Hi, I'm Phil Ratcliff.
I'm a fee-only financial planner and the founder of rebel Financial. I also build software for advisors, help run two nonprofits, work a small farm in central Ohio, and do improv on the side. I read with my ears, travel to learn and spend a lot of time thinking about how to make things a little better.
A man on a mission.
The mission
That's the short version of what I believe. The longer version: I'm on a mission, and it comes with real sacrifices. I'm working hard to pull my weight in the world, make a difference and leave things better than I found them. So I start with what's within reach and build outward, because anything great has to be good in every one of its parts. Here's what that looks like right now.
The engine
Fee-only financial planning, investments, tax and estate work. People before profits since 2013 — no commissions, no products to push.
Visit rebelfinancial.com →
The moonshot engine
Software built by advisors, for advisors. We build the tools rebel runs on first, then share them with independent firms everywhere.
Visit darevia.io →
The give-back
Pro bono financial planning for people who would never otherwise get it — at scale — plus long-range work on economic security.
Learn more →
The exit ramp
Helping advisors leave the big firms and build practices that serve clients, not corporations.
Visit 4advisors.org →
Coming soon
The proving ground
A chestnut orchard, silvopasture and apiary — and a real-world testing ground for sustainable, self-sufficient systems.
Visit ratclifffarms.com →
Boots on the ground
Every one of these has real people, real clients and real work behind it every day. rebel Financial funds the mission, Darevia helps it scale, and the nonprofits carry it to people the industry forgot.
Read the full story →
Life lately
A few snapshots from 2026. Tap any photo to see it big. The whole story, all the way back to 1980, lives on my About page.
2026
October 2026
The rebel crew at NAPFA, Atlanta
Four days with fee-only fiduciary advisors, a team night with the skyline behind us and a detour through the College Football Hall of Fame. Where I go to learn →
Late September 2026
Improv night at The Hashtag Comedy Co.
Haunted house, blacklight edition
Back on stage with my improv troupe, saying yes to whatever came next. Then a haunted house with my little ones, where the blacklight turned all of us blue and nobody was nearly as brave as they claimed in the car.
September 2026
Yes, he landed on purpose
A few days on Catalina Island with Caitlin after Future Proof: driving a little boat around the coves, biking above Avalon harbor and a hawk that decided my glove was a fine place to sit.
September 2026
Future Proof, on the beach
Three days in Huntington Beach with the wealth-tech crowd. A lot of ideas came home with me.
August 2026
New River Gorge with Caitlin: climbing sandstone in the morning, whitewater in the afternoon and a lot of neck-craning at that bridge.
The journey
The ventures are what I build. These pages are why — and they keep growing as I add to them.
01
The creed I try to live by — integrity, courage, wisdom, justice and, holding it all together, love.
Read it →
02
290 audiobooks finished so far, sorted by shelf. Ratings and notes on the best ones are coming next.
03
The conferences I go to, why I go and what I bring home, starting with NAPFA in Atlanta and working backward.
See the timeline →
04
How I'm voting on November 3 and why, plus links to look up your own ballot.
See my ballot →
05
An open-source platform: what's broken, the root cause and how I'd fix it. Take any idea you like.
See the platform →
06
The Army, Ohio State, twenty-plus years in finance and the day I started rebel — the short version.
Read it →
Coming early 2027
How Extractors Broke Meritocracy, and How Builders Can Take Capitalism Back
I'm writing a book about how our economic system quietly drifted from building to extraction, and what ordinary people can do about it. It's not anti-capitalist. It's anti-extraction.
Once a month. That's it.
What I'm building, reading and fighting for, in one email a month. Want book news, reading picks or civic updates too? Tick the boxes. You choose what lands in your inbox.
