About Integrated Wealth Strategies:

My mission:

My mission is to help clients efficiently integrate all the various, relevant financial tools that are critical in helping individuals achieve their current and long-term financial goals. Where existing advisors are in place, my role will be to complement their services to provide a more comprehensive wealth management approach.

My approach and background:

I have taken a "contractors" approach to get where I am today. A contractor doesn't start building a house by working first on the roof. He starts with the foundation, the basis for all future work.

The wealth management foundation I built came from being an accounting major in college and then spending the next eight years working in public accounting and private industry doing financial statement preparation, internal audit, tax research and compliance work. This experience led me to spend my next seven years in the corporate finance world, where I utilized my tax and accounting background in the analysis and acquisition of commercial aircraft and railroad equipment.

As you can see, I don't have the typical brokerage or life insurance background. Having prepared financial statements myself, I am well aware of what goes into them. Because of that training, I have always felt that securities analysts and even financial advisors should have spent time preparing financial statements also, if for no other reason than to not take all the financial data and information they see and hear at face value. My role has always been to be a problem solver and not a product seller. Unfortunately, in the financial services world there is a pecking order: the "firm" takes their pound of flesh first, then the financial advisor/salesman, and then if there is any food left over, the client gets to eat.

Since I've been in the financial services field, I've always felt that all clients really want is an advisor that can analyze their situation, lay out alternative solutions and make objective recommendations that are in the best interest of the client and not the advisor's pocketbook.

My background:

I am a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Financial Planner practitioner. I graduated from the University of Washington in 1983 with a B.S. in Business Administration (Accounting) and in 1991 received my M.S. in Taxation from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. I currently hold the NASD Series 7 and 65 licenses and a State of Washington life and disability insurance license. I am member of the Washington State Society of CPAs, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Financial Planning Association. I am also a member of Ed Slott's Elite IRA Advisor Group, and a Pensco Trust Company Preferred Provider.