How Kyle Packard Turned LinkedIn Into a Veteran-Focused Financial Planning Practice

Kyle Packard spent over two decades in the Army as infantry officer, special operations, and Army strategist before retiring and building a financial planning practice focused exclusively on veterans. In this episode, Kyle breaks down how he used LinkedIn to grow his business without cold meetings, networking events, or a big firm behind him.We talk about why he chose LinkedIn as a self-described non-social-media person, how he went from early posts about military planning to content that speaks directly to client problems, and what happened when he got serious about data. The shift from talking about himself to writing for his clients produced hockey-stick growth from roughly 350,000 annual impressions to over two million in a single year.Kyle also explains what makes his financial planning approach different: instead of a generic risk-tolerance questionnaire, he values a military pension like a bond and builds portfolios that reflect each client's actual guaranteed income. A $60,000 annual pension, valued that way, is the equivalent of a two-to-two-and-a-half million dollar fixed-income position—a reframe that changes everything about how a veteran should think about their portfolio.If you're a veteran figuring out entrepreneurship, a service professional trying to stand out in a crowded space, or anyone wondering whether LinkedIn is worth your time, this episode is for you.