My name is Danny Freeman and welcome to dannyfreeman@com. I read several articles that said that if you ever become an author, you should have a website. Well, here it is.
I am a financial advisor with more than forty years of experience. My life experiences and the life experiences of my clients have given me tremendous insight into the joys and disappointments of life for all humans. It is here that I hope to share those insights with you.
I grew up in Augusta, GA. Even though my family was Baptist, I attended Immaculate Conception Academy, a Catholic school, from Kindergarten through 8th Grade. Because most of my friends went to public school, I decided to join them and enrolled at Glenn Hills High School, where I graduated in 1978. I then attended The University of Georgia and graduated in 1982. I came back home to Augusta and worked for a while. I got married in 1984 and moved to Winston-Salem, NC, where I began my career in banking and finance. I earned my MBA in Finance from Wake Forest University in 1993, and in 1994 I transitioned from banking to Investment and Financial Advisory. In 1998, I decided to open my own independent Registered Investment Advisory (RIA), and Darda Financial was born.
I’ve had educational and professional success. I have been blessed with a beautiful family — a wife, two daughters, and a son. But I have also had some rough times. In 2008, I was diagnosed with Lupus, which is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain, fever, skin rashes, and organ damage. I was stunned and scared when I was diagnosed because the only people I knew who had Lupus were from my neighborhood in Augusta, GA, and both died very young.
Everything was fine initially, and all I had to deal with was occasional bought of joint pain. However, in 2012, I had my first flare-up that required hospitalization for two weeks. I had a second major flare-up in 2014 that required hospitalization for three weeks. Then, in 2016, I had a major flare-up that had me in the hospital for 28 days over a 32-consecutive-day period. For the first two weeks of this flare-up, I was terribly ill and the doctors couldn’t pinpoint an effective treatment. As I increasingly ran the risk of extensive kidney damage and congestive heart failure, God sent some angels who were able to figure things out, execute a treatment plan, and 16 days later, I was able to go home and continue my recovery (This story is part of another book that will come later!). By the way, I haven’t had a major flare-up since. God is good!
About a year later, I was channel surfing and settled on watching a movie entitled “Lucy.” The movie was fairly entertaining, but there were a couple of lines toward the end of the movie that really struck a chord with me:
These lines in this movie made me reflect on my life, what I had accomplished, and what was yet to be completed. They made me realize that time is our most precious resource. Without time, we don’t exist. Therefore, we must try to spend our time wisely because every second that passes by is gone forever. My hope is that my writings will educate and inspire you – to spend your seconds wisely.