a son, Will.

Our oldest, Mary Beth, looks over us from heaven. She lost her battle to cancer during her freshman year at St. Joseph’s Academy in 2001. She was a very caring, compassionate young lady with a tremendous sense of humor. She co-founded (with Sheila and me) and helped develop the mission statement for Mary Beth’s Angels Foundation. The foundation serves children in need in the areas of healthcare, cleanliness, hunger, and education.

Our daughter Barbie is a pediatric oncology nurse and educator at St. Louis Children’s Hospital working with some of the same medical professionals who treated her sister. I have the opportunity every day to work alongside my favorite business partner, our daughter, Heidi, and our son, Will, is advancing his business development/sales career in the Chicago area.

Our family has a strong conviction to give back. We are passionate about supporting children and families affected by pediatric cancer. We all volunteer for the Camp Rainbow Foundation, which provides free camps to children affected by cancer and their siblings and families, and I am honored to serve on the board of Camp Rainbow as Treasurer and work alongside our family in running the camp for siblings.

As an active member of Our Lady of the Pillar Catholic Church, I enjoy washing dishes at our fish fries, serving as a Eucharistic minister, fulfilling the role of Santa annually, and I coached youth sports teams for over 20 years and served on the Parish Council.

I also serve on the Finance Committee of the Italia-American Bocce Club, the Advisory Board of Senior Market Advisor, and served on the Advisory Board of Catholic Family Magazine, the St. Louis University High School Father’s Club, and am a past president of the board of St. Joseph’s Academy Father’s Club, Delta Upsilon Fraternity Alumni Corporation, and of HIS KIDS, an organization designed to support families affected by childhood cancer.

Being of German descent, I am one of the rare non-Italian, but proud members of the Italia-America Bocce Club on The Hill, where you will find me playing bocce most Thursday evenings. Always a proud Wildcat, I have the pleasure of volunteering as a K-State recruiter at college fairs in St. Louis.

Weekends find me working on something around the house and spending as much time as I can with our family. I also love to cook a wide array of cuisine creatively.

You will find that I am passionate about everything I do in life, especially helping clients achieve a less stressful retirement. I welcome the opportunity to learn more about you. As you explore our website, you will see the various services we offer.

Feel free to friend me on Facebook, connect on Instagram or LinkedIn, send me an email at gerry@rickenfinancial.com, or call me at (314) 442-6476, so I may be of service.

I am fiercely passionate about my work with our clients to ensure they retire happy. I work with my dad because I have witnessed the positive difference he has made in so many clients’ lives, and I want to assist him in impacting others in a positive way. I believe everyone deserves a stress-free retirement of their dreams, and I fight hard for our clients to achieve the retirement they deserve.

Education is an incredibly important part of my life. I am a proud graduate of Our Lady of the Pillar, where I married my husband and serve as a Eucharistic Minister. I graduated from St. Joseph’s Academy and strive to live our motto of “Not I, But We.” I attended Kansas State University, where I was actively involved in my sorority, the Leadership Studies Program, and the Freshmen and Junior Honorary Societies. I bleed purple and white and am a fierce fan of the Wildcats. As a Junior, I was chosen to teach Freshman Leadership courses before embarking on the journey of a lifetime to Canberra, Australia, where I studied abroad for six months. After four years at Kansas State, I changed prospective careers paths and graduated from the University of Missouri – Saint Louis with a degree in psychology, a minor in business administration, and a focus in leadership studies.

My life was dramatically changed when we lost my oldest sister, Mary Beth, to childhood cancer when she was 15 years old. I am incredibly passionate about helping children affected by childhood cancer as we were. I have enjoyed working at summer camps for children with cancer and their siblings for over 17 years. I am currently the Co-Director for SIBS Camp, a camp for Super Important Brothers and Sisters of kids with cancer, sponsored by Camp Rainbow. It is a true honor to be able to serve at SIBS Camp alongside my given family and the family I have created in this wonderful community.

Giving back seems to be a Ricken family trait. In addition, to my other volunteer efforts, I am the past President of the Young Professionals of Catholic Charities in Saint Louis, where I was responsible for providing executive leadership in all decision-making, promoting and advancing the mission and goals of the organization, positively representing the organization in the community, and cultivating relationships with business and community leaders. I also serve as the Director of Community Outreach at Mary Beth’s Angels Foundation, a foundation started in the spirit and memory of my sister to serve our community’s children in the areas of healthcare, hunger, cleanliness, and education.

I inherited my competitive spirit from my mom and am a fierce fan of many sports teams, including the Kansas State Wildcats, Saint Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, and all the sports teams my friends and family participate in. I have a hard time just cheering from the sidelines after years of playing and coaching my favorite sport, lacrosse. I truly enjoyed sharing my knowledge, passion, and life experiences in my role as varsity lacrosse coach at Ladue Horton Watkins High School and junior varsity coach at St. Joe, my alma mater.

I love to get to know new people and believe strangers are just friends I have yet to meet. I look forward to connecting with you, learning more about you, and assisting you in any way I may be of assistance. Please feel free to call me, friend me on Facebook, connect on LinkedIn or Instagram, or send me an email at heidi@rickenfinancial.com to learn more about me.

In my spare time, I enjoy traveling with my partner, Coty, volunteering, spending time with friends and family, being outdoors, cooking new adventurous dishes, and taking our two dogs, Hank and Stella, on long walks. I am proud to be an active member of my local community, serving as a volunteer on the Washington Town & Country Fair Board, the second largest fair in the State of Missouri. I am also a proud supporter of the United Auto Workers Local 2250 Charity Foundation, working to provide support to families of fallen heroes and children in need.

I am a very goal-oriented person and have always had the willingness and drive in my career to provide the best customer experience possible, starting from my first position as a Customer Sales Associate at age 16. Having worked in customer service my entire career, it is critical to provide a positive experience when it comes to financial planning and preparation for future retirement. I am able to work alongside Gerry and Heidi to ensure we are able to do just that.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with you and discuss all aspects of your financial needs. Feel free to connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, or send me an email at kirsten@rickenfinancial.com.