Carleton McHenry, CFP®

Secure Their Future Without Sacrificing Yours!

Connect Cancel

Wealthtender Community Connect helps people discover the best financial advisors for their individual needs through their favorite blogs and podcasts.

Click Here to Learn More
Contact Me
McHenry Capital Carleton McHenry, CFP®
Leavenworth, WA

Additional Locations: 📍Wenatchee, WA 📍Bellevue, WA 📍Austin, TX 📍Houston, TX

Secure Their Future Without Sacrificing Yours!

Areas of Focus

  • Budgeting
  • Caregiving for Parents
  • Cash Flow
  • Education Distribution Planning
  • Education Funding
  • Education Funding Vehicles
  • Education Needs and Funding Analysis
  • Education Tax Deduction and Credit Planning
  • Education Tax Planning
  • Estate Planning
  • Family and Money
  • Federal Student Loan Option Analysis
  • Financial Life Planning
  • Insurance
  • Investing
  • Investment Management
  • Retirement Planning
  • Saving for College
  • Special Needs Planning
  • Taxes

About Carleton McHenry, CFP®

Greetings - I am Carleton McHenry.

I help parents and grandparents plan for the next generation—without putting their own financial future at risk. As the founder of McHenry Capital, I specialize in working with families who are balancing long-term goals like retirement with the immediate needs of funding education and caring for children with special needs. My goal is to provide thoughtful, relationship-driven financial planning that evolves alongside life’s transitions.

With over 25 years of experience as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, I bring a perspective shaped by both Wall Street training and Main Street relationships. Before starting McHenry Capital, I began my career at Merrill Lynch and later shifted to advising individual families in more community-based settings. That journey taught me that clients deserve both institutional-level expertise and personal, transparent advice—and it’s exactly what I’ve built my firm to deliver.

At the core of my approach is a philosophy I call Return on Life™ (ROL).

Financial planning should help you and your loved ones live well. I work one-on-one with every client to design a roadmap that helps support their goals and values and builds long-term security across generations.

Professional Designations

  • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ®

Affiliations

  • CFP Board
  • Fee Only Network
  • National Association of Personal Financial Advisors
  • The AGC

Primary Location

11779 US Route 2, Suite 106, Leavenworth, Washington 98826

Additional Locations

📍 14 North Wenatchee Avenue, Wenatchee, Washington 98801

📍 500 108th Avenue Northeast, Bellevue, WA 98004

📍 823 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78701

📍 4265 San Felipe Road, Suite 1100, Houston, Texas 77027

Meeting Options

  • Video Conference
  • In-Person
  • Phone

Compensation Methods

  • Fee Only
  • Flat Fee
  • Percentage of Assets Managed

What to expect in the first meeting

Click the 'Book Intro Call' button above to schedule a complimentary strategy session. We'll get to know each other and I'll listen to understand your unique circumstances so we can determine the best way to proceed. I look forward to speaking with you.

Offers Investment Management

Yes

About McHenry Capital

Raising children—or helping raise grandchildren—comes with financial responsibilities that stretch across generations. From college funding to special needs planning, parents and grandparents today face the challenge of supporting their loved ones while still preparing for their own future.

At McHenry Capital, we believe that financial planning shouldn’t force a choice between your goals and your family’s needs. That’s why we’ve developed a specialized planning approach focused on retirement, college, and special needs—built around the real-life complexities families face.

Balancing Your Family’s Priorities...
If you have dependent children or grandchildren, you may be asking yourself:
- How can we afford college without derailing retirement?
- What will long-term planning look like for a child with special needs?
- How do we create lasting financial stability that supports all in our family?

These questions don’t have easy answers—but thoughtful planning can provide clarity. Our process is designed to help you navigate transitions like retirement and college with confidence and flexibility.

Specialized Support, Comprehensive Planning...
Our planning services are grounded in both technical expertise and lived experience. We specialize in helping families:
- Create college funding strategies that align with your long-term goals.
- Build retirement plans that evolve as your family grows.
- Design special needs solutions that provide continuity plus peace of mind

We integrate these services within a broader financial planning framework that includes investment management, tax strategies, insurance analysis, and estate coordination so that you have a complete picture, not a piecemeal plan.

Our Foundation Program is designed to help our clients build the right foundation to ensure their entire financial house is in order so you are maximizing and achieving your best Return on Life (ROL).

This involves many areas of your life but is focused primarily around these five core areas:

✅ Cash Flow Plan: We help put together a savings and spending plan that is right for you and your life.

✅ Protection Plan: We help make sure you and your family are protected from the risk of death, disability, and/or financial hardship through loss of income.

✅ Estate Plan: We help you and your family set up your estate and assets properly per your desires.

✅ Investment Plan: Our investment portfolio creation process is unique and very different. We will build a portfolio based on your risk tolerance and goals but we go beyond the traditional asset allocation cookie cutter approach that most firms use. We will use individual securities when it makes sense and we can build models with either ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) or BRI (Biblically Responsible Investing) objectives built into the portfolio.

Our models are based on institutional, time-tested strategies that have very specific rules and factors they must adhere to when it comes to investment selection and the reconstitution of those investments. This is all based on quantitative history rather than your emotions. As a result, our portfolios are much more customized to you based on your preferences and what we think makes the most sense for your situation.

✅ College/Retirement/Tax Plan: We create a college plan for those families looking to support and send their kids to a higher education institution. It is a comprehensive plan and report custom built for your child to address the best fit for their education based on their unique situation while also giving you the best bang for your buck financially.

We help you and your family prepare for financial independence and/or retirement. We also offer pro-active guidance and planning on how to maximize your income while legally minimizing your overall tax burden.


📍 OUR IN-PERSON MEETING LOCATIONS:

Meeting in person is not a requirement for working with us. However, we feel it is really important to offer the option of meeting face to face as we first get to know one another better, and build out a mutual trust with each other. Our headquarters are based in the charming Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA. We also offer additional physical locations in Wenatchee, WA, Bellevue, WA, Austin, TX and Houston, TX.

Why Families Choose McHenry Capital...
With over 25 years of experience, we’ve worked with parents and grandparents who want to protect and provide for the next generation without sacrificing their own stability. Our philosophy—what we call Return on Life—emphasizes purpose-driven financial decisions that reflect your values and priorities.

We’re here to be a long-term partner, helping you adapt your plan as life changes and guiding you through key transitions—from college to special needs care to retirement.

Let’s Talk About Your Plan...
If you’re balancing the needs of your children or grandchildren with your own financial future, we invite you to start the conversation. Visit mchenrycapital.com to learn more, or schedule a meeting directly.

You don’t have to choose between your future and theirs. We’re here to help you protect and provide for both.

Education

Texas McCombs School of Business BBA, Finance | Cornell University

Languages

  • English

Hobbies and Interests

  • Beach
  • Boating
  • Camping
  • Canoeing
  • Cooking
  • Exercising
  • Family
  • Fishing
  • Gardening
  • Golf
  • Hiking
  • Horseback Riding
  • Hunting
  • Music
  • Skiing
  • Sports
  • Wine
  • Working Out
  • Yoga

Who We Serve

  • Corporate Executives
  • Couples
  • Dual Income Family
  • Families
  • Gen X
  • Gen Y / Millennials
  • Living in Retirement
  • Newly Engaged / Newlywed
  • Parents
  • Remote Workers
  • Single Women
  • Special Needs
  • Technology Professionals
  • Women in Transition
  • Women Professionals
  • Young Families

To make Wealthtender free for readers, we earn a nominal monthly fee from financial advisors and firms in exchange for marketing services (including being featured on this profile page), subject to terms of use. This compensation creates a natural conflict of interest when we favor their promotion over others. Wealthtender is not a client of these advisors or firms. Testimonials may not be representative of other clients’ experiences and do not guarantee future performance or success.