the Fıeld
A Visit With Agents of Change
It took a career change and a cross-country move for CHRISTOPHER STROUP to find happiness helping others plan their financial futures. BY SUSAN RUPE 16
InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » July 2021
W
hen Christopher Stroup looks out the window of his office at Abacus Wealth Partners, he can see the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Santa Monica, Calif., on one side. And he can see the Malibu mountains on the other. The setting is a big change from the small town in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier where he grew up, and from the oil fields of Bakersfield, Calif., where he landed after college. Stroup’s search for happiness and his quest to live an authentic life led him to a career change and a move to the Greater Los Angeles area, where he advises young professionals and startup founders, with a focus on the LGBTQ community. The 30-year-old advisor has been at Abacus for two years and is a Financial Planning Association NexGen ambassador. A love of mathematics and an interest in geology inspired Stroup to study petroleum and natural gas engineering at Penn State University. After he graduated with honors, Chevron hired him to work as a reservoir engineer in the Cymric/ McKittrick Oil Field near Bakersfield. “When we were out in the field, we had to wear a fire-retardant jumpsuit, steeltoed boots, a hard hat and snake chaps — depending on the season,” he said. “My days were spent waking up at 5 a.m., catching the 5:45 a.m. van pool, riding 45 minutes to the Cymric Oil Field to catch a 6:30 a.m. operations meeting, working until 4 p.m., and then catching another 45-minute ride back to Bakersfield.” Despite the long days and harsh working conditions, Stroup was making good money. But after three and a half years in the oil industry, he realized he wasn’t happy. “The industry was going through downturns, the commodity price of oil was plummeting, people lost their jobs — although I was fortunate enough to keep mine. I realized I pigeonholed myself as a petroleum engineer and I couldn’t easily fit into another industry as I would if I were a mechanical or chemical engineer. So I felt a little bit trapped from a professional standpoint.” Stroup also came out as a gay man during that time and decided to switch careers as he worked to live a more authentic life. He went back to Pennsylvania,
