About Me
As Bill celebrates his 25th year with Northwestern Mutual and his 40th wedding anniversary with his wife Molly, he’s reflecting on the incredible accomplishments over the years. A lovely wife, Molly; four beautiful children, Jack, Tony, Patrick, and Emily; a memorable hockey career with the UMD Bulldogs and the Chicago Blackhawks and to top it off, an impactful career with Northwestern Mutual, delivering financial security to clients, big and small, across the country.
Bill’s unique blend of larger-than-life personality and professional knowledge are brought to every client interaction creating lasting relationships and unbreakable trust. In Bill’s 25 years with NM, he’s always put his clients at the forefront, and he’s doing that once again as he thinks about his own long-term future. Bringing his talented daughter Emily onboard. 2024 has been the first step in what a succession plan will look like for the Watson team. In Bill’s words “Emily is caring, compassionate and has a drive to help people” and she is the best person to take the reins ensuring our clients continue to be positively impacted with the strength of a good financial plan, a strong relationship and guidance, and the backing of Northwestern Mutual.
Over the next several months, Emily will be reaching out to meet you, spend time with you, and get to know you while you get to know her. Our goal is to create a seamless transition as Bill takes a few more golf days.
As we continue into this journey of change, we encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns, knowing we’ll be here for you, together.
Professional
Associations and Memberships
SMDC Foundation Board
Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation
Peace Church
Udac
NAIFA (National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors)
UMD - Hockey
Education
University of Minnesota Duluth - Communications (Bachelor of Arts)
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.
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.
Additional Community Involvement
Jack Watson Memorial Foundation; UMD Bulldog Men's Hockey Endowment Fund; March of Dimes; United Way; Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk; Arc Northland
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.
