Michael Widlake is the president and founder of Commonwealth Guardians. His focus is helping federal employees and their families as well as individuals and their families achieve their financial goals and live out their retirement dreams. He accomplishes this creating a close personal bond with each client so he can work with the financial planning team to create strategies that will help each client to achieve their unique goals. Michael did not start out in the financial industry. He embraced music at an early age. He studied Piano and taught himself clarinet, and other instruments. He attended Oberlin college and studied music performance as well as French literature before leaving for a professional music career. After achieving some success he decided to follow another of his passions helping people. Through personal experience and hard study Michael came to realize that the financial world is filled with many choices. Difficult decisions many people struggle with is how to come up with a plan that will help them meet their goals for retirement. Michael’s focus is on educating clients and assisting them in creating a plan to achieve their financial goals and move towards financial independence. Michael works with his clients to incorporate smart savings strategies, tax strategies, and investment strategies in their financial planning to help them meet their financial goals and needs.