Professional

I'm committed to helping you get closer to your dreams. When you partner with me, you can expect a judgment-free, pressure-free environment with conversations that will be jargon-free. I strive to provide you the best experience possible.

Associations and Memberships 

Years of Experience

Representing Northwestern Mutual since 1994.

Education

  • Bachelor of Science in Finance from Miami University
  • Master of Business Administration in Business from Baldwin Wallace College

Awards and Recognition

  • Million Dollar Round Table Life Member 2014-2017
    • MDRT is the premier association of financial professionals. MDRT status designation is granted for one year and members must apply every year to continue their affiliation with the MDRT
  •  National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Quality Award 2011-2015
    • Award recognizing commitment to excellence in service to clients and industry
  • National Quality Award 2000-2010
    • Award recognizing persistency and performance
  •  National Sales Achievement Award 1999-2007
    • Award recognizing performance

Personal

Rich resides in Fort Myers, FL, with his wife, Erna, his daughter, Lorena, and their Havanese puppy, Peanut. Rich is as actively involved in community activities as he is with family and business. Rich likes most outdoor activities, including fishing, hiking and gardening. You may see Rich at Planet Fitness, if you are an early riser, where he runs on the treadmill while he listens to recent market news. Rich and Erna are avid world travelers. Both like to experience new cultures, ideas and foods. Rich reads for enjoyment and learning, as time permits.

Lending a hand in my community.

As part of Northwestern Mutual, I'm proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with:

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)

ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.

Visit partner website

Alex's Lemonade Stand logo

Beads of Courage

Beads of Courage is an art-in-medicine program that helps kids with cancer tell their unique treatment story through colorful beads that are symbols of their courage.

Visit partner website

Beads of Courage logo

Rich Durnwald Wins Community Service Award from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation

Rich Durnwald is being recognized by Northwestern Mutual, through its foundation, for his work with Children's Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida as a recipient of the company's 20th annual Community Service Award.

Here are my areas of expertise

Financial Planning

Insurance Protection Strategies

Life Insurance Strategies

Retirement Planning & Income Strategies

Education Planning & Funding

Disability Planning

Multigenerational Planning

Estate Planning

How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.

When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.

Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.

It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.

Downtown Milwaukee, WI Skyline