About Stewardship Retirement Planning
Our Story
Why We Built a Different Kind of Firm
After eight years in financial planning, Dane Shinault founded Stewardship Retirement Planning in Mount Airy, North Carolina, to create a more personal and coordinated planning experience for business owners, families, and retirees throughout the surrounding region, including Southwest Virginia.
Over the years, Dane saw how easily good intentions could break down when investments, taxes, beneficiary designations, estate documents, and other financial decisions were handled separately. Each professional may be doing their own job, but without coordination, important details can be missed.
Stewardship Retirement Planning was built to help clients see the full picture, understand the decisions in front of them, and keep the different parts of their financial lives working toward the same goals.
Why the Name Stewardship Matters
The name Stewardship was intentional.
Dane’s Christian faith has shaped the way he thinks about responsibility, service, and caring well for what has been entrusted to us. To Dane, stewardship means providing thoughtful guidance, treating people with care, and doing what is right for the client, even when it is not the easiest path.
Financial decisions often come during important seasons of life. That may include preparing for retirement, growing a business, navigating a family transition, or working through uncertainty. Stewardship Retirement Planning exists to help people move through those decisions with clarity, patience, and care.
What We Believe
Relationships Over Transactions
Good planning begins with trust. We take the time to understand what matters to you and remain involved as your life, business, family, and priorities change.
Planning Before Products
Financial decisions should begin with your goals, not with a product or investment. We focus first on understanding your situation, identifying the decisions that matter, and determining how the different pieces should work together.
Coordination Prevails
Investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions should not be made in isolation. We serve as your investment advisor and work with your CPA, attorney, and other professionals when appropriate to help keep the plan aligned.
Clear Guidance
Complicated decisions should be explained in plain language. Our goal is to help you understand your choices, the tradeoffs involved, and the next steps that make sense for your situation.
Meet the Team
Dane Shinault, CFP® | Founder & Retirement Planner
Dane provides thoughtful, coordinated guidance to business owners, families, and retirees.
His work often brings together retirement planning, tax planning, investments, estate planning coordination, retirement income, and business retirement plans. He believes clients should understand the decisions they are making and how those decisions connect to the rest of their financial lives.
Dane grew up in Carroll County, Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech. He lives in the area with his wife, Hannah, and their two sons. Outside of work, he enjoys golf, drag racing, and being involved in the Mount Airy community.
What It’s Like to Work With Us
Getting started begins with a short Introductory Conversation. This gives us a chance to learn why you reached out, answer initial questions, and determine whether working together makes sense.
If we decide to move forward, the next step is a longer Planning Discovery Meeting. During that meeting, we take the time to understand your goals, finances, business, family, concerns, and the major decisions you are facing.
From there, we move through a clear planning process:
Introductory Conversation → Planning Discovery Meeting → Strategy Review → Implementation Meeting → Ongoing Planning Review
Throughout the relationship, you can expect clear explanations, defined next steps, ongoing communication, and coordination with your CPA, attorney, and other professionals when appropriate.