About Tim

The person behind the plan.

Tim Lankford has spent more than twenty years helping people make sense of retirement. He still thinks of himself as a teacher.

From the pulpit to the kitchen table

Tim began preaching at 14 and became an assistant pastor at 17. He studied pastoral ministry and biblical theology and later served as a senior pastor.

Over time he realized that was not where he was meant to spend his career. But one thing about him never changed. In his words:

"I love taking something complicated, breaking it down and helping somebody understand it well enough to make a confident decision."

He found where that belonged in financial services. So he is still teaching. Only now the subject is retirement.

Why West Point Financial

Tim started his own firm in 2007 as West Point Financial. He named it in honor of his son Justin, then a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The firm is now Lankford Wealth Advisors, with offices in Carmel and Brownsburg.

What drives the work

Tim is married to Beth and is the father of four. Family is why he asks every client one question he asks himself: if something happened to me tonight, would my family know exactly what to do tomorrow?

That is why the plan should make sense to the whole family, not just the person who first walked through our door. It is also why every client receives a Legacy Binder.

"Every dollar has a purpose. Every purpose deserves a plan. And every family deserves peace of mind."

Credentials

Training that fits the questions you bring

FRC
Federal Retirement Consultant. A designation of the Federation of Federal Employee Benefit Advocates (FFEBA), focused on federal employee benefits.
NSSA
National Social Security Advisor. A designation focused on Social Security: claiming ages, spousal and survivor benefits, and how they fit a retirement plan.
RFC
Registered Financial Consultant. A professional designation for financial consultants.
Licensed insurance agent
Licensed in every state and the District of Columbia except Hawaii.

Our team

The people you'll talk to

Tim Lankford, FRC, NSSA, RFC
Founder and CEO
Tim Lankford has been in financial services since early 2000. In 2007 he founded West Point Financial, now Lankford Wealth Advisors. He helps families turn what they have saved into a clear plan: income they can count on, Social Security decisions, taxes, healthcare and the legacy they want to leave.
Tim has spoken to thousands of people across the country about retirement, and he hosts the Wealth After Work podcast. His approach is the Lankford Roadmap: chart where you are today, map where you want to go, navigate the decisions ahead, guide the plan, and keep the journey going together as life changes. He is a Federal Retirement Consultant (FRC), a National Social Security Advisor (NSSA) and a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC).
Tim earned a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Staff Relations, with a minor in Business Administration, from Mid America Christian University. He graduated magna cum laude and served as President of the Student Ministerial Fellowship. His attention to detail showed up on the mat, too: he was an All State wrestler in high school and went on to a successful college wrestling career while earning academic honors.
Tim lives in Central Indiana with his wife, Beth. He has four children, including their youngest, Emma, a freshman at Liberty University who is studying to become a nurse.
Beth Lankford
Director of Media & Events
Beth leads our media and events, so every workshop and dinner seminar feels welcoming and well run. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from Purdue University and taught in public schools for 15 years. She then spent more than ten years as a national coordinator for seminars and conferences. She loves working with our team and our clients. Beth and Tim have been happily married since August 1998. Their daughter, Emma, is a freshman at Liberty University and plans to earn her bachelor's degree in nursing.
Stephanie Wright
Executive Assistant
Stephanie earned an associate degree in Medical Assisting in 2015 and is finishing her bachelor's degree in Business at Western Governors University, with graduation expected at the end of 2026. She has a deep passion for helping others. A mother of five, she spends much of her free time at her children's football, softball and soccer games. Balancing work, school and family is a challenge she takes on gladly.
Rich Elka
Director of Client Engagement
If you've signed up for one of Tim's dinner workshops, Rich is probably the first voice you heard from our office. He calls guests before each event to confirm their seats, and afterward to answer questions and help with next steps. When someone asks for a call through our website, Rich makes that first call too. His goal is simple: no one should ever feel lost or forgotten along the way.
Justin Lankford
Director of Technology & Digital Operations
Justin is Tim's son, and the reason the firm started as West Point Financial: Tim named it in 2007 in honor of Justin, then a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Today Justin works behind the scenes so the office runs smoothly and more families can find us. He built this website and its Retirement Income Estimator, set up the system that tracks every workshop guest and follow up call, and produces our videos and social media. He is a U.S. Army infantry veteran and the owner of JXH Tech, a small technology company.
Chris, Jody, Tanner and Emma Curtis
Our Medicare Team
Health care costs touch every part of a retirement plan, so Medicare choices matter. Chris Curtis and his family are our Medicare team.
Chris has helped people make sense of Medicare since 2006. He grew up in Tipp City, Ohio, and has lived in the Miami Valley all his life. He was working at General Motors when a friend suggested he try insurance. He said no at first. As he puts it, "Between God and your wife, they have plans for you that you don't know about."
In 2016, Chris woke up at 3 a.m. with an idea: a Medicare planning center where people could come, learn about Medicare and see all of their options, the good, the bad and the ugly, based on their own situation. That idea became Medicare Planning of Dayton, the family company he leads as CEO. Early on, Chris learned that the wrong plan can hurt someone's health care and cost them thousands of dollars. So he treats every client the way he would treat his own parents, starting with their doctors, their prescriptions and their situation.
Jody, his wife, founded the company with Chris and serves as its CFO. She has helped people with Medicare just as long. She grew up in Versailles, Ohio, attended Wright State University, and met Chris in 1997. Before Medicare, she served as a children's pastor for five years, and she still serves in children's ministry every Sunday. Today she keeps the books, meets with clients and helps host the family's free Medicare dinners.
Their son, Tanner, and their daughter, Emma, work in the family business too.