Stephen Hodges Machanic
Financial Advisor
Personal
Stephen has lived in North Carolina his entire life, growing up in Greensboro, NC where he attended Northern Guilford High School and was a team captain, Greensboro News and Record 1st Team All-Area Defense recipient and 2010 NCHSAA State Champion on the football team. He attended Appalachian State University from 2011-2015, graduating from the John A. Walker College of Business. During his time at App State he was a contributor at Outside Linebacker for four years under HOF Coach Jerry Moore and Scott Satterfield. In college he was a volunteer with Watauga County Reading Buddies and participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Stephen now resides in Charlotte with his wife, Alexis, and their golden retriever, Reagan. They are blessed to live in the Queen City, one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.
When he is not in the office, Stephen enjoys playing golf and shooting sporting clays with clients who have become friends and spending time in the outdoors. In the fall he is usually rooting on the App State Mountaineers and the Carolina Panthers (TIGMA and Keep Pounding!). Before work, you can most likely find Stephen working out with the 6am crew at Ultimate Athlete. After work, Stephen and Alexis enjoy taking Reagan on walks on the Light Rail trail and other greenways in Charlotte or getting a glass of wine and food at many of the city's great restaurants. He is an advocate for conserving North Carolina's wildlife resources and is a Lifetime Member of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. From 2015-2018 Stephen served as the Vice President and President of the App State Charlotte Alumni Chapter helping connect over 20,000 living alumni in the region with each other and the university.
Professional
Stephen pursued his higher education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina where he graduated from the John A. Walker College of Business. He credits a conversation in his 2014 spring practice exit meeting as a career direction turning point going into his senior year. In this meeting, his Head Coach acknowledged there were only 126 Division 1 Head Football Coaches in the country and Stephen's odds to create impact were greater if he went into the business world. Combining this advice with an entrepreneurial spirit, Stephen participated in the Northwestern Mutual Internship in Charlotte every Friday during the 2015 Spring Semester and the Northwestern Mutual Post-Graduate Program from May - August 2015. After his successful appointments in the internship and post-grad programs he launched his full-time career on August 3, 2015.
Stephen works best with clients who are at the top of their industry or are on the pursuit of that career summit and will be there one day. A common theme with his clients is that they care about their families and their community and they want professional guidance in their goal of being a good steward of their money.
A majority of the professionals Stephen works with fit into the following categories:
Business owners with 5-500 employees, business development/sales, corporate finance, real estate/construction and NCAA/NFL coaches.
Stephen is committed to helping you get closer to your dreams. When you partner with him, you can expect a judgment-free, pressure-free environment with conversations that will be relevant to your specific needs.
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.
Appalachian State University Charlotte Alumni Chapter President
President 2017-2018 Vice President 2015-2016
Here are my areas of expertise
Stephen runs a holistic financial planning practice by building comprehensive, strategic financial plans with a specific focus on effective tax strategies and wealth accumulation. Our team combines wealth management, risk management, tax efficient strategies and estate planning into a singular aligned plan for our clients.
Stephen's clients are primarily:
- Business owners with 5-500 employees
- Business development professionals with variable incomes
- Corporate finance professionals
- NCAA and NFL coaches
Financial Planning
Investment Planning & Strategies
Advisory Services
Retirement Planning & Income Strategies
Business Planning & Succession
Life Insurance Strategies
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.
