Kelsey Cagle, CFP®
Partner & Wealth Advisor · Shoreline Financial Partners
"I grew up in a tiny town in West Texas where my mom taught school and my dad worked in construction. I spent about eight years bartending and waiting tables in Arlington to put myself through college. Nothing about my path to financial planning was traditional — and that's exactly why my clients trust me with theirs."
When someone sits across from me and tells me they're worried about running out of money, or they feel guilty spending what they've saved, I get it — not because I read about it, but because I come from a family where every dollar was earned the hard way. That perspective never leaves you.
Specialties
What I Focus On
I partner with clients of all ages — many in their pre-retirement and retirement years — where I obsess over the details that make the difference. Specifically, I spend a lot of my time on:
Tax Bracket Strategy
I treat the tax code like a puzzle — identifying the right brackets, the right timing, and the right moves to minimize lifetime tax liability across retirement accounts, conversions, and income sources.
Permission to Spend
Inspired by Bill Perkins' Die with Zero, I help clients shift from a saving mindset to a spending strategy. You worked your whole life for this — my job is making sure you actually enjoy it without the guilt.
Gifting & Charitable Planning
Structuring lifetime gifts, donor-advised funds, and charitable strategies so clients can see the impact of their generosity while they're still here to enjoy it.
Generational Wealth Planning
Coordinating estate strategies, family conversations, and legacy goals so that wealth transfers are intentional, not accidental.
Retirement Income Design
Building a paycheck in retirement that accounts for Social Security timing, tax-efficient withdrawals, and the confidence to live the life you planned for.
Experience
My Background
I've been in financial planning for over a decade, but I took the long way here. I grew up in rural West Texas, moved to Arlington, and spent about eight years in the restaurant industry — bartending, waiting tables, and paying my own way through school. That blue-collar work ethic stuck. So did the ability to read people, build relationships fast, and stay calm when things get hectic.
When I made the jump to finance, it clicked — my math background finally had a home, and the relationship skills I'd built behind the bar turned out to be the most valuable thing I brought to the table. I earned my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation and never looked back. I've spent 12 years helping clients navigate the full picture — retirement, income, taxes, risk, legacy — with the kind of honesty you'd expect from someone who grew up where a handshake still meant something.
Our Story
Why I Started Shoreline
I co-founded Shoreline Financial Partners because I wanted to do this job the right way — deep relationships, real planning, no shortcuts. I'm a connector by nature. I'm notorious for starting group chats (sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse), and I genuinely love sending a client to another client's business, making introductions, and helping people in my network find success however I can.
Now that I'm a business owner myself, I relate to other business owners differently. I understand the pressure, the risk, and the pride that comes with building something from scratch. We built Shoreline around four CFP® partners who share that mindset — work hard, care deeply, and always put the client first. It's the kind of firm I always wanted to work for.
Community & Personal
Texas Roots, Chicago Home
I'm a West Texas kid living in the West Loop. My wife Natalie and I got married in 2024 in Mexico, where 120 of our closest people — my rural Texans and her Polish family — proved they have a lot more in common than you'd think. We're expecting our first daughter in late May, and we've got a fat cat named Stella who's been my roommate since I moved to Chicago in 2016.
The Brazos River will always be home base — growing up, we spent every free day out there wakeboarding and watching my dad barefoot ski. That river is where my family connects, and it still is. These days I've traded the basketball court for the golf course, like a lot of guys my age, but I'm still competitive about everything. I proposed to Natalie in front of the Michael Jordan statue at the United Center — we became season ticket holders after that. We gave them up this year to focus on building our family, but we're still Bulls fans to the core.
My twin sister, older brother, and parents all still live about an hour west of Fort Worth. We get down there as often as we can.
Let's Connect
If you're looking for a financial planner who's going to be honest with you, know your full picture, and actually help you enjoy the money you've worked so hard to save — I'd love to have that conversation.
Generally, a donor advised fund is a separately identified fund or account that is maintained and operated by a section 501(c)(3) organization, which is called a sponsoring organization. Each account is composed of contributions made by individual donors. Once the donor makes the contribution, the organization has legal control over it. However, the donor, or the donor's representative, retains advisory privileges with respect to the distribution of funds and the investment of assets in the account. Donors take a tax deduction for all contributions at the time they are made, even though the money may not be dispersed to a charity until much later.