Husband-wife team 'fell into' financial service

Given that they met at an H&R Block convention, you could say it was destiny that Marshall and Betty Mennenga wound up running a tax business together.

But the routes they took to get there were certainly less direct. "We both kind of fell into it and found out we liked it," Betty Mennenga said.

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Their company, Mennenga Tax and Financial Service, was started in 1988 and is located on Madison's East Side at 814 Atlas Ave.

Marshall Mennenga, who had taken some accounting courses at Parkland Junior College in Champaign, Ill., had purchased a small rental property and wanted to do the taxes himself so he enrolled in an H&R Block tax course. At the time, he also was working on the University of Illinois dairy farm and thought he might become a farmer.

The tax course led Marshall Mennenga to a number of roles with H&R Block, starting as an employee in Champaign, later having a franchise and then becoming a district manager, a position he eventually held in Madison for 10 years.

"I enjoyed working with the clients (and having) the ability to help them do something they don't like to do," he said.

Betty Mennenga's father had an H&R Block franchise, the first in Illinois, but it wasn't until 1975 that she got involved in the business.

"My father had passed away in 1974 and my sister, who was running the business, needed help, so that's how I got dragged into it," she said.

Betty Mennenga took a tax course and worked with her sister for 10 years along with another sister who had joined the business. Before that, she had a number of jobs, including bookkeeping and helping her former husband on their farm.

"If you learn the tax laws ... anyone can do it," she said of preparing tax returns.

Betty Mennenga got married in 1985 and then worked one year for her new husband during tax time. She then went to CUNA where she worked in financial planning for several years and became a certified financial planner.

In the meantime, Marshall Mennenga left H&R Block, but a noncompete clause prevented him from taking a job in management for one year.

So he went to work at Marie Madsen Tax Service and was looking to get out of the business. During the year he worked for Madsen, he got his license to hold securities. He then purchased the business, which was located at 2453 Atwood Ave., and Betty Mennenga joined him.

In 1999, the company outgrew that space and moved to its present location, a 9,000-square-foot former Group Health Cooperative clinic that was gutted and remodeled. At both locations, the company has sought to be frugal while offering a comfortable place for clients.

After seeing clients who had made poor investment decisions based on advice they had been given, Marshall Mennenga decided to combine his tax work with financial services.

"The two of them go together," he said.

Combining tax and financial help was a pioneering move and gave the company a 10-year jump on other companies that now do the same thing.

The business ranks sixth in the nation in gross revenue out of 5,000 offices that are affiliated with HD Vest, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co.

Mennenga Tax and Financial Service found its niche in middle America - a comfort zone for the Mennengas, who both grew up on farms.

They said their clients are mostly people who are not on the wealthiest end of the spectrum but who want more than just tax preparation. They often come in wanting their taxes done but return to get help with broader financial decisions.

The Mennengas, who said they have a stronger pull to people than to numbers, consider their background a plus because it has taught them to think creatively.

They are active in Peoples United Methodist Church in Oregon and Atwood Community Center. They sponsor a Kennedy Little League softball team.

They say they try to run their business in a way that encourages employees to advance, and they consider them a big part of their success.

One six-year employee spearheaded an effort to nominate the company for a 2005 Wisconsin Family Business of the Year Award sponsored by Smith and Gesteland, a CPA and consulting firm; Dewitt Ross and Stevens, a law firm; and Associated Bank. The employee said he chose the company because of its "family style of operation" and said flex time and birthday celebrations are examples of how the Mennengas support employees and their families.

Betty Mennenga, 61, has three daughters from her first marriage, and the youngest worked for a while in the business doing office management and financial assistance.

Marshall Mennenga, 58, has two boys from his first marriage, and the youngest, Lloyd, 36, currently works in the business as a tax and financial adviser.

Lloyd Mennenga worked for his father at H&R Block while he was a student at Oregon High School, just before his father started his own business. The younger Mennenga went on to get an associate degree in sales and marketing from Madison Area Technical College and later a degree in business administration from UW-Stout in 1996.

He worked in the hotel industry, partly because it involved travel. But in 1997, he came on board with the family business, being careful not to call Marshall Mennenga "dad."

"I did not want a free ride," Lloyd Mennenga said. "I wanted to make sure I earned a spot in the company."

The Mennengas attribute some of their success to a system they've developed that gives clients a quick turnaround on their taxes.

Marshall Mennenga said he aims to offer a quality product, get done on time and charge a reasonable price.

"If we take care of our own backyard and do what we're supposed to do, we don't have anything to worry about," he said.