I have lived in Orange County, California, for all of my life. I am a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange. I attended Orange Lutheran High School (class of 1993) and I received my bachelor’s degree in finance from California State University Fullerton in 1998 .
My life continued to fall into place after meeting my wonderful wife, Carolyn, and we were married in 2009. We are the proud parents of two daughters, Julia (arrived in 2011) and Anna (arrived in 2013) . We call the city of Orange our home and plan to do so for many years going forward. We try our best to keep life fun by staying active with our girls, traveling, and scheduling in a date night whenever possible. We attend St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange where Carolyn (a former First Grade Teacher) works as an Education specialist and our girls attend school. As well, I am a member of the school board, the endowment committee, and I volunteer several times a year teaching the financial portion of the “Becoming One” class for newlywed couples.
While attending college, I worked at the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery in Brea. Upon graduating, I was offered an opportunity to work directly with the BJ's Corporate Office. Over the next 5 years my role evolved several times, and eventually I settled in as a Financial Analyst reporting to the Executive team. It was in this role that my skills evolved in the areas of forecasting, corporate budgeting, and cash flow management. Although this experience was invaluable, over time, I came to the realization that my heart was guiding me towards a different career path. In 2004, I decided it was time to pursue my passion and become a Financial Advisor.
Investing caught my attention in 7th grade. It was 1987 and I was taking an elective course titled, "The Stock Market". Every day we would learn the new values of our fictional portfolios that included ABC and XYZ stocks. This was all very exciting to me. This also happened to be the same year that we all witnessed Black Monday. On October 19, 1987, my imaginary stock portfolio survived but many real life portfolios were significantly damaged. Even at 12 years old, this event showed me that investing has both the potential for great gains and the possibility of devastating losses.
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When I decided on becoming a Financial Advisor, I fulfilled a lifelong goal of working in this discipline. I had already been an investor, trading individual stocks and owning Mutual Funds, but I truly wanted to work in the Financial Planning field. So in 2004 I changed careers and started on my path as a financial advisor. And it didn't take long to realize that finances can be overwhelming and burdensome for many people. Every household can truly benefit from sound professional advice.
Today, after 16+ years of working with many wonderful people, I am proud to say that I am a successful Financial Advisor. I have a continually growing family of households that have evolved into rich friendships over the years. I am proud of my practice and the guidance I provide. As my career has evolved, I have learned a lot about planning, incorporating more sophisticated tools, and making it my professional priority to do great work for everyone I help.
