Initially, finance was just an area of fascination for me.  One of my fondest memories was walking to the bank with my mother in grade school to deposit the cash I earned washing my neighbors’ cars.  In high school, I was enthralled by the stock market and enjoyed looking at the movement of various stocks that I selected and kept track of even though my family never invested in the market.  I pursued and completed my degree in Finance in 1995 but decided to work in an industry that was helping people instead of corporations.   After reading “The Richest Man in Babylon” and “The Wealthy Barber” in my 20’s, I felt called to pursue a career where I could help people understand the power of compounding returns on their life savings and the importance of proper financial planning.  I began my career as a financial advisor in 2002 with David Lerner Associates, a regional brokerage firm in the northeastern US.  However, I began to realize that even though my title was “Financial Advisor,” the job itself was more as a financial product salesman.

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In 2003,  my father decided to retire at age 60 without meeting with a financial advisor.  He asked me questions about social security claiming strategies, pension payout options and other important retirement planning considerations.  I realized, however, that the training I received to become an advisor was based primarily around selling financial products and not as much financial planning so I could not truly help my dad with his questions. I quickly decided that I needed to pursue my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation (www.cfp.net) in order to be able to help my clients retire comfortably.  This is when helping others with their finances became a passion for me.

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Unfortunately, many of the decisions made by my father without the guidance of a financial planner proved to be disastrous. My motivation for embracing each workday is to help my clients avoid the same experience.

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I grew up in New York but got to Texas as soon as I could.  I live in Missouri City with my wife and have 2 children in college. When I am not serving my clients, I enjoy trying new restaurants, cycling (to try and burn off the calories of eating at new restaurants), reading, watching sports and volunteering at my church and the local food pantry in my town. My Christian faith, family and friends are the driving forces of my life.