General Resume
Curriculum Vitae
Walter S. Bristow III, JD, CLU, ChFC lives in Lynchburg, Virginia. However, as you can see by the Where I’ve Been app on his Facebook page, he has lived in Germany (twice), in Turkey, and all over the United States.
He is the father of five and a grandfather of 12 13. (Number 13 was born on April 6, 2009. Number 14 is due this fall.)
An attorney by training (BYU Law School ‘79), he was educated in the humanities (BYU, German, cum laude & honors with distinction ‘76). Although he no longer has many opportunities to speak German, he reads it constantly (thanks to both the internet and his collection of German versions of a number of Tom Clancy and John Grisham novels).
Over the years his interests have been varied, including such topics as the relationship between quantum mechanics and how organizations (and people) work best, how the human mind decides what information is important and the intersection of intellectual property rights and the emerging economic environment where “information wants to be free.” All his computer skills are self-taught – much to the dismay of his wife and children who had to put up with Dad always beta testing the newest version of some program or another.
After practicing law for seven years in business and tax planning (estate, income and charitable) in Eugene, Oregon, he joined Standard Insurance Company (Portland, Oregon) in 1986. He remained there as an advanced sales attorney until 2000. He then edited Tax News, a weekly email newsletter until 2004. He joined what was then GE Financial (now Genworth Financial) in 2002 as an advanced marketing attorney. That stint lasted until early 2009 when Genworth invited him (and a thousand or so other employees) to take part in that great economic experiment we call the recession of 2009… In September 2009, Genworth rehired him to work in the law department where he now serves as associate general counsel.
In the early 90’s, he wrote The Moving Company: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts and is currently working on the 3d edition for release in 2009. He is the author of numerous articles that have appeared in trade and professional journals.
He has spoken to hundreds of groups all over the United States and created such seminars as “What’s Hot and What’s Not: You Can’t Outrun Speeding Bullets or “What’s the Fad This Week?” How to Make Money While the Merry-Go-Round Goes ‘Round Ever Faster”, “Recent Tax Developments: Twelve Months Sisyphus Would Have Loved or What Quantum Physics and Chaos Theory Have to Do With What’s Going on at the IRS and in the Halls of Congress,” and “The Charitable Forest. Stained Glass Windows and Baby Ruth Candy Bars: How to Give and Grow Rich as a Philanthropist on a Pauper’s Budget.”
