The Plan Nobody Had

Some people stumble into their careers. Joshua Johnson walked into his with purpose forged from loss — and a determination to make sure no family ever has to go through what his did.

Growing up outside of Houston, Texas, in a small town called Fulshear, Joshua watched his father build something from nothing. The family was doing well — genuinely well — the kind of financial comfort that feels permanent when you're young. Then came the diagnosis. Cancer. His father fought for years, went into remission, then was hit again with a second form of the disease. It went septic. And after years of battling, he was gone.

What followed was a collapse Joshua still carries with him. The family that had been thriving was suddenly on food stamps. Night to day, as he describes it. His father had been exceptional at running his business — but no one had ever helped him plan for the unthinkable. There was no safety net. No contingency. No one in his corner asking the hard questions about what would happen if the worst came true.

"I want to get to folks before those types of situations happen," Joshua says. That absence — of planning, of protection, of someone showing up early enough — became his answer. Today, as a wealth management advisor with Northwestern Mutual in the West Des Moines area, he has built his entire practice around one idea: get there first. Before the diagnosis. Before the lawsuit. Before the moment a family realizes the plan they thought they had wasn't really a plan at all.

Working On the Business, Not Just In It

Joshua has found his footing with a particular kind of client — the business owner who is brilliant at their craft and completely unguarded everywhere else. Plumbers. Electricians. HVAC contractors. Construction crews. People who are exceptional at what they do, but who have never made the mental shift from employee to CEO.

"They're very good at working in their business," Joshua explains, "but what they're not really good at is working on their business." The money comes in, and it goes right back out — into another truck, another piece of equipment, another hire. All of it sensible in isolation. None of it building toward a future that can survive an unexpected blow. No liquidity plan for when something like COVID hits. No exit strategy for the day they decide they're done. No answer to the question every business owner eventually has to face: what happens if I'm not here tomorrow?

One client story stays with him. A business owner with a fleet of technicians and company trucks got sued after one of his drivers was involved in an accident on the job. The liability exposure was significant — the kind that can unravel years of hard work in a single legal filing. Joshua's team helped him restructure, placing individual vehicles into separate LLCs to isolate risk away from the core business. The owner could breathe again. No longer tethered to his technicians' every move, no longer one bad day on the road away from losing everything he'd built. "He feels a lot more safe and secure," Joshua says. "He doesn't have to hover over them at all costs."

It's the kind of planning most people don't know they need until it's too late. Joshua has made it his job to show up before that moment arrives.

Defense and Offense, Together

Joshua describes comprehensive financial planning as a house — and he's adamant that you can't have a strong offense without first building a solid foundation. His team handles both sides: the defensive work of risk management and protection, and the offensive work of growing wealth over time.

On the defensive side, that means life insurance, short- and long-term disability coverage, and long-term care planning — an area Joshua says shocks most people when they learn the real numbers. A long-term care event can cost upwards of $10,000 a month. Most families have no plan for it. On the offensive side, it's retirement accounts, investment strategies, tax mitigation, and exit planning for business owners who have spent decades building something they eventually want to sell.

One of his team's most powerful tools is a strategy called tax loss harvesting combined with direct indexing. Rather than buying a broad index fund like the S&P 500, they purchase each individual holding within that fund. When certain positions lose value, those losses get "banked" and can be used to offset future gains — including something as significant as the eventual sale of a business. For an owner who has been working with Joshua's team for years, those accumulated losses could mean saving six figures in taxes at the exact moment it matters most. It's the kind of strategy most people never hear about because most advisors aren't actually doing it.

"If they're not talking about taxes, don't work with them," Joshua says plainly.

A Different Kind of Advisor

In an industry crowded with advisors who are either selling products or telling clients what they want to hear, Joshua is deliberate about standing apart. He worked at another firm before Northwestern Mutual and felt the difference firsthand. "I felt like they weren't servicing clients in the best possible way," he says. The move to Northwestern Mutual was intentional — he was looking for a culture that put the relationship before the transaction.

As a fiduciary, he is legally bound to act in his clients' best interest and audited by a third party to prove it. As a broker, he can select from any funds on the market — Fidelity, BlackRock, and beyond — rather than being locked into proprietary products. And as part of a mutual company, his firm answers to its clients rather than to stockholders. Northwestern Mutual holds one of the highest credit ratings in the world and returned an estimated $9 billion in dividends to clients — a figure Joshua cites not as a sales pitch, but as evidence of a philosophy.

New clients receive a free educational consultation and a comprehensive financial plan — a document that runs about 80 pages — at no cost. There's also a monthly newsletter covering everything from retirement planning to business strategy, and an app that lets clients track their full net worth, budget, and cash flow in real time.

"Education is a lost art in my industry," Joshua says. He intends to be the exception.

New to Des Moines, Already Invested

Joshua has only been in the Des Moines area for about six months, relocating from the Houston area with his wife. He comes from a large family — eleven brothers and sisters spread across Texas, North Carolina, and beyond — and he brings that same sense of community with him wherever he lands.

Back in Houston, he worked with local chambers and the school system to weave financial literacy into the curriculum. He's considering similar work here in Des Moines, though he acknowledges the path involves navigating some local politics. The goal, if it happens, would be simple: reach people earlier. Give young people the vocabulary and the framework to start thinking about money before life forces the conversation.

"There's never a time you can be too early to plan," he says. It's a line that applies to everyone — the 22-year-old just starting out, the tradesman pulling in good money with no investment strategy, the business owner who hasn't thought about what happens when they're ready to walk away.

Joshua Johnson is not trying to sell you something. He's trying to make sure that what happened to his family never happens to yours. And he'd like to start with a conversation.

Northwestern Mutual — Joshua Johnson is located at 1245 Jordan Creek Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA 50266. To schedule a free consultation, visit northwesternmutual.com/financial/advisor/joshua-johnson1 or call (832) 215-0796.