In 2010, I decided to make a career change and pursued a career in finance. I attained my Series 7 and 66 licenses as well as licenses to sell life insurance products, disability insurance and long-term care. I was hired by a Fortune 100 company as a financial advisor (they were actually in the top 10 best companies to work for in Fortune magazine for the entirety of my tenure) and was given my own branch. In order to better serve my clients, I also obtained my AAMS (Accredited Asset Management Specialist) and ABFP (Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional) credentials. Having these 2 credentials helped set me apart from other advisors because I was able to provide a better and more insightful service to my clients. Because of this, I was named Limited Partner in 2018, a title I held until my departure in early 2023.

I chose to leave and open my own practice with LPL in June of 2023. I felt I could better serve my clients and their needs by providing a wider range of products and investment options. I am governed and abide by the rules and regulations of both FINRA and the SEC as well as the recently implemented RegBI. RegBI (Regulation Best Interest) was implemented in June of 2020 and stipulates that an advisor must comply with 4 component obligations: Disclosure, Care, Conflict of Interest, and Compliance. In short, RegBI is a rule that states an advisor must always act in the best interest of the client. It’s a shame that this regulation needed to be put in place but it was done so because many advisors in the industry were selling high-commissioned products to their clients that were not only inappropriate for their needs, but that similar, lower costing investments were available for them to use. Why would an advisor do this? There are several reasons, all of which were in the best interest of the advisor, not the client: a higher paycheck, the ability to win expensive trips completely paid for by their firm, high-paying bonuses, promotions, etc. The client was never the focus and this jeopardized their future as well as the hard-earned money they had entrusted to their advisor to help them get to a comfortable retirement. This was not a company-specific issue, this was an industry-wide problem. Not every advisor or every firm violated this basic code of ethics, but enough were and the Dept. of Labor and FINRA had to step in and create RegBI.

Since I began my career in 2010, I have always put the needs of my clients first and have made sure that the investments I recommend for their portfolio are the best suited to help them meet their goals. Each client is unique in their needs so I create individual, tailored portfolios that are appropriate for your goals, your time horizon as well as your comfort level as it relates to risk. As we have seen in recent years, the market can be extremely volatile and beyond anyone’s control; so I cannot guarantee that your portfolio won’t fluctuate in value. What I can guarantee is that I will create a tailored portfolio designed to meet your individual needs by using high-quality investments that should help you weather all financial climates. I do not chase the latest fads or the hottest stocks and I certainly do not try to time the market. There’s a famous saying in our industry: “Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered”. Two things drive the market, fear and greed. You will not get rich overnight, but you have an exponentially higher chance of reaching your goals by having a well-diversified portfolio containing quality investments that are held for the long-term. This is the style of investing I believe in and one that I use with my clients. We all know to buy low and sell high but if there’s one thing I’ve learned through my education and experience, investors tend to do the exact opposite. This is a normal response to volatile markets and one that a majority of individual investors mistakenly and routinely make and sets them back years. My job as your advisor is to help you navigate through these difficult times by not allowing knee-jerk reactions that could derail your investment goals. I gauge my success by the success of my clients. We all want to get to and have a comfortable retirement where we don’t fear running out of money. By working together we can achieve your goals.