Built by Someone Who Has Sat on Both Sides of the Table.
Kindled Planning exists because I spent years inside some of the most complex financial operations in the country and kept thinking about the people who needed that same level of thinking but had nowhere to get it.
Most People Deserve a Better CPA Relationship.
After years in corporate finance, modeling million-dollar decisions, sitting inside high-growth companies, watching equity compensation become one of the most meaningful and most misunderstood parts of how people get paid, I kept running into the same gap.
The people I worked alongside, the families I grew up around, the colleagues building real wealth through their careers: they weren't getting the kind of financial partnership that matched where they actually were. Not because they couldn't afford it. Because it largely didn't exist the way it should.
Most CPA firms are built for simplicity. File the return, send the bill, see you next April. What I kept seeing were people making major decisions around their equity, their business, their taxes, without anyone in their corner who understood the full picture and was thinking ahead of them.
So I built the practice I would want for my own family.
“The stakes at your kitchen table are just as high as in any boardroom. They just feel more personal, because they are.”
Matt’s Story
Matt Curtin, CPA - Founder
-
After Deloitte and my Master's at Babson, I knew two things: I could do the technical work, and I was built for relationships, not institutions. Deloitte confirmed the first thing quickly. It confirmed the second thing just as fast. I understand the debits and credits, that foundation matters, but the work I cared about was never the numbers themselves. It was the people behind them, the decisions they were navigating, the life underneath the balance sheet.
So I left and spent the next several years doing exactly that: building financial models, running scenario analysis, sitting inside companies at pivotal moments and learning what it actually looks like when the financial decisions get made by people with serious skin in the game.
-
At Liberty Mutual, I was deep inside the financial infrastructure of a large, complex insurance organization. The scale was significant, the kind of environment where you develop a muscle for thinking carefully and systematically about money. Later, at Hi Marley, an insurtech startup, I got a very different education. High growth, equity compensation front and center, real stakes on every decision. Both experiences taught me something I've carried since: the people doing the real financial work inside organizations rarely have access to the same quality of thinking on the personal side.
-
Here's something a lot of CPAs get backwards. They treat tax as the first lens, the thing you optimize for on its own. I don't see it that way. In my experience, an efficient tax position is almost always the output of a well thought out financial decision, not the starting point. Get the thinking right on the front end, the vesting strategy, the sale, the entity structure, the timing, and the tax efficiency tends to follow.
My background lets me start there, with the actual decision, and work toward the outcome. Tax is where the result shows up. It's rarely where good planning begins. That's the standard I hold for every client, the same way I'd want it done for my own family.
-
I started Kindled Planning because the firm I wanted for my own family didn't exist. A CPA who would get to know us, think ahead of us, and actually explain what was happening, not just file the return and send an invoice.
The name comes from something I've noticed about every client I work with: the spark is already there. You've built something real, you're thinking ahead, you care about getting this right. You don't need someone to light the fire for you. You need someone to kindle it thoughtfully, to help it grow into everything it can be, on your terms.
-
Education: B.S. Accounting (High Honors), Siena College · M.S. Accounting, Babson College
Credentials: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), NH License #09162
Experience: Deloitte · Liberty Mutual · Hi Marley · Experian · Kindled Planning
Outside the Office.
I live in Sterling, MA with my wife and our daughter, with a son on the way. Family is the reason this practice exists in the form it does. I wanted work that was mine, on terms I understood, serving people I genuinely care about.
I'm a big believer that the best client relationships are ones where both people show up as themselves. That's the practice I'm building.
Our Values
Clarity Above All
You'll always know where you stand and what's ahead. No jargon, no confusion, just the clear data you need to lead your financial life with confidence.
Your Goals First
No product sales. No commissions. No referral fees. Every recommendation I make is rooted in your best interest.
Time Well Spent
I leverage a secure digital infrastructure to make planning efficient, proactive, and genuinely worth your time.
Integrated Perspective
Taxes, planning, business interests, and life events are all connected. I plan for them together never in isolation.
Always Within Reach
Through our secure client hub and video consultations, I’m the trusted contact in your pocket serving clients nationwide.
Human Connection
I build lasting, high-stakes partnerships grounded in trust. As a boutique practice, you always have a direct line to me.
If This Resonates, Let's Talk.
I take a limited number of new clients each year because I believe in the kind of relationship where I actually know what's going on in your financial life. If you're looking for that and you're ready to stop treating your CPA as a once-a-year transaction, I'd love to connect.