Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Fashion & Style
  3. Features

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

How Kevin Neal’s Small Town Upbringing Got him to the Top

By

Today we meet Kevin Neal, the founder of Moenio – a client advocacy firm focused exclusively on providing guidance to their clients when working with financial advisors, brokers, bankers, and their firms.

I’ll start with the ending, the business I created after 20-years in finance – Moenio. Moenio is a disruptor. A company created to break up what investors have known and trusted for the past 50 years. There were three experiences during my life that led me to believe a company like Moenio was needed and that the time was right.

Recommended Videos

I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A small town, by some standards, with a little over 300,000 on a good day, tourists included. With the Tennessee River winding through the city and mountains cascading from various angles, it’s a mecca for outdoor activity– water skiing, kayaking, fishing, and even a hang gliding facility.

The first experience was when my parents made me buy my first car. Easy enough – I work, I get a car. I don’t work; my brother drives me if he wishes. With that in mind, I had to go find a job. I ended up at a restaurant where I started as a dishwasher. Not something noble, but a great place to start – I learned quickly that there were opportunities to be had. I could bus the tables for the waiters, be the “happy hour” set-up person, and more. These had nothing to do with skill, as I found out, but were more about appearances. I realized that all of the waiters, managers, and owner were making decisions on “appearances” rather than skill. Lesson one was people give undo credit to appearances.

The second experience was after I sold the regional investment advisory company I had built for over eight years. When I was contemplating the sale, I was reading about learning languages and immersion programs around the world. I thought, why not sell and immerse myself? I spent two years living in Spain, Malaga and Madrid, taking Spanish classes and traveling. It was a wonderful experience, but, more importantly, a valuable lesson when I came back to the states. Whenever I began speaking Spanish the reaction was two-fold; wow, you speak Spanish (remember, I’m from Tennessee) and you must be smart. Lesson two was people give credit to intelligence in the wrong way sometimes.

The third experience was spending ten years with one of the largest wealth management firms in the world. I started on the corporate side supporting financial advisors when meeting with high-net worth and ultra high net worth clients. My role was simple, help support the financial advisors when meeting with prospective clients and current clients in all capacities – basically help them close or keep their clients. I attended over 1,000 client meetings with 300+ different advisors. I was able to see every conceivable path used by advisors and brokers to gain clients and keep them. Lesson three was the first two lessons combined: many people make decisions on what they perceive through appearances and intelligence without actually knowing it to be true.

Moenio was created from these experiences and has one goal – making certain our clients are working with the best financial advisors, bankers and advisors. We know appearances and impressions can be misleading so we verify the quality of advice and the performance being delivered. Our clients do not leave meetings with their advisors confused – we make certain the information being delivered and advice are sound. Our clients do not have doubts about their advisors – we rate their advisors in over 15+ areas to add confidence.

As for my personal style:

Jeans: 7FORALLMANKIND, straight cut. It is simple and comfortable.

Shirts: For business meetings I wear Prada and Tom Ford. For out and about, I wear whatever my wife chooses, but since I’m based in Miami short sleeves are a must.

Pants: For “business pants” – Zegna or Brunello Cucinelli. For a more casual “I have a meeting but there is no way I’m getting dressed up” look – AG pants/jeans or Maison Margiela.

Suits: Ever since I left behind the corporate life I have not put on a suit. I do wear a jacket to client meetings – Brunello Cucinelli or Brioni.

Shoes: Church’s, Prada, and flip flops.

Accessories: I wear no accessories, except when playing golf – a baseball cap – or out on the boat – a Peter Grimm Lifeguard Dover. Heading into meetings for business I always take my Dunhill leather executive folio.

Outerwear: Mission Workshop parkas for weather

Favorite Cologne: D’Orsay

Your favorite App(s): Windfinder for fishing, UberEats when I’m not cooking, and Bloomberg

Favorite piece of technology: Sous Vide cooking system by Polyscience

Next tech purchase: DJI Phantom 4 drone

Cator Sparks
Cator Sparks
Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual
The 5 suit brands you need to know to build your first suit wardrobe: Including the first aspirational one
Building a suit wardrobe starts with the brands you can trust
Men's Wearhouse Custom

Look, starting a wardrobe is difficult. You have to decide what kind of man you want to be. What kind of message do you want to send? What kind of budget do you want to use? And how often you want to go back to the drawing board. What kind of man do you want to be? Sounds heavy. Sounds dramatic. Maybe because, in some ways, it is. So much of what people initially believe about you remains in their subconscious long after they get to know you. So what you wear is important. The message you want to send is one of being put together, attentive to details, or it is the opposite. Laid back and unbothered. The budget is also integral to the wardrobe you build. High quality comes with high prices. However, it comes with longevity, so it means you don't have to replace it as often, saving money in the long run. So, what kind of man do you want to be? Hopefully one that wears men's suits.

No matter what man, message, budget, or shopping frequency you choose, a good suit wardrobe will need to be a part of it. So, where do you go? How do you start? Here are the five brands to trust to get started. No Tom Ford, Brioni, giant fashion houses here. These are the five suits for the man starting out. And one for the man aspiring to the next step. The first four, you can grab your first quality suit for around the $1,000 mark. The aspirational one will be your first custom, so it will be a bit more.

Read more
Longines refreshes its cult-favorite central power reserve in light blue
The Swiss watch company is giving the Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve some new dial and bracelet options.
Wristwatch, Arm, Dial

Longines has been around since 1832, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating watchmakers on Earth — old enough to have spent decades strapped to the wrists of aviators and explorers before most brands existed. So when the Saint-Imier company, now part of the Swiss giant Swatch Group, revives something from its own archives, it's got real history to draw on. The Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve is a good example.

The Conquest line dates to 1954 — the first Longines collection to have its name trademarked with the Swiss IP office. And in 1959, one Conquest model introduced the complication this watch is built around: a power reserve indicator planted dead center on the dial. For 2026, Longines has given the modern revival a light refresh: a new light-blue opaline dial and (for the first time on this model) a stainless-steel bracelet alongside the returning dark leather strap.

Read more
Shohei Ohtani’s newest Seiko is out of this world
Seiko built Shohei Ohtani a one-of-one watch that tracks a million hours across five rotating discs — and you can't buy it.
Wristwatch, Arm, Body Part

The Seiko Star Time, presented to Shohei Ohtani on July 3, marks his tenth year as a Seiko ambassador. It's not for sale, will never be for sale, and there's exactly one on Earth — currently strapped to the best baseball player alive. Oh, and also? It looks absolutely nuts. Instead of hands, the Star Time tells time with five stacked, concentric discs, each tracking a different scale of accumulated time: 24 hours, then 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, and finally a disc that runs all the way to one million hours.

That's roughly 114 years — a full human lifetime, give or take. The discs turn continuously, so slowly you can't see them move. Seiko named it "Star Time" for exactly that reason: like stars drifting across the sky, the motion is imperceptible in the moment but relentless. A little existential for a watch company, but let's go with it.

Read more