JonPaul McBride

There’s no virtue in sacrificing today’s joy for tomorrow’s anticipated riches, JonPaul McBride said, if the overall trendline is up.

That’s one of the lessons that remains with him from his mother, a teacher. She would occasionally indulge him with dinner out, always cautioning that a trade-off came with every treat.

“Life is ephemeral,” said McBride, 36, whose father died when he was 7. “I’m coming at planning from a different angle.”

He backed into the profession after graduating from college in 2009, in the depths of the Great Recession. A serendipitous introduction to the field of trust administration acquainted him with financial services but wasn’t quite right. Then, after relocating to Boston from Nashville, he translated those skills to gain a foothold in the advisory profession.

Now he’s rising through nonprofit leadership in hard-to-crack Boston by serving on the board of the Paul Revere House. He’s also treasurer for Revolution250, which aims to be the bull’s-eye for the scattershot celebrations of the 250^th anniversary of the opening of the American Revolution.

A short stint as a retail clothing salesperson gave McBride an eye for fit … and the power of authenticity. Financial plans that pinch are just like too-tight jackets: They don’t look, feel or wear well. “I try to carry on what my mom did, which was to meet me where I was,” McBride said. “Your finances support you, including those little moments that mean a lot.”

—Joanne Cleaver