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The certified financial planner is focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and, through his nonprofit, helping others who were bullied like he was as a child.
By Sharon Stello
Bart Zandbergen is a successful financial planner with his own company, but he’s faced his share of challenges over the years: being overweight and bullied as a child and going through a divorce later in life. But it was the way he chose to deal with these obstacles that helped him to overcome and prevail.
With more than three decades of wealth management experience, Zandbergen founded his own business, The Zandbergen Group, in 2020. A year before that, he started a nonprofit, Kindness Kures, to support antibullying efforts. Through his business, charity, social media posts and podcast, Zandbergen seeks to help others with lessons he’s learned.
“Without a doubt, being overweight and bullied played a pivotal role in shaping who I am today,” he says. “There are internal scars that I continue to carry, but the greatest gift my experiences gave me include learning the value of kindness. During my childhood, I was withdrawn, quiet, introverted and had high anxiety. I have evolved and overcome my shyness and have become much more confident. I … now call myself an extroverted introvert. … It took many years to move through that painful time in my life, but my pain, in many ways, became my purpose.”
As a teen, he took back control after watching the movie “Rocky” with his popcorn and soda. “I left that movie and I told myself … I was not going to live that way anymore, and that I was going to rewrite my story,” he recalls. “I had no idea about health and fitness, but Rocky ran for his training, so I thought I would give that a try. The first day I ran one time around the block. The next day, two times, and so on. I also changed how I ate.”
By age 20, a friend brought Zandbergen to the gym and taught him how to eat and train like a bodybuilder. “I have pretty much been following that plan ever since,” he shares. “I can regularly be found at Life Time fitness [center] in the 5 a.m. club of people who like to begin their day with a great workout.”
An Orange County native, he grew up in Anaheim, moved south during college and settled in Laguna in 2002.
“It is, and has always been, food for my soul,” he says. “ … After my first marriage, I wanted a fresh start. …I’ve surfed my entire adult life and I asked myself, ‘Why don’t I live on the beach?’ While I grew up surfing in Newport, as I moved into a new phase of life, I realized that Newport is just not my vibe. I love the chill energy in Laguna and the coastline view.”
Zandbergen chose to work in wealth management to help change lives in a positive way. And his nonprofit, Kindness Kures, aims to bring awareness about bullying to kids, adults and families, and to support other anti-bullying and kindness organizations. “Together, I believe real change can happen,” he says.
Zandbergen, also a certified sommelier, lives in Laguna with his wife, Tina, and their daughter, Tehani; he also has two adult children, Nicole and Christian, from his first marriage, who each have children of their own—making him “a proud grandfather of four.”
Laguna Beach Magazine: Do you still run or what’s your workout like?
Bart Zandbergen: Running was a great start for me until I learned how to work out in the gym. I have incorporated hiking and outdoor walks … [at] Top of the World for what I call my “active rest” workouts. I also love to do 1,000 Steps in Laguna. I will even carry dumbbells or wear a weighted vest to enhance my workout.
What advice do you have for children who are being bullied?
BZ: Remember that you are wonderful, you are special and you are loved. Be strong and courageous in the hard times and know with certainty that this too will pass. One of the fundamental truths in life is that nothing is permanent—not the good times or the bad times; everything in life has seasons.
Any favorite places in town?
BZ: The Drake is one of my go-tos: Great wine list/drink[s] and the salmon entree and Caesar salad are my top choices. Selanne [Steak Tavern] … is one of my favorite places to go and eat at the bar. Their scallops and the filet and asparagus are delicious. When I am in the mood for a view, Mozambique can’t be beat with its rooftop deck.
