Helmstadter uses holistic approach to financial planning at new Merrill Edward Jones location

When you think about financial planning discussions, do your eyes start to glaze over? Do you picture an advisor with graphs and charts giving you a hard sell on why you need to set up investment accounts and contribute a certain amount to them each pay period?
A visit to Katie Helmstadter’s new Edward Jones office in Merrill might surprise you. Helmstadter’s approach focuses on you and your family unit, your dreams and goals, and how financial planning can help you achieve them.
Mapping out your financial future
Helmstadter starts out visiting and getting to know you better. Instead of immediately jumping into a list of available products, she actively listens and mind maps all the different ideas and topics that come up during the consultation.
She uses a tool typically used in brainstorming sessions. “I would start with [the client] in the middle and then we’ll start with topics going out and I’ll make all the notes and I do it on a big drawing pad,” Helmstadter said.

This visual, conversational approach allows her to capture everything that is important to a client before circling back to offer concrete solutions. “At the end of this conversation, [I’ll] be like, ‘Okay, these are what you hit as your main reasons for coming in. Here are some red flags that we found during our conversation,’” she said. Then she goes on to explain the services she can offer and how they can help the client. By doing this, Helmstadter works to show clients exactly what they need or do not need at this stage in their lives.

Deep roots in the Merrill community
For Helmstadter, who opened her new Merrill Edward Jones location on April 1, 2026, this is a dream come true and a homecoming. Born and raised in Merrill, she grew up with deep ties to the local business community. Her family owned the local jewelry store, and as a child, she dreamed of working there alongside her grandparents and aunts.
When the family retired and closed the store before she was old enough to follow that dream, Helmstadter shifted gears, attending college to earn a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in finance. She then spent the last nine years working as an Edward Jones financial advisor in Antigo, but she never lost her desire to return home.
“When it came back to, okay, where am I going to settle down, where am I going to buy, it was always Merrill. There was no doubt,” Helmstadter said.

Her personal life is also deeply rooted here. Her entire family lives in Merrill, and her fiancé, Shane Ahrens, is from just south of town. Helmstadter was already driving back frequently to spend time with her family and fiancé, so the decision to relocate was easy. With half of her clients already based in or between the Merrill and Antigo areas, she was finally able to relocate her physical office in her hometown to fulfill her dream while continuing to serve most of them, and she is now positioned to help even more Merrill area clients. For those closer to Antigo, Edward Jones financial advisor Jenny Behrens remains in the Antigo location to serve them.

A comprehensive suite of financial services
Helmstadter emphasizes that the services offered at Edward Jones are highly adaptable to what each individual client is looking for, ranging from basic education on a single goal to in-depth, multi-year strategic planning.
When it comes to managing a client’s money, Helmstadter explains that Edward Jones offers three main investment management programs. At one end, the client retains full control, with Helmstadter providing education and recommendations while the client makes all final decisions. At the other end is a fully hands-off approach. “Katie, I just want you to do it for me. I don’t want to learn about all these different types of investments and have to choose between them,” she said, describing that client mindset. A third option offers a blend of guidance and control for those who want something in between.
For those unsure of where to start, she offers a risk-free “second opinion” to review current investments and outline actual costs and options.

Beyond standard investments and life insurance, Helmstadter provides a remarkably broad array of services that touch almost every aspect of a client’s daily life:
• Estate Planning & Asset Protection: Helmstadter helps clients navigate Wisconsin’s community property and survivorship laws, advising on wills, transfer-on-death deeds, and beneficiary designations to ensure assets aren’t unintentionally passed to the wrong family members. She also helps clients strategize how to protect their assets from nursing home costs and Medicaid spend-downs, particularly to protect a surviving spouse.
• Tax Strategy & Social Security: She works closely with clients — especially small business owners — on “pre-budgeting” to ensure they pay themselves and save for retirement instead of just covering overhead. She also helps couples strategize how they report business income to maximize their future Social Security payouts and utilize spousal benefits, among other strategies.
• Insurance Reviews & Credit Building: Helmstadter routinely reviews clients’ property, casualty, vehicle, and homeowners insurance. “Each client I’ve done that with, we have found where we can do a better job on their vehicle and homeowners insurance,” she said. She even helps young families or those with no credit history strategically open credit cards to build their scores, which ultimately lowers their insurance premiums and helps secure better mortgages.
• Healthcare Strategizing: For clients retiring early in their 40s or 50s, Helmstadter helps utilize tax and income strategies to keep their taxable income low enough to qualify for heavily subsidized health insurance premiums on the marketplace. She can also help younger families strategically navigate their healthcare approach and costs.

A holistic “partner” for your financial life
To make all these moving parts work seamlessly, Helmstadter takes on the role of a financial “partner” or middleman for her clients. Rather than letting a client bounce between different professionals who don’t communicate, she actively collaborates with their estate attorneys, accountants, and insurance agents.
“Bring me in as your partner, let me play the middleman,” she said. “That’s what I get passionate, excited about. Smart tax choices now can influence what you have in the future, and choices you make today will greatly influence your tax situation in retirement.”

A philosophy shaped by family and a passion for living
Helmstadter’s unique approach to wealth management was deeply influenced by her own family’s medical history. Growing up, she watched her grandfather and aunt suffer from Huntington’s disease. Because it is a dominant genetic disorder, she spent much of her early life understanding she had a 50 percent chance of developing the condition if her mother had it and potentially needing nursing home care by age 50.

Though she has since learned she does not carry the gene, the experience profoundly shaped her worldview and reinforced the importance of balancing the future with the present. Seeing what her family went through with her grandfather and aunt made her acutely conscious of the planning necessary to navigate potential financial and health challenges.
“But I also realized you have to live life,” she said.
As an avid adventurer who fairly recently trained to hike the Grand Canyon, she brings her own human experiences and love for life into her passion for helping clients develop their plans. “I love to travel. I love to experience new things,” she said. “So if you say, ‘Let’s go skydiving,’ I’ll say, ‘Okay, when?’” she said. “At the same time, how do you tie that in so that you’re still saving for the future?”
She gave another example. “If you have a dream and a goal to take your kids and rent an Airbnb up north and just have an extended weekend with your family and that family time, maybe [my recommendation is that] we only put $6,000 in retirement,” Helmstadter said. “We look at your dreams — your goals — because that influences all those other decisions.”

A welcoming space for big dreams

This deeply personal philosophy is physically reflected in her new office space, located in the former Hovda dental office next to The Chiropractic Wellness Center at 109 S. Center Ave. in Merrill. Working alongside her administrative partner Dawn Arnold, Helmstadter specifically designed the fully accessible space to feel unique and inviting, including selecting an office with south-facing windows to help combat the seasonal depression she experienced in previous windowless offices.
Inside, they have curated a serene, conversational environment. You won’t find the typical hallmarks of a high-pressure finance firm on her walls.
“You notice how there’s no stocks, bonds, investments, mutual funds, anything, [on the walls or in displays, that’s] because when you come in here, I want to talk about your life,” Helmstadter said. “I want to talk about your dreams. I want to talk about the vision for what you want, what your goals are.” Once she understands a client’s current life and the life they envision for themselves or their families, then she can help them develop a financial plan to help achieve those goals and dreams, she said.
Why should someone meet with a financial advisor?
“People don’t always know what they don’t know, and small adjustments made early can have a big impact years down the road,” Helmstadter said. “Everyone is doing their best, but they don’t realize how small changes now can make a big difference 10, 20, or 30 years from now. An advisor helps connect the dots — planning ahead, thinking about family, and setting goals — so people don’t have to figure everything out on their own while juggling work, kids, and life.”