A longtime area resident, and an alumnus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Bob Lowney is the owner of Hadley Tax based in Hadley, Massachusetts. Bob started out in insurance and financial services in 1988, and expanded his offering in 1996 to include tax preparation. Susie Romanowski has worked with Bob for over 6 years and handles scheduling, administrative duties, and new client intake. Over the past decade, Bob has grown his practice considerably, and in 2004 merged his tax preparation service with Wallace Tax, a well-established tax preparation firm serving Pioneer Valley individuals and businesses. When Wallace Tax closed, Bob continued on with Pioneer Tax & Business Services, LLC, and now has his own business on Route 9 in Hadley, MA. Bob works with pre- and post-retirees to help build wealth, reduce taxes, and minimize estate-planning issues. "Many of my tax clients become financial planning clients, and vice versa - the two areas go hand in hand." Regardless of how he gets to help his clients, Bob takes great pride in seeing the results of his work whenever a client accomplishes a long-awaited goal. Having been in financial services for well over two decades Bob has learned that patience and persistence are key to success both in business and in life. "It takes discipline to reach a goal; it took a very long time for me to grow my practice to this point, and the reward is that almost all of my clients come to me by referral."