Travis L. Braulick’s career in investment and insurance services lines up with a decade that kept changing the rules in real time.
The first half of the 2020s did not move in a straight line. It lurched. A global shock became a supply shock. A supply shock became an inflation shock. Then the inflation shock met the fastest rate-hike cycle in a generation. Along the way, confidence got tested, liquidity mattered again, and insurance risk stopped feeling theoretical.
What follows is a look at what the 2020 to 2025 landscape revealed, and what those signals suggest for the rest of the decade. This is not financial advice. It is a set of practical observations about how the system behaved, where it strained, and what kinds of professional habits held up under pressure.
Learn more about Travis L. Braulick and his insights at his website.
Lesson 1: “Normal” can disappear faster than plans can update
One of the clearest economic facts of the decade’s first half is how quickly prices can surge and how long it can take to regain stability. In June 2022, the Consumer Price Index rose 9.1 percent over the prior year, the largest 12-month increase since 1981.
That number is not just a statistic. It is a reminder that assumptions can break. Budgets break. Timelines break. People who believed inflation was a solved problem were forced to revisit basics.
In that kind of environment, the most valuable posture is readiness. Not prediction. Readiness. That means treating plans as living documents, not trophies you frame and forget. It also means having a way to talk people through change without adding drama.
Travis Braulick’s emphasis on steady check-ins and responsiveness fits this moment. When conditions shift quickly, people do not need more noise. They need someone who answers and helps them find their footing again.
Lesson 2: Rates returned, and “free money” ended
The early 2020s were shaped by unusually low rates, then by a sharp reversal. The Federal Reserve raised the target federal funds rate repeatedly through 2022 and 2023 as inflation surged.
In practice, that changed the feel of everything: borrowing, housing, business expansion, and consumer behaviour. It also changed what people worried about. When rates rise quickly, the cost of being wrong rises too.
A useful lesson from this period is that the same environment can punish speed and reward patience, sometimes in the same quarter. The second half of the decade is likely to keep that theme alive, even if rates fall or stabilise. The bigger point is that the price of capital can change quickly.
For professionals who deal with risk and uncertainty every day, this is where process matters. Braulick’s habit of weekly, monthly, and yearly goals is a reminder that you can keep momentum without overreacting. When the macro environment is loud, simple routines can keep decision-making calm.
Lesson 3: Liquidity risk was not an old story
If the inflation story was about everyday life, the banking story was about plumbing. It reminded the public that financial systems run on confidence, and confidence runs on access.
The FDIC recorded five bank failures in 2023. Many people will remember the sudden headlines around regional banks and how quickly deposit questions became front-page questions.
For the broader landscape, the lesson was not that banking is fragile all the time. It was that mismatches can matter a lot when conditions change. Interest-rate shifts can expose weaknesses that looked harmless in a low-rate world. That is a risk-management truth that applies beyond banks.
In the second half of the decade, this is likely to show up as a renewed focus on fundamentals: balance sheets, counterparty exposure, and the boring mechanics that keep money moving. Even outside banking, the idea translates into a simple behavioural rule: when stress hits, people want clarity fast.
That is where the “phone call away” approach becomes more than a customer service line. In a moment of uncertainty, being reachable is a stabiliser.
Lesson 4: Insurance stopped feeling like a background product
In many households, insurance is something you remember once a year. The first half of the 2020s pushed it forward, especially in property and catastrophe risk.
Across the United States, homeowners insurance costs and availability became a bigger public issue. A U.S. Treasury analysis found that average homeowners insurance premiums per policy increased 8.7 percent faster than inflation from 2018 to 2022. Separate research has linked rising insurance prices and availability challenges to climate-driven risk pressures in housing markets.
Recent reporting has also highlighted how catastrophe events can stress claims processes and consumer expectations, with debates about pricing, coverage, and market exits in higher-risk regions.
The lesson is not a policy takeaway. It is a mindset takeaway. Insurance is increasingly part of the cost-of-living conversation, and it intersects with housing affordability, local regulation, and climate realities. In the second half of the decade, consumers and businesses will likely ask more questions and expect clearer explanations.
Advisers and representatives who can communicate calmly, explain tradeoffs plainly, and stay responsive will have an edge. Not because they promise outcomes, but because they reduce confusion.
Travis L. Braulick and the advantage of consistency in unstable years
Braulick’s work history spans a period when the financial and insurance landscape demanded endurance.
He started in the industry in 2014 as an agent at Bankers Life, then built a long stretch of performance from 2017 to 2023 as a Top 25 Producer, alongside President and Honors Elite membership. He has worked as a financial advisor since 2018 and joined Investment and Insurance Services, a broker dealer associated with Calton, in 2024, where he serves as a vice president in investment and insurance services and as a financial representative.
Those details matter because they show a career shaped during years when many people changed plans or changed industries. The pattern that stands out is not a single turning point. It is repetition. Goals set weekly, monthly, and yearly. Conferences attended to keep learning and bring back ideas. A stated preference for being available when clients need him.
In the first half of the 2020s, the winners were not only the people with the best forecasts. Often they were the people with the best habits.
Lesson 5: Education became continuous, not occasional
The decade’s first half also made expertise feel perishable. New risks emerged or moved faster: cyber exposure, remote work changes, misinformation, and shifting consumer expectations.
The practical response is ongoing learning that stays grounded in real client needs. Braulick’s interest in attending wealth conferences for different ideas fits a broader trend across financial and insurance roles: professionals who keep updating their playbook are better prepared for changes in regulation, product design, and client questions.
For the second half of the decade, this likely becomes even more important. The tools will change. The expectations will change. The emotional context will change too, because people carry memories of volatility. That shapes what they ask for and what they fear.
Lesson 6: Community signals became part of credibility
There is a quieter lesson from this period: trust became more local and more personal, even in global systems.
When institutions feel distant, people lean on what they can see. That can mean who returns a call. It can mean who shows up consistently. It can mean whether someone has ties to a place, a team, or a community.
Braulick’s connection to Minnesota shows up in his interests and community support. He follows Sleepy Eye United High School football and Minnesota sports, and he donates to local football and baseball programs, including Sleepy Eye United and area teams. That kind of involvement does not replace professional competence, but it adds context. It signals continuity and accountability.
In the second half of the decade, credibility is likely to be judged not only by credentials, but also by behaviour. People will notice responsiveness, clarity, and follow-through.
What to carry into the second half of the 2020s
The first half of the decade taught a few durable truths:
Volatility is not a rare event. It is a recurring feature, and it reshapes expectations.
Rates and liquidity can change the mood of the economy quickly, and that mood change affects real decisions.
Insurance risk is becoming more visible, more discussed, and more intertwined with housing and climate pressures.
In that environment, the most useful professional traits are not flashy. They are operational: steady goal-setting, continuous learning, and being reachable when people need clarity.
That is the thread that runs through Braulick’s approach. Not a promise of outcomes, and not a claim to predict the future, but a pattern of showing up, staying consistent, and treating trust as something built over time.
The second half of the 2020s will bring new surprises. The question is which habits will still work when they arrive.
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