Michelle Ash
MSFS, CFP®
Paragon Wealth Strategies
Managing Partner
Michelle Ash
MSFS, CFP®
Paragon Wealth Strategies
Managing Partner
As a Jacksonville fee-only financial planner, I believe a holistic approach helps clients plan and live their dreams. In fact, it is critical to optimal success. - Michelle Ash, MSFS, CFP®
OUR Job is to make YOUR Job... OPTIONAL!

Michelle Ash is a Jacksonville, FL fee-only financial advisor. She is a managing partner in Paragon Wealth Strategies, a wealth management, financial planning and investment advisory services firm that helps individuals, families and business owners grow their assets for retirement, get retired, protect their assets during retirement, and minimize their taxes throughout.
More specifically, Paragon is a deep expertise, high touch, boutique wealth management firm that helps ordinary people become millionaires and millionaires become multi-millionaires. Unlike most firms, we work as a team and bring a high level of expertise across multiple disciplines to our clients dependent on their situation.
Michelle specializes in the following:
- Wealth maximization for high-net-worth individuals and families
- Retirement planning strategies to optimize a client’s wealth picture
- Legacy, Gifting, and Charitable strategies
- Multi-year tax planning and complex tax issues
As a planner, Michelle Ash believes in a holistic approach to helping clients plan and live their dreams. She feels that the better she can help a client to mesh their life dreams with their finances, the more successful, and fulfilling, their retirement journey will be.
Michelle taught educational courses on retirement planning through the University of North Florida’s LearnJax program from 2007 to 2019. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor with Florida State College at Jacksonville, teaching courses on various financial matters, co-hosted the radio show "Financial Feud,” and has had her advice featured in the Jacksonville Business Journal. She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and has obtained her Masters in Financial Services (MSFS) with a concentration in Charitable and Legacy Planning. Michelle also holds the following additional designations and certifications:
- RICP™: Retirement Income Certified Professional designation
- EPT®: Estate Planning and Taxation Certificate
- BSP®: Business Succession Planning Certificate
- CASL®: Chartered Advisor for Senior Living designation
Michelle is a 1995 graduate from the University of Louisville in Kentucky, receiving Magna Cum Laude accolades. She began her career in financial planning in 1998. Ms. Ash is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), an exclusive membership of fee-only financial planners. Michelle is also an active member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Northeast Florida, having served as President in 2018, and a board member for 5 years.
In her free time, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband, riding her motorcycles, stand-up paddleboarding, flower gardening, and spending time outdoors.
Michelle Ash is a Member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) is a leading professional association of Fee-Only financial advisors - highly trained professionals who are committed to working in the best interests of those they serve.
NAPFA members live by three important values:
- To be the beacon for independent, objective financial advice for individuals and families.
- To be the champion of financial services delivered in the public interest.
- To be the standard bearer for the emerging profession of financial planning.
We founded PARAGON Wealth Strategies with the goal of creating a cost effective alternative to the abuses, conflicts of interest, inexperience and poor levels of service that many clients report they receive at the leading Wall Street firms or retail outlets. We strive to be the optimal financial firm for clients who desire objective, holistic wealth management, without proprietary influence, delivered by a team of highly credentialed financial professionals who care about them as individuals. Professional excellence, concern, sensitivity, and diligent oversight are PARAGON’s core values.
Our Commitment to you is one of honesty and service. We have an unmatched capacity for hard work, and a down-to-earth, practical approach with pragmatic advice intended to maximize your odds of achieving your goals. We recognize that you have worked hard developing your own career; we work equally as hard developing ours.
We are committed to enabling our clients to enjoy their lives while their financial affairs are managed by an independent, credentialed, objective team of professionals who can bring nearly every financial resource to the table in support of that goal.
Please Note: PARAGON does not offer HOURLY rate services or "one-off" financial plans for a one-time project fee. PARAGON Wealth Strategies provides comprehensive wealth management services - including all investment management, financial planning, tax planning, estate planning, and retirement income planning as a core offering of a comprehensive wealth management relationship.
After offering an hourly fee option in the past, and watching those clients struggle and lag behind our other clients in virtually every area of financial success, we eliminated that service option. In our opinion, the hourly model and "one-off" financial plans significantly distracts our team's focus from delivering an extraordinary service and investment experience to all clients, all the time.
Please visit PARAGON's website for a detailed discussion of service models available.
Fee-Only, Fiduciary, Independent: Three Important Criteria to Consider When Choosing a Financial Advisor.
Specialties
- Financial Planning for Life Decisions
- Retirement Income Optimization
- Investment Optimization and Cost Reduction
- Investor Coaching and Behavioral Finance
- Recession Protocol to Protect Your Investments
- Tax Planning & Tax Minimization
- Strategies to Protect Your Wealth
- Survivor, Estate, & Legacy Planning
Ideal Clients
- Retirees and Near Retirees
- Business Owners and Executives
- Sudden Money Situations
- Widow or Widower
Working Together
- In-Office or Virtual Meetings
- Complimentary Initial Consultation
- Multi-Specialty Team Approach
- Highly Responsive Service Model
- Clearly Defined Fees with No Product Sales
- World Class Technology and Ease of Access
Professional Designations & Affiliations
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Michelle Ash is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional - Click for Verification
CFP® professionals are held to strict ethical standards to ensure financial planning recommendations are in your best interest. What’s more, a CFP® professional must acquire several years of experience related to delivering financial planning services to clients and pass the comprehensive CFP® Certification Exam before they can use the CFP® designation.
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Michelle Ash is a NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor
The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) is a leading professional association of Fee-Only financial advisors—highly trained professionals who are committed to working in the best interests of those they serve.
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Michelle Ash is a member of The Financial Planning Association® (FPA®)
FPA® is the largest membership organization for CFP® professionals in the U.S. and supports high standards of professional competence, ethical conduct, and clear, complete disclosure when serving clients.
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Michelle Ash is a Retirement Income Certified Professional® (RICP®)
A professional designation for experienced financial advisors and investment managers who have passed coursework to become experts in retirement income planning. A Retirement Income Certified Professional® helps retirees and near-retirees develop and implement a plan for managing the financial assets they have accumulated for retirement and a set realistic budget to help meet life goals.
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Michelle Ash is a Chartered Advisor for Senior Living (CASL)
CASL® is a rigorous credential in the senior and retirement planning space, with curriculum that covers wealth accumulation, income distribution, and estate planning strategies for those preparing for or in retirement. Advisors taking this program commit between 250 and 300 hours of study and take about 18 months to complete the designation.
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Michelle Ash is a Member of the Financial Planning Association of Northeast Florida
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Michelle Ash is Quoted on A Place for Mom: "How to Pay for Memory Care: 7 Surprising Ways"
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Michelle Ash is a Featured Retirement Course Instructor for The Retirement Continuum™
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Michelle Ash is a Featured Advisor and Author on Woman'sDivorce.com
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Michelle Ash was a Panelist at Women's Financial Planning Symposium at the Coggin College of Business
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Michelle Ash is Featured in the Jacksonville Daily Record: "'Divorce financial analyst' to teach at FCCJ"
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Michelle Ash Earns Chartered Advisor For Senior Living® Designation
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Michelle Ash is Featured on Cision: "Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, Michelle Ash, Begins New Service for Divorcing Couples in North Florida"
Contact Michelle Ash
Office Locations:
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10245 Centurion Pkwy N.
Suite 106
Jacksonville, FL 32256