Richard Baker

Richard founded Income Works in 2004 and has more than 35 years of active management experience in the financial services industry, helping clients attain their financial and income goals. He loves teaching others and helping them reach their dreams, financial or otherwise. He lives by the philosophy: “We start this world with nothing, and we leave this world with nothing. If there happens to be enough money left over for family and/or charity, fine. But the key is to set a plan to receive the income you need from your investments so that money is not a distraction. That way, you can take the gifts God has given you and use them to the best of your ability, and hopefully help people.”

He specializes in strategies utilizing the equity markets to provide continuous income while managing risk. Income Works has been affiliated with the award winning Commonwealth Financial Network^®, its broker/dealer and registered investment adviser, since 2006. 

Richard is a five-time member of Business Experience, a three-time member of the firm's Winner's Circle, and a one-time member of the Summit Club.**

Richard considers himself a financial educator, helping clients determine their income requirements and then adjusting portfolio management tactics to meet those needs. He likes to involve clients, always keeping what is important to them in mind to make sure their values, needs, and portfolio management strategies are in sync.

As a Sears Roebuck supervisor in his younger days, Richard utilized a strategy to help Sears’ retirees collect additional income on top of their dividends, without having to sell their shares at a less-than-desirable price. He then used other stocks in the strategy and refined the process in 2004 with the advent of Income Works and the creation of the "Baker’s Dozen" (13 stocks that are timely and suitable to use).

His Western Massachusetts roots are enhanced by having been a five-time award-winning sportswriter from the Springfield Republican newspaper, covering professional hockey (Springfield Indians/Falcons, Boston Bruins, Hartford Whalers) and collegiate athletics over a 35-year part-time/hobby career. During that period, his pen name was Dick Baker. He also specialized in women’s sports coverage and voted on The Associated Press Poll Top 25 Division I NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) women’s weekly basketball poll. He has a number of sport-related clients, and he is able to connect the similarities of athletics to investing.

Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, Richard graduated from the prestigious Emerson College in Boston, where he later served as a member of the Alumni Board for three years. In August 2013, he was chosen to serve as a delegate for Emerson President Lee Pelton at the inauguration of Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper, the school’s first woman president.

Having enjoyed a long-term relationship with Western New England University of Springfield, he has provided internship opportunities to finance and accounting students throughout his career and is frequently asked to serve as a guest speaker for the school’s Accounting and Finance Club. His passion for teaching and success as a mentor shows by the number of interns that have become short- or long-term employees at Income Works. In fact, the two current full-time employees he now has started as an intern (Karisa Syner) and a mentee (Diana Colmenares). 

Richard lives in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with his wife, Terese, and their cat, Mr. Bud. The couple has three children: Michael, Joseph, and Laura. He is a lifetime Los Angeles Dodgers fan, having first seen them in their base in Brooklyn on Channel 8 TV (New Haven, Connecticut). Terese was agreeable to allowing part of their honeymoon in 1979 to include Richard’s first-ever visit to Dodger Stadium and four Dodger games. His hockey friends called the team and the newlyweds were acknowledged with an “Out of State Dodger Welcome” on the left-field scoreboard. The couple has a slide of it. Legendary Springfield newspaper sportswriter Garry Brown wrote about the trip, headlined “Honeymoon in Dodger Land.”

Richard served in the Springfield community as a senior warden—the main communicator between the pastor and the congregation—for St. Barnabas and All Saints’ Church for 11 years.

*Distinctions based on annual production. Each year, Commonwealth, the broker/dealer–RIA that helps us process investment transactions on your behalf, recognizes advisors by inviting them to an exclusive gathering of their peers, leading industry experts, and Commonwealth home office staff. Advisors benefit from an intensive learning and networking experience designed to help them hone their expertise, share best practices, and provide ever-higher levels of service, education, and leadership to their clients.