Only Fee-Only

John's Bio:“John is the only financial advisor you’ll ever meet who’s managed over $3 billion and a sushi kitchen.”That’s what it says on my public relations bio at least, and I’d bet it’s true. My path to financial planning was neither straightforward nor easy. That winding road gave me a unique and valuable perspective on investing and life. After working through the crucible of the 2008/9 financial crisis, I decided to take a page from Monty Python... “And Now for Something Completely Different.” In 2010 I opened Rold Rite Sushi, a wholesaler of fresh sushi and other Asian foods to the trade. I grew the business until I sold it in 2015 to take on the most important job of my life to date, as a stay-at-home dad.When my son entered school, I knew I wanted to return to finance. This time I have a selfless desire to help people that I learned by working in the food business. Food service workers want to make people feel better. I want to share knowledge and wisdom that can help folks better prepare for the future. I want my clients to feel better and worry less about their future because they have a plan for it.I spent decades on Wall Street. I traded and designed some of the most complex bonds ever seen. Then I managed massive portfolios for large institutions. I learned two important lessons from that time.First, the more complex the investment, the greater its costs.Second, the greater its costs, the worse it performs.For investors, simple is better than complex. Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” My mission is to give you more simplicity and less complexity – in both investing and in life.John's Social: Twitter: @StojBojhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstoj/Music in this episode obtained from Bensound

Kaylin's Bio:When my dad died his life insurance policy was supposed to name my sister and me as the beneficiaries according to his divorce agreement with my mom. It turned out he had changed the beneficiary to his new wife. I was a teenager, and this was my first time learning that there’s no one out there making sure people stick to their legal agreements. It seemed bizarre to me that the only mechanism to enforce an agreement is to pursue someone legally after they’ve broken it. Surely lots of people don’t even mean to break their agreements, right?When my husband and I got married we first signed a prenuptial agreement. By that point I’d already learned that it was up to us to make sure we upheld the terms of our own agreement. We didn’t have an authority figure reminding us how to title our accounts and property, paying attention to which accounts should receive what type of income deposits, or making sure we maintain life insurance, as we’d agreed to do. But I started thinking: wouldn’t it be nice if we did?Financial advisors are in a unique position to help families proactively keep family law out of their family’s choices.Whether it’s for a divorce or a marriage, couples don’t enter into marital agreements lightly. This is why I care about helping couples uphold the agreements they’ve made all the while helping them plan confidently for their future together.Kaylins Social:Twitter: @kaylindillonfin

Matt's Bio:Serving others is at the core of why Matt loves being a wealth manager. By working closely with individuals and families, Matt enjoys getting to know his clients on a personal level and helping them make better financial decisions as their lives evolve. With a natural curiosity in money, markets, public policy and business, Matt is always seeking to expand his understanding within these areas. He regularly applies newfound knowledge to create robust wealth plans and investment strategies that improve his clients’ financial health.Matt founded Faubion Wealth Management (FWM) to serve the next generation of wealth generators with the thorough and extensive standard that he believes is required of the position. The firm stays true to its objective approach, by only providing clients with fiduciary advice that is in their best interest. In doing so, FWM designs strategies that are diligently and custom built, given our in-depth process to get to know you, your financial portrait, and the goals that set you apart.Matt began his career as a Wealth Advisor Associate with a boutique wealth management firm in San Francisco. He was a team leader in advancing the firm’s wealth management platform, which specialized in working with high-net-worth technology entrepreneurs. During his time at the firm, he became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and was promoted to Senior Wealth Manager. He later joined a nationally recognized financial planning and wealth management firm in Walnut Creek, CA and worked with their Barron’s top 100 independent advisor founder. Additionally, he passed the level 1 exam of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. And before founding FWM, he was a Wealth Strategist and Partner at a start-up wealth management firm in San Francisco.A Bay Area native, Matt grew up in Pleasanton, and he currently lives in Dublin with his wife, dog and two cats. Coming with the territory, he loves following the 49ers, Sharks, Warriors and Giants. Outside of work, Matt enjoys volunteering and giving back to his community. He is an avid lover of all kinds of music, from classic rock to EDM, and is currently learning the guitar. Matt also enjoys long walks with his wife, spending time with family, reading, traveling, exercising—and all of the great outdoor activities the Golden State has to offer.Matt's Social:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewfaubion/Twitter: @FaubWealthMusic in this episode was obtained from Bensound.

Riki's About Me Video:https://www.2point0financial.com/aboutSocial:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-cooke-crpc/Twitter: @RikisRamblingsMusic in this episode was obtained from Bensound.

Steven's Bio:Steven aims to bridge the gap between tax professionals, financial advisors, and their mutual clients to help reduce most people's largest expense in retirement: taxes! With over 10 years of experience from top accounting firms and by partnering with some of the most successful financial advisors in the industry, Steven is uniquely positioned to help financial advisors deliver massive value to their clients AND stay between the lines on compliance. With his valuable skill of distilling endless pages of IRS tax code and case law into easy to explain--easier to implement--actionable items that financial advisors can use with their clients today!Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-jarvis-ba91aa23/Music in this episode obtained from Bensound.

Meg's Bio:"I worked in the tech industry straight out of college. Through the first Dot Com Boom. Aaaaand through the crash. When I got laid off. Fun times.In my 30s, I got bored with my work in tech, and I changed careers into financial planning. I also got married, had two babies, moved cross-country twice, went back to school for a graduate degree, bought my first home, decided (I mean, not unilaterally) to have my husband retire from tech and become a stay-at-home dad, and started a business (this one!).I don’t know if I’d have had the guts to do all of that without the money and flexibility my husband and I both got from the tech industry. Which is why I love working with women in their early to mid career in the tech industry.It’s such an exciting time of life. And the opportunities are almost boundless. But it’s so stressful. And oh my goodness, what do you mean “estimated taxes”?!I’ve learned that if we are intentional and if we do the work, our opportunities in the tech industry can help us build that fulfilling life we all crave.What else about me?Wellllll, I grew up in Newport News, Virginia. I went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where I majored in Economics, gained 10 pounds (unlimited Fruit Loops? whut?!), and learned to banish writer’s block. I moved to the Bay Area in 1998 and worked as a technical writer for 10 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly in the software-security sector. ‘Tis also, it should be noted, where I met my husband. We both worked on the Engineering team at a small startup.After I changed careers, I got my Master’s of Science in Financial Planning from Golden Gate University. I then worked for fee-only Registered Investment Advisors, back in Tidewater Virginia.In search of a home better suited to us, my husband, my two daughters, and I moved to Bellingham, WA. Julia the Dog—a sweet girl, if not technically a good girl—joined us a couple years later.So much of what makes me happy—hiking, biking, cooking, yoga, kale, and ancient minivans missing hubcaps—are part of the fabric of life here. For those rare times when I have a stretch of silence and time, I love reading books about European royal history, sci-fi/fantasy, and Anything Russia.I am a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, a Registered Life Planner™ and a member of the XY Planning Network and the Financial Planning Association."Meg's Social:Twitter- @MegBarteltLinkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/megbartelt/Music in this episode was obtained from Bensound.

Jon's Bio:Jon Luskin is a fee-only, advice-only CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional and fiduciary in sunny San Diego, California. Jon specializes in providing hourly advice to do-it-yourself investors.Jon is a long-time advocate of simple, low-cost investing. His master’s thesis showed how university endowments can generate more wealth (and take on less risk) by using passive index funds. Jon’s other research has been published in the peer-reviewed Financial Planning Association’s Journal of Financial Planning. Jon has had the fortune of presenting his research to advisors across the country.For his contribution to the industry, Jon has been recognized as one of the financial planning industry’s top young advisors by InvestmentNews magazine. Jon has been featured in consumer-facing and advisor-facing publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Michael Kitces’ blog, Nerd’s Eye View.In 2019, Jon and his wife Lien dedicated one full year to travel. The two started their adventure by taking four months to convert a cargo van into their home on wheels. They then spent several months traversing the western United States and Mexico. Lien documented their adventure on her blog.Jon provides pro-bono financial planning to low-income households with the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, a 501(c)3 organization. He also volunteers with Second Chance Dog Rescue and Four Paws Dog Rescue.Jon's Social:Twitter: @JonLuskinLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonluskin/

Daniel's BioHello, I’m Daniel – husband to Anna, widower to Sarah, Air Force veteran, business owner, writer, speaker, CFP® Professional, financial planner, and Christ-follower. I’m the founder of Wise Stewardship Financial Planning where we offer fee-only, fiduciary financial planning and investment advice with a special focus on young widows and widowers as well as servicemembers and their families.Grief changes everything. I know that all too well from personal experience as I became a widower at 31 and before that, father to 3 children in heaven. My passion and purpose now is to take what I’ve learned from those experiences combined with financial planning and advice to be a help to you in your own unique grief journey. Wise Stewardship works together with you to help gain stability in your current financial situation, prioritize next steps, and walk with you into a new and different future.Here’s the rest of my story and why I became a financial planner. I’ve always been interested in money since I was a little kid, including out-bidding my siblings for chores-for-hire, to providing loans to my siblings and friends when they had spent all their money and diligently saving my allowance for future goals. Over time this evolved into reading the stock pages in the newspaper as a young teenager and then choosing to major in economics in college. After completing Air Force ROTC at Purdue University, I commissioned as an officer into the Air Force in 2009 but continued my personal interest into personal finances, investing, and all things money-related.In my college years and early 20s, I read hundreds of books and spent thousands of hours studying financial planning topics. I also had the opportunity to be a volunteer financial counselor during many of the years when I was on active duty in addition to helping and educating family and friends over the years. Thanks to countless help along the way, I learned more about the financial services industry and found my way to fee-only, fiduciary financial planning. It was through these experiences that sparked my passion and helped me realize what I wanted to do whenever I decided to leave the military!As an officer on active duty for almost 9 years, along with a brother, sister, and brother-in-law in the military, I experienced firsthand the benefits and challenges that military life can have on all aspects of life especially finances. Frequent changes like TDY’s, deployments, and PCS’s add unique potential opportunities and obstacles to meeting goals and dreams. Add in the often disparate and sometimes confusing military pay, benefits, scattered military benefits and discounts, and countless people offering advice or services, and there is often a lack of clarity on how best to optimize all of these to best meet goals.I’ve seen almost everything military life can throw at you and been through much of what you probably have questions about. I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t; what’s important and what isn’t. I’m now able to use these vast experiences to help my clients navigate the challenges of the busy military life, get the most out of your hard-earned benefits, and help you achieve your goals.Social:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmkopp/Twitter: @danielmkoppInstagram: wisestewardshipfinancialplanMusic in this episode was obtained from Bensound.

Travis's Bio:Hi! I’m Travis, A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and the founder of Kinetix Financial Planning. I believe money is a tool that can unlock the optionality of life. My goals are to help optimize your cash flow, grow wealth, and pay less money to Uncle Sam through dynamic financial planning and investment management.Prior to my career as a financial planner, I graduated with a business degree from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. I began my professional career at a large brokerage firm where I learned the ins and outs of the financial markets. During this time I was able to gain valuable experience in financial markets, risk management, and personal finance. I then found my path working as a wealth manager for a small financial firm serving pre-retirees and retirees which included selling insurance to clients. I realized that insurance sales mixed with financial planning created a huge conflict of interest! I made the decision to become a fee-only financial planner in order to give my clients real financial advice with limited conflicts of interest. On a personal note, I live in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area but grew up a small-town kid in central Texas. When I am not helping my clients, I enjoy the outdoors, traveling, reading, or listening to the next queued up podcast. In addition, I am a supporter of the professional sports teams in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. An avid outdoorsman – hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing, and everything in between. I have a husky that keeps me busy and active named Koda. Who is also the CEO (see below). My favorite getaway is Montana where I have family!Instagram:  kinetixfpLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisgatzemeier/Twitter: @T_GatzemeierMusic in this episode obtained from Bensound.

TJ's Bio:Before launching MWB in the fall of 2018, I worked for several financial planning firms honing my craft behind the scenes and strategizing on how to put the pieces together to build a value-oriented practice.Working in the tech space, I focus on professionals ages twenty-five to forty who have experienced a windfall via equity compensation and are looking to maximize their newfound wealth to plan for FI.I’m incredibly passionate about financial independence, pursuing autonomy, and creating an intentional lifestyle through planning.At MWB, I’m committed to working with a maximum of fifty client relationships at any time.A little bit about me; I grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where I currently spend my summers.I live in Woburn, MA, just north of Boston, the rest of the year.Social:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjvangerven/Insta: @modernwealthbuildersTwitter: @TJvanGerven