Terry Kennedy is a longtime Las Vegas native and the president and CEO of Appreciation Financial. Kennedy received the 2019 Gold American Business Awards Stevie Award for Entrepreneur of the Year-Financial Services and was a 2019 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year finalist for the Greater Los Angeles region.
The birth of Appreciation Financial happened in a classroom. After seeing teachers fall victim to bad financial advice, Kennedy decided to educate the educators about protecting their hard-earned investments. That personal mission led him to start Appreciation Financial in 2008. In the years following, Kennedy has visited more than 1,000 schools and has personally helped nearly 2,000 teachers plan for a vibrant life after the final bell rings.
Kennedy resides in Henderson with his wife, Amanda, and their four daughters.
Q: What are you reading?
A: As they say, the difference between you now and in five years are the books you read and the people you meet. I lead a book club at our corporate office where I encourage my staff to read personal development books. We meet weekly to discuss the chapters, set goals and hold each other accountable. We’re currently reading “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell. I also just finished writing a book with our President of Sales Don Spini. The book is called “This Changes Everything” and it is about a game changing way to make more money and can be applied to almost any industry. The book is scheduled to launch this fall.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant or place to take clients?
A: My wife, Amanda, and I love Hank’s Fine Steaks and Martinis inside the Green Valley Ranch. We go there at least once a week whether we’re dining with clients, friends or just us two. It’s a beautiful restaurant with amazing service and delicious food. Plus, it’s down the street from both our office and our home.
Q: How do you decompress after a long week?
A: One thing I do to instantly feel amazing is get an IV full of vitamins and electrolytes. I frequent Regenerate Medical Concierge in Henderson since it’s conveniently located near both my office and my home. When you travel as much as I do it’s important to protect my immune system. These vitamin IV’s do that and they help me feel my best.
Q: What do you do to workout?
A: I ski on Lake Mead and race motocross. I ride a 450 Yamaha and it’s a mind-clearing workout every time.
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing Southern Nevada?
A: Our future as a community improves when our public education system improves. I see it first hand as our agents help public school employees retire with dignity. I’ve personally been to hundreds of campuses. I’m very lucky to have my daughters attend five-star public schools. However, the conditions at some of our schools breaks my heart. Children deserve the right to a quality public education in a safe, secure facility. That’s why we began Appreciation Ambassadors — a nonprofit arm that cleans, beautifies and performs much-need construction projects to help bring pride to campuses. Most recently, hundreds of our agents helped to beautify the 50-year-old campus at KO Knudson Middle School here in Las Vegas by taking part in various paint jobs both indoors and outdoors, organizing a storage area, improving the teacher break room, general clean up and trash removal and more. We even surprised the assistant principal of the school and presented them with a donation — they were truly blown away and so appreciative of our efforts.
