Colin Burke Early, CPFA®

Financial Advisor

Financial wellness for all.

Working to help folks take the stress out of money.

There aren’t many things in life more anxiety-inducing than financial pressure. By learning about your spending—and, more importantly, your saving—habits, you’ll be able to approach the next phase of your financial future with confidence.

The cornerstone of our team’s collaborative, educational approach is a financial planning process powered by a suite of modern digital tools. Whether you feel as though you’re still living paycheck to paycheck or have an excess cash flow surplus you’re unsure how to utilize, our team can help those dedicated to tackling their financial challenges—together.

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Financial planning process

There is no single path to financial wellness. From your first “big-kid” paycheck through your retirement years, you’ll face countless decision points that can influence the achievement of your financial goals. Our approach to tackling these challenges is really quite simple.

Understand

Often, there are multiple scenarios worth evaluating before choosing a strategy. While planning certainly can’t predict the future, analyzing different possibilities helps you make decisions that align with your goals—and provides an added sense of security as you pursue financial freedom.

Design

Next, we’ll gather the information you’ve provided and design a comprehensive plan that leverages your strengths and avoids gaps or disparities. This step may include collaborating with your other professional advisors (e.g., accountants, attorneys) to coordinate efforts. We’ll then present our recommendations, answer questions, consider alternatives, and outline the steps needed to implement your plan.

Implement

With your approval, we’ll put your customized strategy into action using the research, tools, and resources available to us. This involves selecting the appropriate account types, investment products, and optional services—and handling all the necessary paperwork along the way.

Manage

Once your plan is in motion, we’ll regularly review your progress toward your objectives and recommend adjustments when needed. Through ongoing reviews and open communication, we stay connected and informed about any changes in your life that may warrant updates to your plan.

BEGIN YOUR FINANCIAL JOURNEY

SERVICE LEVELS & FEES

Individual financial planning

➤ Starting at $75/month, depending on the complexity

Billed annually, quarterly, or monthly, depending on your convenience. All fees vary based on complexity and desired services

Investment management

➤ 1% – 1.5% investment management fee

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Financial planning tools

Asset-Map®

Asset-Map® takes what can feel like a scattered pile of accounts, policies, and goals and organizes them into a single, visual “map” of your financial life. Instead of long reports, you see a clear snapshot showing how your assets, liabilities, insurance, and future priorities all connect.

By layering everything on one page, gaps and strengths become obvious—whether that’s an underfunded goal, too much risk, or missing protection. The clarity is powerful, but so is the collaboration. Because it’s easy to understand, you’ll feel more informed, ask better questions, and make more confident decisions alongside your advisor.

Over time, your map evolves into a living tool that tracks progress and keeps everyone focused on what matters most. In short, Asset-Map® transforms financial complexity into a clear picture, helping turn good intentions into actionable strategies.

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Nitrogen

Understanding your risk appetite—think “risk versus reward”—is one of the most important factors in your investing journey. By simplifying the language around investment risk and helping you understand how much of it you can comfortably tolerate, Nitrogen brings clarity where there’s often confusion.

MORE ABOUT NITROGEN

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Our services

Jump to: Education | Comprehensive financial planning | Investment management | Life, disability, and long-term care insurance

Education

Making informed decisions is crucial to feeling confident in your financial journey, which is why we place such strong emphasis on education. Through seminars, webinars, workshops, and individual meetings, we dedicate time and effort to ensure our clients feel connected and aware of the ways their hard-earned money can be put to work for them

Comprehensive financial planning

By considering your entire financial picture, we’re able to align cash flow, tax strategy, insurance solutions, and other initiatives with your ultimate goal: financial freedom.

Investment management

Understanding a client’s views on investing and comfort with market risk is vital to forging a quality plan. By focusing on mindset and behavior, and through helping you understand the nature of the market, we can help design and implement personalized, cost and tax-efficient portfolios that work in concert with the rest of your plans.

Life, disability, and long-term care insurance

Life happens. When it does, it’s important to understand what the fallout might be. Protecting your existing and future assets is incredibly important to creating a stable foundation for your financial plan. Our team thinks critically about insurance solutions and how they can serve your financial initiatives.

EXPLORE SERVICES

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About Colin

Colin Burke Early, CPFA®, is a Minnesota-based financial advisor with North Star Resource Group. He is steadfast in delivering his financial wellness message to as many individuals, families, and business owners as possible, working with people from diverse backgrounds who share a common goal of taking the stress out of money.

Noted for his approachable style and educational focus, Colin simplifies complex concepts to help ensure you make informed, confident decisions. He’s fortunate to draw on more than 13 years of experience spanning investment education, insurance, risk management, and retirement plan design.

Colin holds multiple industry registrations, having passed the Series 7, 6, 66, and 63 exams, and maintains his investment-adviser registration in Minnesota. His career is grounded in client service and compliance, including prior roles supporting advisors and clients at Securian Financial and Minnesota Life, where he developed operational know-how and an educator’s approach to explaining a wide range of financial topics.

Colin attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he earned a B.S. in Aviation Management. This experience helped him develop an analytical, process-oriented mindset to planning—translating big-picture goals into actionable next steps and recurring check-ins.

He especially enjoys helping those saving for retirement understand risk, time horizon, and behavior, and then aligning their portfolios and protection strategies accordingly. His CPFA® credential underscores his previous experience with employer-sponsored plans and participant education.

Though based out of North Star’s Minneapolis office, Colin serves clients nationwide, combining in-person or virtual meetings with a suite of modern digital tools. Outside of work, he spends the bulk of his time coaching, cheering on, or supporting his kids’ youth athletic endeavors. Reading, cooking, and tackling far too many home improvement projects also keep him busy.

CONNECT WITH COLIN

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Team

Our in-house subject-matter specialists offer specialized expertise in areas such as tax planning, Medicare supplement insurance, property and casualty insurance, and employee benefits.