Todd Washburn

Todd is a Damn-Yankee. He came south in 1988 and hasn’t left. He came from Upstate NY- Rochester in fact. It’s where he landed for 5 years following college, working at the University of Rochester as a lab tech. He came south following a woman. She left, he stayed.

He was born and raised in Rome, NY, about 40 miles east of Syracuse. At that time Rome was about 50,000 people and the home of Griffiss Air Force Base. Sadly, the based closed in 1995 and Rome is down to about 35,000. Growing up he spent a lot of time around his father’s gas station, getting dirty and playing- though never learning all that much about car repair (turns out that was Dad’s intention- didn’t want him going into the business). But he did develop a love for cars- including his ’67 Firebird Convertible that he’s had since 1985. His other loves growing up were swimming, tennis (including a year on the high school tennis team with the current Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred), wrestling and Scouts. He’s an Eagle Scout who currently assists with his son’s Troop in Durham.

For college Todd followed in the footsteps of his older brother and attended Hobart College in Geneva, NY, on beautiful Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. He went with the idea of attending medical school but after about 3 years it didn’t sound right for him. He graduated with a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry and, not knowing what he wanted to do, got a job with the New York State Agricultural Research Station in Geneva doing lab work and tending greenhouses (which makes his wife laugh every time she thinks about it because he’s clueless about plants). The University of Rochester followed that and once in NC, a six month stint with the VA in Durham and then 10 years with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in RTP. Then came financial planning (if you’re curious about how that transition came about, check it out here).

Professionally, Todd started Todd Washburn Solutions, LLC in August 2001. He holds the Certified Financial Planner® designation, the premier designation for individuals providing financial planning services. Previously he served as President and Board Chairman of the Triangle Chapter of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) as well as two years as President of the RTP Chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). He’s a member and former ambassador of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce as well as a long-time Board member of the Durham-Orange Estate Planning Council. He’s been quoted and published in a number of publications and has written a periodic column for the local Southern Neighbor monthly paper for over 10 years.

Todd has lived in Durham, NC for the last 20 years with his wife Kim. They are parents of a teenager who will, they hope, start using his college fund in the next few years. To keep the household interesting, they like to throw in a Golden Retriever to spread fur and love all around. He definitely enjoys a good beer, and at times drifts back to his science roots and actually brews a batch or two. In that vein, they’ve just added a front porch to their house so they can sit out, watch the people and cars go by, and enjoy a cold one. If you’re in the area, stop by. There’s always another chair.