Ryan Douglas Smith
Financial Representative
Get to know me
My name is Ryan Douglas Smith, and I am a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual. I am from Iowa originally and was born in Onawa, IA. I grew up in Des Moines, IA until I was a teenager when we moved to Van Meter, IA. I enjoyed my high school years in a town of 850 people and made lifelong friends there. After high school I went to DMACC for 2 years then finished at Iowa State Univeristy with a BS.
After finishing college at Iowa State University, I spent 20 years living in Colorado and working in the motorcycle industry with brands like Harley-Davidson, Polaris, Yamaha and Honda. I had a phenomenal career, and I am lucky to have had excellent partners and mentors to work with. A consistent theme in my life is that I’ve always been motivated to help people. I feel fulfilled when I know I've made a positive impact in the life of another person.
My wife and I live in East Sioux Falls out past Veterans Parkway with our 3 dogs, Makinkums, Pepe, and BB. Funny names for dogs is a family tradition. I have 5 sisters, 1 brother, 8 nephews and 5 nieces.
I have family all over the U.S. and Mexico. My wife Gio is definately my better half and she is origionally from LaPaz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. My wife also worked in Cabo San Lucas and made amazing friends who we cherish today. If you ever find yourself planning a vacation to Mexico, reach out and we'll help you make sure it's a memorable one.
My wife and I love the city of Sioux Falls and will call it home for the rest of our lives, but we aspire to have a home in Mexico as well. We both enjoy traveling and we make it a priority to get out of the country once per year and out of the state 3 times per year (Minnesota and Iowa don't count).
I love to ice fish with family and the colder the better. I enjoy the challenge of staying warm when the weather is at it's coldest. Northern South Dakota has some excellent ice fishing and I always look forward to the winter for that reason.
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:
Lemonade Days
We will match the first $25 donated to your lemonade stand. Register today using the QR code or follow the link
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.
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.
Integrity
At my core, I'm motivated to make you happy. I've always been this way. When I see the chance to make a difference in someone's happiness I'm willing to make a sacrifice so it can happen. Both of my parents are like this so this is likely a learned trait.
There are many ways to make someone happy, but a very simple one is to be reliable and do what you said you would. To some degree this makes me predictable, but I'm willing to wear that label if it means I'm being true to my purpose.
When working with clients I aim to be as accomodating as I possibly can. I meet clients on their terms. If this means meeting over a zoom call instead of in person, I'm happy to oblige. If I need to come to your home or office I can easily make it happen. I serve my clients in the purest definition of the word.
