Steve McIrvin, CFP® candidate
Why I built a coaching practice for people like you.
The version of financial coaching my own family needed didn’t exist. So I went and built it.
Years ago, my wife and I made the decision to homeschool our four kids. It was the right call, I’d make it again every time. What I wasn’t prepared for was the financial conversation that followed.
Every financial professional I sat with operated from the same unspoken assumption: a second income was either already there, or coming back soon. Their models broke when I put in one paycheck and didn’t put in a college fund. Their recommendations such as max out the 401(k), max out the 529, build a six-month emergency fund were mathematically correct and practically useless to my family.
I’d done some financial work in my career. I knew enough to know they weren’t wrong. They just weren’t useful. There’s a difference.
The thing I kept coming back to
Stewardship is not the same as accumulation. Saving for retirement and saving for your children’s education and giving generously aren’t three goals competing for the same dollar. Instead, they’re three buckets that need to be filled in the right order, in the right proportion, for your own family’s precise needs.
That sequencing problem is what real financial coaching solves. And I couldn’t find anyone solving it for the people I knew.
So I went back to school, studied hard for two years, and passed the CFP® coursework and exam. Now, I’m combining that deep training with my two decades of real-world experience as a finance-savvy tech MBA to build the exact practice I would have hired myself.
What you should know about me
I’m a homeschool dad. I’ve sat at the same kitchen table running the same math you’re running. I know what it costs to choose calling over career income, and I know it’s worth it. I also know that it requires more financial intentionality, not less.
I’m a committed Christian. That worldview shows up in how I think about money and how I work with clients. However, I serve families of every background. I’ve tried to create a practice that is faith-informed, not faith-restricted.
I’m a coach. Not a salesperson, not an asset manager, not an insurance agent in disguise. I get paid by you, for coaching. That’s the whole business model.
What I bring to the table.
Credentials don’t guarantee good coaching. But the absence of them should tell you something. Here’s what I’ve earned and where I keep learning.
CFP® Candidate — Coursework and Exam Complete
I’ve passed the comprehensive CFP® exam and I’m completing the experience hours required for the mark itself. The CFP® designation is the recognized gold standard for comprehensive financial planning, awarded only after examination, experience, ethics, and education requirements are met in full.
Amplified Planning Core & Externship
Advanced technical training in cash flow, tax, retirement, client communication and estate planning, specifically focused on real financial planning work, not just theory.
Client-Paid · No Commissions
I’m paid by clients, not by product companies. No commissions, no sales quotas, no hidden incentives. This is my passion career after I’ve worked hard in tech companies like Amazon, so I’m motivated by your success, not my perks.
What I believe about money.
Money is a tool.
Not a goal. Not a scoreboard. A tool for the work your family is actually here to do.
Stewardship over accumulation.
The right question isn’t “how much can I pile up.” It’s “what is this for?” and “am I using it well?”
Real coaching beats hot tips.
A boring blueprint executed for ten years beats a clever idea executed for three months. Every time.
Your situation deserves a strategy.
Choosing an unconventional path isn’t a financial mistake to recover from. It’s a context to coach around.
All three buckets matter.
You can save for retirement and for education and give generously. The work is in the sequencing and the strategy.
Why the logo is a cairn.
The mark beside “OnTrack Planning” is a cairn — the small stack of stones hikers build along a trail to point the way forward and confirm, at a glance, that you’re still headed in the right direction. It felt like the right symbol for this practice: not a map handed over and forgotten, but a marker you can trust is keeping you on track.
Look closely and the stack isn’t perfectly centered; each stone sits slightly off from the one below it. That’s on purpose. Financial coaching is a human process, and humans are imperfect, always a work in progress. A perfectly stacked cairn would be a lie about how this actually goes.
The top stone is a small gold circle, not another rock. It represents the 360° nature of the work because every place money touches your life belongs in the conversation, not just the accounts with your name on them.
The stones in the cairn are ovals, which is the detail I like most. They remind me of the Tower of Hanoi, the classic math puzzle that only resolves through a precise, patient sequence of moves. Coaching cash flow toward education and retirement, while still living well and giving generously, is an intricate route with a real order of operations. That’s the road map we build together.
When I’m not coaching.
My family is the reason this practice exists. We homeschool, we serve at our church, we spend evenings around the dinner table. I do woodworking when I need quiet. I read both fiction and non-fiction in equal part: theology (mostly C.S. Lewis), finance, history, and sci-fi/fantasy (I especially love novels where that line is blurry).
None of this is a personal flourish on the website. It’s the context that makes the work make sense. I’m not someone who pivoted into homeschool family coaching. I’m a homeschool dad who pivoted into coaching. I want to help you learn what I wish I would have known from the very beginning.
If this resonates, the next step is a discovery call.
30 minutes. Free. No pitch. Just a conversation about whether full-stack coaching fits your life right now.